The St. Louis Cardinals headed to Arizona on Monday night to begin a three game series against the Diamondbacks, after they had lost two of three against another National League West team, the San Diego Padres. St. Louis saw their National League Central lead dwindle over the course of the weekend, but looked to get back on track once again.
And thanks to stellar fielding by the Cardinals, they were able to do just that, defeating the Diamondbacks by the score of 5-3. For the evening, the starting pitchers were Lance Lynn (9-8, 2.94 ERA), and Jhoulys Chacin, making his 2015 debut.
In the bottom of the second inning, Welington Castillo hit a solo home run to put Arizona on the board, 1-0. Meanwhile, during the following inning, Matt Carpenter matched that win a solo home run of his own, tying the game at 1-1.
It was Carpenter’s 19th home run of the season.
From this point forward, it was the fielding defense of the Cardinals that helped Lynn get out of jams and strand runners from Arizona. First, David Peralta hit a single with one out, bringing up Castillo, who in turn hit a single of his own. Next, Jake Lamb walked, loading the bases up for Aaron Hill. But Lynn got Hill to ground into a double play, ending the inning.
Two inning later, the Cardinals broke the tie in the game when Stephen Piscotty, continuing his hot streak, hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Jason Heyward, to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Hill was able to tie it up once again not long after, doubling deep to center field to score Lamb.
But it was in the seventh inning when the offense of St. Louis took off. Greg Garcia led off with a single, and Peter Bourjos pinch-hit for Lynn, whose final line of the evening was: 6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks. Bourjos sacrificed to advance Garcia to third base. Carpenter followed with a single, putting two on with one out and Tommy Pham at the plate. And Pham singled home both Garcia and Carpenter. The final runs in the game by St. Louis were scored when Yadier Molina hit an RBI single, scoring both Pham and Heyward, to make it 5-2.
Jonathan Broxton came in to relieve Lynn in the seventh inning, and, much like Lynn before him, got out of a jam thanks in part to the Cardinals’ defense. Kevin Siegrist relieved Broxton, pitching a shutout eighth inning, and Trevor Rosenthal entered in the ninth inning to get the save. While allowing a run, when David Peralta scored A.J. Pollock, it wasn’t enough, as the Cardinals won the first game of the series 5-3.
Lynn earned his 10th win of the season, and Rosenthal gets his 39th save as well. With the win, the Cardinals improve to 79-45 on the season.
On Tuesday night, Jaime Garcia will get the start for St. Louis.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
1 comment
Good fielding resulted in the double plays that got the Cardinals out of trouble. But poor fielding (three errors at second base) is what got them in trouble in the first place!
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