
How can two baseball games start out so similar, but end so differently? I present to you Tuesday night’s Cardinals/Orioles game as Exhibit A and Wednesday night’s Cardinals/Orioles game as Exhibit B. Very similar games as the Orioles brought out their bats and put the Cardinals down big early. St. Louis Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy suffered much of the same fate as Matthew Liberatore did the night before. There was one key difference, though. Wednesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals fought back after going down big. It would unfortunately not end up being enough at the end, though.
The trouble for Michael McGreevy started with two outs in the top of the 1st inning. Gunner Henderson singled, Basallo walked and then Encarnacion-Strand did damage again as he hit a RBI single scoring Henderson and giving the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Beavers followed that with a single of his own scoring Basallo and upping the Baltimore advantage to 2-0. Leody Tavaras would be the one to give the Cardinals flashbacks to Tuesday night’s game as he crushed a 78 mph McGreevy curve into the right-centerfield seats for a 3-run homer and 5-0 Orioles lead.
It would get worse in the top of the 2nd inning when Narvaez was hit by a McGreevy pitch leading off and he would score two batters later when Pete Alonzo hit a 2-run homer to right giving the Orioles a seemingly insurmountable 7-0 lead. It felt like it was going to be another one of those nights for the Cardinals, but it only seemed that way. This time, the Cardinals flipped the script and came roaring back.
It started in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Nolan Gorman did something that Nolan Gorman hasn’t done in a long time. He hit a home run at Busch Stadium to get the Cardinals started Tuesday night. He caught up with a 96 mph Kyle Bradish sinker and sent it 410 feet into the Cardinals bullpen making it 7-1 Orioles. However, the best was yet to come.
The 5th inning has been a perilous one for the St. Louis Cardinals this season. I’ve lost track of how many games have gotten away from us as opposing teams punished us in the 5th. Well, the tables turned Wednesday night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals came all the way back from a 7-run deficit by plating 6 in the bottom of the 5th inning. It all started with a Bryan Torres single. Two batters later, JJ Wetherholt had a great 8-pitch at-bat drawing a walk. Ivan Herrera followed that with a walk of his own to load the bases. Alec Burleson smoked a single up the middle scoring both Torres and Wetherholt reducing the Orioles lead to 7-3 and the Cardinals weren’t done. Jordan Walker and Nathan Church hit back-to-back doubles scoring 3 more runs to bring St. Louis to within 1 run. After a pitching change, Jose Fermin grounded out to short scoring Church and tying the game at 7!
This was not a good outing by Michael McGreevy, but he did give the Cardinals 5 innings. He also rebounded from a disastrous start in the first 2 innings to holding the Orioles scoreless for the other 3 he was responsible for. He gave St. Louis some innings and didn’t allow any more damage and that allowed the offense to make the comeback. Luis Gastelum was brought into the game to relieve Michael in the top of the 6th inning and he shut the Orioles down 1-2-3 and he did it with ATTITUDE. He was pumping his fist and screaming after he got the last out. Love it!
Ryne Stanek kept the fire going in the top of the 7th inning as he struck out Encarnacion-Strand then walked Beavers, but then got out of the inning as he got Tavares to ground into an inning-ending double play. The Cardinals offense unfortunately could not take advantage of the bullpen holding the Orioles at 7 runs after Bryan Torres reached on a bunt single and then stole second on a play that Baltimore unwisely challenged which eliminated their challenges for the rest of the night. Torres advanced to third on a ground out from JJ Wetherholt, but he would be stranded when Ivan Herrera struck out. Nathan Church walked in the bottom of the 7th inning, but he didn’t even make it into scoring position.
George Soriano had to pitch out of a mini-jam in the top of the 8th inning when Cowser singled to lead off the inning. He was moved into scoring position on a successful sacrifice bunt. The Cardinals intentionally walked Pete Alonzo after Jackson Holliday grounded out advancing Cowser to third base, but Soriano got Henderson to ground out to Wetherholt at short who stepped on second base to end the Orioles 8th inning.
After the Cardinals failed to score in the bottom of the 8th, it was Riley O’Brien’s game in the top of the 9th inning. It didn’t start out well as Basallo hit an excuse me ball past Blaze Jordan at third base for a leadoff single. The Orioles pinch-ran Vasquez as he represented the go-ahead run. Riley did not help his cause by winging a wild pitch to the backstop allowing Vasquez to take second which proved crucial as Encarnacion-Strand blasted a double into the right-centerfield gap giving the Orioles their lead back at 8-7. It could have been worse, but O’Brien managed to get flyouts from Beavers and Tavaras and a groundout from Cowser to end the top of the 9th.
The Cardinals had the heart of the lineup in the bottom of the 9th inning against former Cardinal Andrew Kittredge for the Orioles. Ivan Herrera was first up for St. Louis. Herrera smoked a single to left to give the Cardinals a chance. One of the MLB’s top RBI men, Alec Burleson, was up next for St. Louis. He lined a ball off of the first baseman Encarnacion-Strand which allowed Herrera to move up to second, but he recovered quick enough to tag first to get Burleson out. Jordan Walker was unintentionally intentionally walked by Kittredge putting the potential winning run at first base. Nathan Church had the chance to put on the hero cape. He ripped a ball deep into the hole at 2nd base, but Jackson Holliday made a great play getting Church out at first, but the tying run was only 90 feet away at third and the potential winning run was standing tall at second base in the form of Jordan Walker. Jose Fermin was the Cardinals last hope. Sadly, he popped out to Holliday at second to end the Cardinals night.
I’ll credit the Cardinals for doing something Wednesday night that they did not do Tuesday night. They put up a fierce fight, but the closer was unable to close again and that’s the way baseball goes.
The Cardinals will try to salvage their series against the Orioles in a Thursday afternoon contest at Busch Stadium. St. Louis has not formally announced their starter as of this moment, but Baltimore will send LHP Trevor Rogers to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.





















