Game Summary
Today’s game featured stingy starting pitching from both the A’s starter Lopez and the Cardinals Michael McGreevy. McGreevy lowers his ERA to 2.10. Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II hit homeruns, leading the Cardinals to a late 3-1 lead. However, the Cardinals bullpen was unable to hold the lead against the powerful A’s line-up. Stanek and Romero combined to give up 4 hits and 2 walks to gift a late 4-3 lead to the A’s.
But the Cardinals’ reputation for relentlessness held up when they mustered an HBP, an RBI single and an RBI double, all with two out in the ninth to regain the lead. O’Brien faces the meat of a powerful A’s line-up and wins the duel, closing out with a K on Rooker. Cardinals win 5-4.
Line-up (and roster) machinations
- An early start today, followed by a long flight to St. Louis tonight (and a game tomorrow).
- An RH heavy line-up against a soft-tossing LHP today. Fermin at first, Pozo back at DH, Herrera at C. Scott II, JJW and Gorman represent the LH side of the line-up.
- Burly gets a day. He has needed one.
The early going
Cardinal pitchers continue to assist Nick Kurtz improve his power numbers as he leads off the game with a solo HR. Michael McGreevy and the Cardinals benefit significantly from the sequencing gods as the A’s fell just a triple short of the cycle in that first inning but left with only a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals meanwhile came out swinging in their getaway day offensive game plan. I didn’t quite get this considering he is a pitcher who walks more than he strikes out. But a flight home awaits! Throughout four innings, only Pozo manages a dinker of a hit into centerfield. True to form, Lopez walks 3 and K’s but two. Otherwise, eleven outs on weak contact.
In the early going, McGreevy allowed a fair bit of traffic, battling his command. But battle he did, holding the A’s to that one run through the first four innings, working only 53 pitches, so efficiency was good.
The middle innings – 3rd time through the lineup
Scott II violates the 3rd time rule by hitting a HR in his second AB, tying the tame in the fifth. The top of the Cardinal line-up, coming up for that third time, continue to mishit. This pitcher is throwing strikes, so what are you gonna do? Ends up with a 10-pitch inning even with the HR.
In the bottom of the fifth, McGreevy strikes out Kurtz and we look up and realize that McGreevy has now set down nine in a row. I am sure he is going to say after the game that he did not have his best stuff, but boy he pitches.
In the sixth, the third time through rule hit Lopez quickly as Walker hits an oppo HR, then Winn golfs a pitch just off the ground back to the pitcher that turns into a pinball machine triple that ends up ruled a two separate throwing errors. The A’s do not play good D, that is for sure in this series. Gorman gets a little dinker for an RBI single. He seems to have a knack for that. Lopez exits without getting an out in the sixth with the Cardinals up 3-1. After Leiter enters, a warning track flyball and GIDP end the uprising. McGreevy works through the bottom of the sixth on 74 pitches. 3 K. 1 BB. 5 H. 1 R. Ho-hum.
The run to the barn (or the airport)
Ryne Stanek relieves McGreevy in the bottom of the seventh. A strikeout, homerun and walk define his day. Romero relieves him and they ding him for three singles in a row plus a later walk and regain a 4-3 lead before the uprising is quelled.
In the eighth, the Cardinals strand a one-out double, bookending it with three popouts, the final one on a pinch-hit appearance by Alec Burleson. Svanson gets the bottom of the eighth. He works a mostly uneventful inning, collecting 2 K’s.
In the ninth, a Pozo single and a Wetherholt HBP with two out lead to a key 2-out RBI single by Herrera to save the day for the moment. This tied the game 4-4. Walker drops a double down the right field line for another RBI. Seen here. A new pitcher hits Winn to load the bases but Gorman flies out to douse the heroics.
Taking a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, Manager Oli Marmol called on Riley O’Brien to preserve the game, win a series and bring home a winning west coast road trip. A tall order against this team, in this park, with this bullpen. He gets to face Kurtz, Langeliers, Soderstrom and Rooker if anyone gets on. No big deal, right?
An HBP on Kurtz was an auspicious lead-off moment. A strikeout on yet another ABS challenge dispatches Langeliers, bringing up Soderstrom. Ole’ Abner did it again, huh? Soderstrom flies out. Rooker misses on three straight sweepers to close the deal. Good win. Relentless. Cards win 5-4. Svanson collects a win, O’Brien the save. Ho-hum.
Post-Game Notes
- Will have to check, but it seems like the home plate ump got overturned by ABS an unusually high number of times. I think it was into double digits, and even then limited because the A’s ran out of challenges.
- Can’t tell you how many times I had to change the title and the summary…
- Check out The Feed for this Post ”Today on the Farm – Wednesday 5/14” for updates on MiLB action.
- Home to St. Louis for an inter-league series against the Kansas City Royals.
- Is it my imagination or does the Cardinal offense struggle on getaway day games? It must not be my imagination, because this sentence is part of the Game Recap template and I rarely erase it.