Following a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, the St. Louis Cardinals to Philadelphia to face a familiar foe of theirs…the Philadelphia Phillies. Entering the game, the Cardinals were having a major issue with producing runs.
In fact, heading into Friday night, they had scored four or fewer runs in 12 straight games, which was their longest streak since 1992, and the second longest streak of that sort in all of Major League Baseball this season.
But on Friday night, scoring runs was no issue at all for the Cardinals.
They dominated the Phillies from beginning to end, as they defeated Philadelphia 12-4 at Citizens Bank Park.
The pitching matchup for the game featured Tyler Lyons (1-0, 5.00 ERA) for St. Louis, going up against Phillippe Aumont (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for Philadelphia.
The Cardinals got on the board after a scoreless first inning by both teams. Jason Heyward doubled to right field, and catcher Yadier Molina, trying to get more power in his hitting, smacked a two-run home run deep to left center, giving St. Louis an early 2-0 lead.
Randal Grichuk struck out, and Jon Jay grounded out, but Lyons hit a two-out single, bringing up the lead off hitter, Kolten Wong. And for the second time in the inning, the Cardinals hit a two run home run, as Wong belted it to right field, making it 4-0 Cardinals in the second inning.
Lyons in the second inning pitched another scoreless inning, which included a strikeout of Dominic Brown. He also pitched a 1-2-3 inning during the bottom of the third, capped off by a fly out by Ryan Howard.
In the top of the fourth inning, Lyons was issued a walk to start off. Two batters later, Matt Carpenter walked as well. Shortstop Jhonny Peralta then doubled, scoring both Lyons as well as Carpenter, and making it a 6-0 Cardinals lead.
But the big inning for St. Louis in terms of hitting game in the top of the fifth, where they tacked on five runs in total.
It started with a single by Molina, followed by back to back singles from Grichuk and Jay. Lyons stepped up to bat again, and singled with the bases loaded, scoring Molina to make it 7-0. Wong struck out swinging, but the bases remained loaded. Carpenter singled, scoring Grichuk, and Peralta hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Jay. Mark Reynolds came up to bat with St. Louis up 9-0, and hit a double that just missed going over the wall for a home run, as St. Louis had themselves a 9-0 lead over the Phillies.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Philadelphia finally got on the board. With one out, Ben Revere singled to right field. Cesar Hernandez followed with a double, putting Revere on third. Howard then stepped up to bat, and powered a three-run home run to make it an 11-3 game.
But the Cardinals scored the following inning as well right, as Grichuk provided a solo home run to make it a nine-run difference between the two teams.
Carlos Villanueva entered the game in the sixth inning, as Lyons had his second straight solid start on the mound. His final line for the evening: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
The Phillies would garner one more run in the game during the bottom of the eighth inning, as Cody Asche scored on a Hernandez ground out.
But in the end, St. Louis ended up on top in a 12-4 victory over Philadelphia. St. Louis improves to 44-23, and Philadelphia’s struggles continue, as they fall to 23-46. Lyons picks up his second win of the season.
Tomorrow, John Lackey gets the nod on the mound.
(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
