Tuesday’s Game Report: Marlins 6, Cardinals 0

Tuesday’s Game Report: Marlins 6, Cardinals 0

By Rob Rains

The trade that sent Christian Yelich from Miami to the Brewers is still haunting the Cardinals even when Yelich is thousands of miles away from St. Louis, as he was on Tuesday night when the Brewers were playing in San Diego.

That’s because one of the young prospects Milwaukee sent to the Marlins in that trade was right-hander Jordan Yamamoto, who for a second time in a week proved to be too tough on the Cardinals.

After making his major-league debut last week in Miami, holding the Cardinals to three hits over seven scoreless innings, Yamamoto was even better on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. He allowed just two hits over another seven scoreless innings in the Marlins’ win.

Since 2009, Yamamoto is only the fifth starter to begin his major-league career with two scoreless outings covering at least 12 innings against the Cardinals. The others to do it were Bud Norris in 2009 (13 innings), Ricky Romero in 2010-11 (17 innings) Jake Arrieta in 2013-14 (12 innings) and Walker Buehler in 2018 (15 innings).

In the 14 seasons since Busch Stadium III opened, Yamamoto is only the second Marlins pitcher to throw seven or more scoreless innings against the Cardinals. Anibal Sanchez blanked the Cardinals over seven innings on May 19, 2010.

According to Stats Inc., Yamamoto is the first pitchers in the majors to have seven or more shutout innings allowing three hits or less in each of his first two career starts since George Dumont of the Washington Senators 104 years ago in 1915.

Here is how the game broke down:

At the plate: The Cardinals’ only hits off Yamamoto were a two-out double by pitcher Jack Flaherty in the third and a two-out single by Dexter Fowler in the seventh. Flaherty was the only runner to reach second base … Their only other baserunners against Yamamoto came on walks, Paul DeJong in the first (before he was caught stealing) and Kolten Wong in the fifth … The two hits were their fewest ever in a home game against the Marlins. The previous low had been three on April 30, 2002 … With two outs in the eighth they loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter (after an error on a foul popup kept the inning alive) before Paul Goldschmidt popped out on the first pitch.

On the mound: Flaherty matched Yamamoto for a while, allowing only one hit through four scoreless innings before Starlin Castro led off the fifth with his first home run in St. Louis since 2015, when he was with the Cubs …. A two-run homer by Brian Anderson in the seventh increased Miami’s lead to 3-0. Flaherty allowed only two other hits and one walk while striking out eight over seven innings … A three-run eighth against Tyler Webb and John Brebbia blew the game open … Genesis Cabrera worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Key stat: The loss was only the second time the Cardinals have been shut out in 35 home games this season and fifth overall, two against the Marlins in the last seven games. It also was the first time they have been shut out at home by the Marlins since Aug. 5. 2003.

Worth noting: Alex Reyes had more issues in a start for Memphis on Tuesday. He worked five innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits and three walks while striking out nine. He threw 95 pitches as his record fell to 1-3 with a 7.67 ERA in nine games, including six starts. In his 27 innings at the Triple A level Reyes has issued 23 walks … The Cardinals had been expected to activate Jedd Gyorko from the injured list on Tuesday but he had more problems with a sore calf after going through drills on Monday so no roster move was made.

Looking ahead: Daniel Ponce de Leon will make his second start in place of Adam Wainwright in the rotation on Wednesday night. Wainwright is set to be activated from the injured list and make the final start of the series against the Marlins on Thursday night.

Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains

Tuesday Post-Game Audio: Shildt, Mikolas, Wong, DeJong 6-18-19: CLICK HERE