Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon address the record low crowds at Busch Stadium and chat about what the Cardinals can do to encourage fans to flock back.
NEW YORK — The decisive swings of the evening happened exactly how and maybe even where anyone would have expected it Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
It just wasn’t who.
On a night where fans gathered by the thousands early and en masse to score a giveaway Aaron Judge No. 99 football jersey and possibly see his 52nd homer of the season, a home run from the middle of the Yankees did indeed decide the game against the Cardinals. It came immediately after Judge popped out in the third inning. Mustachioed catcher Austin Wells hit two home runs to muscle the Yankees to a 6-3 victory against the Cardinals. Both of Wells’ homers came within pitches of the Cardinals retiring Judge.
A sellout crowd of 47,103 at Yankee Stadium saw rookie Wells’ first career multi-homer game in his 112th game, and also the continuation of much longer history.
The Cardinals have yet to win a game at the current Yankee Stadium.
Their visits have been limited to four games so far, and they’re 0-4 and still looking for their first win in the Bronx since Game 5 of the 1964 World Series.
Bob Gibson got that win.
He pitched 10 innings to get it.
Trapped within Friday night’s box score for a loss were the ongoing hints that the Cardinals’ tandem stars are starting to get in sync — with one month of the season remaining. Paul Goldschmidt had his third three-hit game of the week and gave the Cardinals their brief lead in the third inning. Nolan Arenado hit a solo homer in the eighth inning to draw the Cardinals within a run. Arenado’s 15th homer of the season comes within the same stretch of games where he had two walk-off winners for the Cardinals, including a walk-off grand slam.
Wells provided half of the runs against Cardinals starter Erick Fedde with his one swing. The Cardinals’ right-hander struck out eight in his 5 1/3 innings, but was outdueled by Yankees right-hander Marcus Stroman. The former Cubs starter struck out five in seven innings.
The Cardinals were able to contain Judge for an evening. Fedde struck him out twice, and Riley O’Brien struck out the game’s leading slugger in the eighth. Trying to hold onto a one-run lead in the eighth, O’Brien struck out Juan Soto and Judge in back-to-back at-bats and he finished the inning by striking out former MVP Giancarlo Stanton. It was the hitter sandwiched in between those three that caused him problems.
Wells.
Wells drilled a two-run homer in the eighth to give him a matching set for the night.
Damage avoided; damage still arrives
Moments after Juan Soto tied the game, 2-2, with a double and his second hit of the game, the Cardinals and Fedde (8-8) faced the same problem all Yankees’ opponents do.
Soto, despite all his gifts, is not the finest hitter in that lineup.
That dude is due up next.
With Soto in scoring position and first base there for the offering, Judge came to the plate with history in his future. The Yankees’ captain and center fielder is taking another swing at the single-season American League home run record — which he already owns — and has 51 home runs with more than month left to play. Toss in a .333 average to open this weekend series and 123 RBIs and, it’s easy as 1-2-3 to see him in the mix for a Triple Crown. Judge had a chance to shatter the tie (or at least break it) in the third inning against Fedde.
But the Cardinals’ right-hander got a popup with one out from Judge to presumably get a grip on the inning and find a way out of it with the score still tied.
It took two pitches to erase that.
Having avoided Judge, Fedde slipped against Wells. Ahead in the count, 0-1, Fedde misplaced an 88.9-mph changeup that hovered up and over the plate until Wells put it up and out of the ballpark. Wells’ 11th home run of the season brought Soto home to double the Yankees’ scoring and claim a two-run lead. Fedde struck out five of the next eight Yankees he faced, but the Cardinals only played catchup the rest of his evening.
Stay golden, Paul
As what could be the final month of his career in ºüÀêÊÓƵ nears, the kind of performance he and the Cardinals have been searching for all season seems to have arrived for Goldschmidt.
By the end of the sixth inning Friday night, Goldschmidt had his third three-hit game in the past four days and his 12th hit of the past week.
Goldschmidt raised his batting average from .227 to .241 in the span of four games by going 10 for 13 entering the back third of Friday’s game.
A week ago, as the team prepared for a game in Minnesota, manager Oliver Marmol suggested that he field some questions about Goldschmidt driving the ball into the right-center gap. The manager mentioned that when the former MVP begins drilling singles and doubles in that direction it’s a compass that points he’s headed in the right direction offensively. In the second inning Friday night, Goldschmidt tagged a double — off the wall in right-center. It was the telling direction. He followed with a single in the third inning up the middle and another single to center field in the sixth inning.
Singles get to mingling
A hindrance for the Cardinals’ offense all season has been the lack of slug, the sheer absence of the kind of hits that create rallies and crooked numbers on their own.
But every so often a string of singles will coalesce to create a rally.
In the third inning, Alec Burleson pulled a single to right field to spark the inning. Nolan Arenado followed with a single to left for his 1,800th career hit. He is the sixth active player to reach that milestone, joining teammate Goldschmidt. Brendan Donovan tied the game with his single, which was his 333rd career hit. Donovan’s RBI hit ended an 0-for-11 streak for him with runners in scoring position. Three consecutive hits from the middle of the Cardinals’ order had knotted the game, 1-1, and answered a sacrifice fly from the second inning. That brought inning around to Goldschmidt. The Cardinals’ first baseman and No. 5 hitter ripped a liner right back at Stroman to sizzle through the infield for an RBI single.
It was Goldschmidt’s 2,029th career hit.
He was on his way to going 3 for 3 on the evening against Stroman to increase his career average against the right-hander to .467 (14 for 30). The Cardinals got nine hits against Stroman (10-6) in seven innings, but the Yankees’ starter was able to minimize what the Cardinals do with those hits because he did not walk a batter and allowed only one hit for extra bases. Five of the seven Cardinals’ hits never saw the runner get to second against Stroman.
Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon address the record low crowds at Busch Stadium and chat about what the Cardinals can do to …
Cardinals starting pitcher Erick Fedde reacts after giving up a two-run home run to New York Yankees Austin Wells during the third inning Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in New York.
The Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt hits an RBI single during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in New York.
Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker (18) attempts to make a play on a two-run home run hit by New York Yankees' Austin Wells during the third inning of a baseball game, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in New York.