On Friday, St. Louis, backed by strong pitching (and even hitting) from Jaime Garcia, took game one of a three game series against the Kansas City Royals. It was the 40th win of the season for the Cardinals, as they became the first team in baseball this season to achieve the feat.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the two teams faced off again at Busch Stadium in front of a sellout crowd, as St. Louis looked to win the series, while Kansas City looked to even it up.
And St. Louis, in a game dominated by home runs, defeated Kansas City 3-2 for their 41st win of the season.
The pitchers on the mound for the game were Tyler Lyons (0-0, 5.54) for the Cardinals, and Jeremy Guthrie (4-3, 5.82).
In the first inning, both teams were held scoreless by the opposing pitchers, but in the top of the second inning, the Royals struck first when Alex Gordon hit a solo home run (his eighth of the year) to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead. Guthrie pitched a strong bottom of the second inning as the Cardinals came up empty.
But in the bottom of the third, the Cardinals did not come up empty. Kolten Wong started off the inning with a powerful triple to left field, bringing up Matt Carpenter, looking to break out of a recent slump. And Carpenter singled to deep right field, scoring Wong, but Carpenter would be thrown out while trying to reach for a double.
Jhonny Peralta came up to bat next and lined out, bringing up Mark Reynolds with two outs. Reynolds hit an infield single to second base as the inning continued. Catcher Yadier Molina followed with a single of his own, bringing up two on with two outs for right fielder Jason Heyward, and Heyward singled to right center, giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead as the game headed into the fourth inning.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez, however, immediately tied the game in the top of the fourth by hitting a lead off home run off of Lyons, the second of the day for Kansas City. The Cardinals’ starter bounced back after the at-bat, though, by getting three straight ground outs to end the inning with the game tied 2-2.
Both Lyons and Guthrie began to pitch shutout half-innings, as the game remained tied at 2-2.
That was, however, until Reynolds stepped back up to bat in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out (a Peralta fly out), Reynolds hit a home run 373 feet to left field, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead over the Royals. It was Reynolds fourth home run of the season.
The top of the sixth inning started with Matt Belisle on the mound, as Lyons’ day was done. His final line for the evening: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.
It was for the remainder of the game that a combined effort from Belisle, Randy Choate, Seth Maness, Kevin Siegrist, and Trevor Rosenthal helped propel the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory of the rival Royals, giving them the series win.
It is Lyons’ first win in the majors since 2013, when the Cardinals defeated the Royals 4-1. He had been 0-7 since then. The Cardinals improved to 41-21 with the win, while the Royals dropped to 34-25.
On Monday, John Lackey will start against the Minnesota Twins at Busch.
Note: Game three between these two teams was scheduled to be on Sunday, but due to rain, was postponed. No date official on when the game will be made up.
(Photo by Michael Thomas/Getty Images)
