The Cardinals won two of their first three coming out of the All-Star break, but they finished that two-city road trip by losing a series to NL Central Division rivals in Pittsburgh. Now, they’ve dropped their first post-All-Star break home series to the Washington Nationals.
Cardinals pitchers allowed 10 runs for the second consecutive game, including a seven-run sixth inning yielded by the relief corps, in a 14-3 loss to the Nationals in front of an announced crowd of 39,372 in the second game of a three-game series at a soggy Busch Stadium on Saturday night.
Cardinals veteran position player Brandon Crawford allowed four runs in his second-career pitching appearance.
The Nationals, who won the series opener in extra innings on Friday night, clinched the series with Saturday’s win. The Nationals (49-56) have scored 24 runs in the first two games of the series.
The Cardinals (53-51) have now lost four of their past five games, and they’ll try to avoid a sweep with a win in Sunday afternoon’s series finale.
Despite the loss, the Cardinals kept a one-game lead on the Pirates (52-52) for second place in the NL Central behind the Milwaukee Brewers (59-45). Both the Brewers and Pirates have also lost back-to-back games.
With the MLB trading deadline ahead on Tuesday, the Cardinals are presumably exploring potential trade acquisitions to bolster their pitching staff for a late-summer playoff push.
Their bullpen has been a strength of the club this season, particularly the back-end trio of All-Star closer Ryan Helsley, right-hander Andrew Kittredge and left-hander JoJo Romero.
However, the final two months of the season figure to test the depth of the rotation and the bullpen. Saturday night, the bullpen depth came up short at a pivotal juncture of the game.
Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson (7-4) navigated around traffic on the bases throughout his outing. He allowed two runs in five innings on a night when he allowed six hits, walked three batters and hit another batter. He threw 97 pitches to get through his five innings.
Gibson had a less-than-stellar outing, but he kept the Cardinals within striking distance. If their offense found a spark or caught a break, the two-run deficit was hardly overwhelming.
However, Cardinals reliever Chris Roycroft walked three of the first four batters he faced to start the sixth inning. He turned over a bases-loaded, one-out situation to left-hander Matthew Liberatore with the heart of the Nationals lineup due up.
Nationals pinch hitter Harold Ramirez, who batted for left-handed hitting Jesse Winker, welcomed Liberatore to the game with a two-run opposite-field double into the right field corner. In the eighth inning, a report broke on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) that the Nationals were in the process of trading Winker to the New York Mets.
Former Cardinal Juan Yepez followed Ramirez’s two-run double with a two-run single, and Yepez scored on a James Wood double as the Nationals strung together four consecutive hits against Liberatore. Keibert Ruiz capped the scoring in the inning with a three-run home run to left-center field.
Willson Contreras’ two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning assured the Cardinals wouldn’t be in danger of being shut out. They added a third run on a Matt Carpenter RBI single in the eighth.
Rain-soaked start
Saturday night’s game had originally been scheduled for a 6:15 p.m. first pitch. The Busch Stadium grounds crew put the tarp over the field before 3 p.m. and the Cardinals cancelled their pregame batting practice on the field in favor of batting practice in the batting cage.
Each starting pitcher, the Cardinals’ Kyle Gibson and the Nationals’ Jake Irvin, went through their pregame warmup, stretching and long toss routines on the field despite light rain. They also each spent the first part of the delay in their team’s bullpens, waiting to resume their pregame routines with warmup pitches in the bullpen.
However, the delay continued well into the evening and night. The game eventually started at 8:19 p.m. following a delay of two hours and four minutes.
Garcia gets the Nationals started
The Nationals scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single flared over the infield and into shallow left field by second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. with two outs.
Garcia drove in rookie slugger James Wood, who lined a one-out double into center field. Garcia entered the night batting .294 with 15 RBIs in 17 career games against the Cardinals. This season, Garcia had gone 10 for 20 (.500) with .546 on-base percentage and a .750 slugging percentage in five previous games against the Cardinals.
Garcia also entered the day batting .348 with runners in scoring position.
The Nationals added another run with two outs in the third inning thanks to a two-out single by former Cardinal Lane Thomas and an RBI single flared into center field by Jesse Winker.
The outlook of Friday night’s game flipped dramatically with two outs in the 10th inning after the Cardinals intentionally walked Garcia with a runner on base. Relief pitcher Ryan Fernandez then faced Trey Lipscomb with two men on and two outs.
However, Fernandez walked Lipscomb and loaded the bases for Jacob Young. That set the stage for Young’s line drive to right field that outfielder Dylan Carlson misjudged and made an unsuccessful leaping attempt to catch. That turned the line drive into a three-run triple and keyed a four-run inning.
The Nationals loaded the bases in the fourth inning on Saturday night when Gibson walked Garcia and Lipscomb in back-to-back plate appearances. That brought Young to the plate, this time with just one out. Young again lined a ball to right field. This time, Lars Nootbaar made a sliding catch on the low sinking liner. The runners did not tag and advance, and Gibson got the next batter to hit an inning-ending fly ball to strand the bases loaded.
Gibson left the bases loaded again in the fifth inning after he allowed a single, hit a batter and walked a batter with one out. Gibson stranded eight men on base through five innings.
With seven shutout innings in a 4-0 victory opposite phenom Paul Skenes, right-hander continued to showcase the big payoff he got from betting…
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol takes the game ball away from ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals pitcher Chris Roycroft (58) after he loaded the bases in the sixth inning in a game against the Washington Nationals on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Busch Stadium. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals pitcher Kyle Gibson (44) pitches to Washington Nationals Jesse Winker (6) in the first inning of a game on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Busch Stadium. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
The grounds crew clears the tarp after a rain delay before the start of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals game against the Washington Nationals on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Busch Stadium. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals pitching coach Dusty Blake,left, and manager Oliver Marmol check on the weather during a rain delay before the start of a game against the Washington Nationals on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Busch Stadium. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com