PHOENIX — While the Cardinals left money on the table, the Arizona Diamondbacks found ways to cash in on their openings and evened the series at the expense of Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson on Saturday night.
Cardinals hitters pounded out 11 hits, but left nine men on base in a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks in the second game of a three-game series at Chase Field. All four Diamondbacks runs came against Gibson, three via a sixth-inning home run. Gibson has given up at least one home run in all three of his starts this season.
The loss by the Cardinals (7-8) sets up a rubber match between the teams on Sunday afternoon.
Gibson (1-2) allowed four runs on six hits and three walks. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a three-run home run that changed the game. It was the fifth home run allowed by Gibson in three starts this season.
People are also reading…
Paul Goldschmidt (2 for 4), Willson Contreras (2 for 4) and Masyn Winn (2 for 4, RBI, stolen base) had multi-hit games for the Cardinals.
Early action against Gibson
Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Ketel Marte welcomed Gibson to the game with a double down the left field line to immediately put a runner in scoring position after the first two pitches of the game.
After Corbin Carroll hit a fly ball to left field for the first out of the inning, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled to right field to put runners on first and third. Then Gibson walked Christian Walker, which loaded the bases for Joc Pederson with one out.
Pederson lofted a deep fly ball to the warning track in left field, which allowed Marte to tag-up and score easily as the Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead. Gibson struck out the next batter, Eugenio Suarez, on three pitches and held the Diamondbacks to one run in the first inning.
In his previous start against the Miami Marlins at Busch Stadium, Gibson allowed six first-inning runs on a pair of three-run home runs.
Cardinals offense slow to start
After they came out of the gate fast in the series opener on Friday night, the Cardinals offense appeared stuck in neutral early on against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson.
Through the first four innings, the Cardinals mustered just two hits against Nelson.
Nelson struck out three and didn’t walk a batter through the first four innings.
The only hits came courtesy of a Goldschmidt single in the first inning and a Contreras single in the second. Goldschmidt, a former Diamondback, has now hit in eight consecutive games at Chase Field.
Contreras extended his on-base streak to 19 consecutive games, the longest streak of his major-league career.
Walker and Winn combine for the first run
Jordan Walker, who doubled in his last at-bat on Friday night, tripled on a ball hit into the left field corner with one out in the fifth inning on Saturday. Walker’s last five hits have been extra-base hits.
Walker’s triple, the first extra-base hit of the day against Nelson, gave the Cardinals a runner in scoring position for just the second time in the game. The next batter, Winn, singled on a sharply-hit grounder through a drawn-in infield for his fifth RBI of the season.
Winn, who came into the day tied for the NL lead with two triples, stole second base later the inning. He’d initially been called out, but replay overturned the ruling. Winn pulled his left arm away in the middle of his slide to avoid the tag and touched the base with right hand.
Cardinals missed a big chance in the sixth
The Cardinals left the bases loaded in the sixth inning and squandered a chance to take the lead after they tied the score in the fifth.
Goldschmidt singled and advanced to third on a Nolan Gorman double that bounced over the outfield wall. Goldschmidt got thrown out on a grounder to third base by Nolan Arenado, but Goldschmidt stayed in a rundown long enough for Gorman to advance to third base and Arenado to second.
Contreras hit a ball up the right field line that Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy caught, but Gorman failed to tag-up on the play and remained at third base. With two outs, the Diamondbacks walked Lars Nootbaar and chose to pitch to Walker.
Walker struck out swinging to end the inning with the score tied 1-1.
A communication breakdown
One inning after the Cardinals left the bases loaded, the Diamondbacks struck for three runs in the sixth. Marte doubled to start the inning, and Carroll walked to put two men on with no outs.
The next batter, Gurriel, smacked a 2-1 sinker into the left field stands for a three-run home run. Prior to the pitch, Gibson stepped off the mound after a long pause that included him shaking off a pitch call.
Gibson appeared to use the PitchCom system to signal to catcher Willson Contreras what pitch he wanted to throw. Gibson then threw his sinker about knee high and off the plate inside. Gurriel drove it to left with an exit velocity of 107.5 mph for his fourth homer of the season. That gave the Diamondbacks a 4-1 lead.
The Cardinals' second run came on a Nootbaar RBI single in the eighth inning.