Cards’ fall short twice to D-backs in weekender
When Mark Reynolds doubled home a run in the 1st inning on Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals’ became down by a run. In result, the team’s weekend started off somewhat poorly.
Of course, when Chris Young hit a two-run shot over Cardinal left fielder Matt Holliday’s head in the bottom of the 9th on Sunday, you could say the weekend ended rather poorly too.
And upon further inspection, the weekend’s boxscore’s show that not much went well for St. Louis in all the in between innings either.
In general, it was a shabby way to end an already shabby week. St. Louis went 1 and 6 between the 6th and 13th of June, with the only win coming because luck was on their side. But on Saturday and Sunday, the team was about as lucky as Wile E. Coyote.
The Cardinals chased and chased the Diamondbacks out in the Arizona desert, but objects kept getting in the way. It wasn’t quite as drastic as objects exploding or falling on their head, but pretty much the whole weekend was a disappointment nonetheless.
A major stumbling block for the Cardinals in the first of the two games came in the form of Danny Haren. The former Cardinal, traded for Mark Mulder, dominated the Cardinals lineup, much like he has in past events. This time, however, he took it one step further.
Not only did Haren hold St. Louis to only 2 runs the whole game, but he also went 2 for 3 at the plate, continuing his incredible start to the season at the plate. On top of that, he doubled and drove home a run, all while pitching the first 8 innings for Arizona and strikingout out 9.
Cardinals’ starter Adam Ottavino didn’t have quite the same success though. He lasted only 3.2 innings, and in the process, surrendered 6 runs on 9 hits. Not to mention he struck out in his only plate appearance, Ottavino was the losing ball tosser in the 7-2 final.
A day later, St. Louis and Arizona met up again for the third and final game of the series. Things weren’t quite as hot and tiring for the Cardinals, partly because almost caught the D-backs, and partly because the roof was closed at the ballpark. But before St. Louis was able to grab victory, a bomb was dropped.
Of course, that bomb was Young’s game-winning homer in the bottom of the 9th, giving Arizona a 7-5 win. St. Louis had tied the game up at 5 only a couple minutes earlier, but Young’s blast ended the game. It was a walkoff shot, for both teams; Arizona as the victor, St. Louis as the defeated.
But nevertheless, the Cardinals did hit much better than against Haren. In fact, the team had 14 hits on Sunday, two more than the Diamondbacks. Yadier Molina had three of the hits plus a walk, while Albert Pujols went 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs.
But perhaps the Cardinals luck will turn around in the upcoming series against the Seattle Mariners. A new three-game series between the two teams will begin on Monday night. St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright will be pitted against Seattle’s Luke French, and game time is set for 7:05 CT.
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