Sunday’s Game Report: Cardinals split doubleheader with Reds
The Cardinals ran out of late-inning magic on Sunday night.
After getting their second consecutive walk-off win over the Reds in the afternoon, there was no comeback in the night game as the Cardinals lost 5-3 at Busch Stadium and split the day-night doubleheader.
Harrison Bader drove in the winning run in the Cardinals’ 4-3 victory in the day game as the Cardinals won three of the four games in the back-to-back day-night doubleheaders.
Despite the loss in the night game they picked up a half game on the Cubs and increased their division lead to 3 games.
Here is how the games broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals trailed 3-1 going to the seventh inning in the day game and tied the game on an RBI single by Bader in the seventh and a sacrifice fly from Paul DeJong in the eighth … Jose Martinez led off the ninth with a walk before a ground rule double by Yadier Molina set the stage for Bader’s first career walk-off hit … In the night game the Cardinals scored all of their runs in the third. Andrew Knizner, called up from Memphis as the rosters expanded, hit a two-run homer and Kolten Wong’s RBI triple followed a walk to Dexter Fowler …The Cardinals had only one hit after the fifth inning, a leadoff single by Wong in the eighth, but he was stranded at second … Wong had three of the Cardinals’ six hits … DeJong struck out four times in the game … Matt Carpenter and Bader were the only players to start both games. Carpenter was a combined 0-of-7 with four strikeouts after being the hero in the night game on Saturday night with a walk-off single.
On the mound: Daniel Ponce de Leon got the start in the night game after being recalled from Memphis and pitched into the fifth inning, leaving with the game tied 3-3. Dominic Leone let in one of the two runners he inherited to score, tagging Ponce de Leon with the loss … The Cardinals also used two of the pitchers just recalled from Memphis – Mike Mayers and Junior Fernandez – before John Brebbia got out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth when Bader threw out a runner at the plate … Miles Mikolas allowed all three of the Reds runs in the first game in the third inning, when he gave up three of the four Reds hits in his six innings of work … Ryan Helsley worked two scoreless innings before Carlos Martinez struck out the side in the ninth.
Key stat: Since the All-Star break the Cardinals are 23-8 against their NL Central opponents. Exactly half of their remaining games – 13 of 26 – will be against teams from the division.
Worth noting: The only surprise among the September callups by the Cardinals was catcher Joe Hudson, who was added to the 40-man roster when Lane Thomas, out with a broken wrist, was moved to the 60-day injured list. Hudson will serve as insurance for Matt Wieters, who had to come out of the game on Saturday night with a sore calf muscle … Dylan Carlson stole his 20th base of the minor-league season on Sunday, giving him a combined 25 homers and 20 steals between Springfield and Memphis … The rookie-level Johnson Cardinals advanced to the Appalachian League finals on Sunday.
Looking ahead: Adam Wainwright will get the start on Monday in a day game against the Giants, the opener of a four-game series. It will conclude the Cardinals’ marathon of five games in about 51 hours because of the back to back doubleheaders.
