It was a special day in baseball…and an important day in history.
On April 15th, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, becoming the first African-American baseball player in MLB history, when he signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. And 68 years later, we still honor him, and remember the history and struggles he and so many had to endure.
His No. 42 jersey is the only one universally retired by Major League Baseball, never to be reissued again.
Meanwhile, after a disappointing home opener on Monday, the St. Louis Cardinals entered Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers with the mindset of bouncing back, and tying the series up.
And they were able to do so, and get back over the .500 mark, with a 4-1 victory over the Brewers.
On the mound for the Cardinals was Lance Lynn, who entered the game with a career record of 49-29, after being unable to get win No. 50 in his start last week against the Cubs. He also made his 99th career start. For the Brewers, Willy Peralta, who has had some success against St. Louis in the past, got the start.
The game started off with Lynn striking out Carlos Gomez, followed by a base hit by Jonathan Lucroy. Up stepped Ryan Braun, who would line out to Matt Carpenter, which almost led to a double play. Adam Lind would end the top half of the first inning by flying out to Jon Jay. In the bottom half of the inning, St. Louis started off quickly, with a base hit by Carpenter, followed then by a double from Jason Heyward. Matt Holliday would then hit a single into right field, scoring both Carpenter and Heyward to give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead.
Matt Adams would be the first out, and during Jhonny Peralta’s line-out, Brewers’ shortstop Jean Segura made a bad throw past Lind, allowing Holliday to advance to second. However, Jay would ground-out, but regardless, the Cardinals ended the first inning leading 2-0.
For Lynn, the second inning featured many close plays in the field, including a long throw by Heyward deep in right field territory, in an attempt to throw out Gerardo Parra at second base, but due to the ball falling out of Peralta’s glove, Parra was ruled safe. Lynn, however, would be able to rally around that, and a base hit by Segura, by striking out Scooter Gennett and the pitcher Peralta.
Yadier Molina, who has had his fair share of struggles at the plate this season, led off the bottom of the second with a single, but was thrown out at second following a bunt attempt by Lynn failed to send him over.
The Brewers were able to cut the Cardinals’ lead in half during the third inning, when Aramis Ramirez singled to center, scoring Lucroy. One issue that was plaguing Lynn throughout the duration of the game was how quickly his pitch count was rising. He had nearly 60 pitches before the fourth inning had even begun, and was well into the 70’s during the fourth inning.
Peralta led off the bottom half of the fourth for the Cardinals with a base hit, extending his hitting streak to seven games (10 in total dating back to 2014). Jay then singled as Peralta went to third. With runners on the corners, no one out, and Molina up to bat, the veteran catcher sliced a pitch down the left field line, scoring Peralta, and giving the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. Carpenter would eventually step up to the plate with two outs, and launched a ball off the left field wall, scoring Jay and giving the Cardinals another run to add to their lead.
After five innings, it remained 4-1 Cardinals over the Brewers. And Kevin Siegrist entered the game to replace Lance Lynn, who pitched five innings, allowed six hits, one run, one earned run, along with a walk and four strikeouts. Overall, despite the high pitch count and low amount of innings pitched, it was a strong outing for the veteran Lynn.
Siegrist could not make it out of the sixth, and Seth Maness would enter to get the last out to end the inning.
In the ninth, closer Trevor Rosenthal entered the game, but Braun was able to keep the Brewers alive, getting a base hit that scored the pinch runner, former Cardinals’ pitcher Kyle Lohse. However, Lind would pop out, and the Cardinals would win 4-2, evening the series up, and setting up the tie-breaker game for tomorrow afternoon.
Game-time tomorrow starts at 12:30. John Lackey will get the start for the Cardinals.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
