Thursday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Giants 0
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals were in need of a big hit. So was Alec Burleson. Both got it on the same swing.
Burleson’s home run with one out in the seventh inning broke up a scoreless duel between Miles Mikolas and Logan Webb and sent the Cardinals to a win over the Giants on Thursday, salvaging the final game of the four-game series in San Francisco.
The Cardinals had scored only seven runs in the first 33 innings of the series before Burleson’s third homer of the season, which snapped his personal 0-of-14 streak,
Mikolas turned in his best start of the season, pitching 6 1/3 innings, as the Cardinals won for only the second time in the first seven games of their 10-game West Coast trip.
Here is how Thursday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinas added a second run in the seventh on an infield single by Tommy Edman, then picked up three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer in the eighth, his second of the week since coming off the injured list …Dylan Carlson also delivered an RBI double … Webb had held the Cardinals to just three hits before Burleson’s homer … Nolan Gorman had a single in five at-bats but struck out the other four times.
On the mound: Mikolas allowed just one hit through the first four innings, then had to pitch out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the fifth. A great play by Andrew Knizner, diving back to the plate after fielding a ball, got the second out before a fly out ended the inning … Genesis Cabrera pitched around two hits and a walk in his 1 2/3 innings before Drew VerHagen finished off the shutout with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two.
Key stat: Burleson’s home run was only the second hit by a Cardinals’ outfielder over the past nine games, a stretch of a combined 98 at-bats.
Worth noting: The next stop on Adam Wainwright’s rehab tour will be on Sunday in Durham, N.C., where he will start for Memphis. The Cardinals want Wainwright to throw about 90 pitches after throwing 74 in his second rehab start on Tuesday in Wichita … After being optioned from the Cardinals on Wednesday, Jordan Walker was in the starting lineup for Memphis on Thursday night.
Looking ahead: Jack Flaherty will get the start on Friday night as the Cardinals open a three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. As a reminder, the game will be broadcast only on Apple TV.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
