Garcia, Cardinals victim of tough loss to M’s
Rookies have always been given a hard time in baseball, particularly by their own teammates. After being called up to the show for the first time, rookies are subject to jokes, pranks and teasing. Many of them have promising careers in ahead of them, and if they make good on expectations, a pie-in-the-face as well.
Jaime Garcia is somewhat of an exception. Despite only age 23, the St. Louis Cardinals’ rookie hurler has pitched like a veteran. In 13 games thus far, he has post the league’s second best ERA, a 1.59 mark, earning respect from his peers. Of course, that doesn’t mean he has an exemption from hard times.
For instance, Garcia started for the Cardinals on Wednesday. He pitched as well as ever before in the majors, but was the tough-luck loser of the 1-2 contest anyway. He did his job, and did it well, but the rest of the Cardinal lineup failed to support him, though not by design.
It was Claudio Vargas that gave St. Louis, and ultimately Garcia, the most trouble. Using his crossfire delivery, Vargas dominated in his start for the Seattle Mariners. He held the Cardinals to only 1 run on 6 hits, earning the win while effectively giving Garcia the loss.
Garcia and Vargas dueled most of the night. Each slipped up on occasion, exposing a chance to come through and score, but only a few times did either team execute. The Mariners scored in each of the 4th and 5th innings, once on a groundout and once on Chone Figgins’ RBI single.
St. Louis only time to cross the plate came in the bottom of the 4th. Albert Pujols got things going with a double that initially appeared might be a homerun, but was correctly called a double after review. Vargas then let a wild pitch slip, allowing Pujols to advance to third before scoring on a sacrifice fly.
Pujols’ double would be one of three extra base hits for the Cardinals. Both Nick Stavinoha and Ryan Ludwick each doubled also. All three of the team’s remain hits came courtesy of David Freese, who went 3 for 4.
Garcia officially ended the day with 7 innings pitched, 5 hits and 2 runs allowed. He made a solid improvement by walking only 1 while striking out 7.
The series with Seattle is now over, but the Cardinals will continue interleague play by following up with a three-game series in St. Louis with the Oakland Athletics. Chris Carpenter will start for the Redbirds on Friday after an off-day, commencing at 7:10 CT.
Leave a Reply