By Rob Rains
The stage was set for Paul Goldschmidt to be the hero for the Cardinals on Saturday at Busch Stadium.
Bottom of the ninth. Two outs in a tie game. Winning run at second. A chance for Goldschmidt to find a moment of joy in what has been a frustrating start to the season, especially at home.
Instead, he grounded into a force out, sending the game to the 10th inning. Former Cardinal Tommy Pham delivered an RBI single in the top of the inning to give the White Sox the lead – before the rain arrived.
The Cardinals had the bases loaded with two outs and an 0-1 count on Nolan Gorman when it began to pour at Busch Stadium. After a delay of 3 hours, 3 minutes, the game resumed – and was over on four pitches.
Ivan Herrera pinch-hit for Gorman and was called out on strikes to end the game.
That only added to the Cardinals’ frustration as they fell to 6-8 at home, with half of those wins coming against the White Sox and Marlins – who have a combined record of 16-51.
Goldschmidt saw his season average at Busch fall to .157 (8-of-51) with his 0-of-5 day, with only three RBIs in the team’s 14 home games.
Here is how Saturday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals got all of their runs in the fifth inning on a two-run double by Brendan Donovan and a three-run homer from Nolan Arenado. It was Arenado’s first homer at Busch since Aug. 19 of last season … Arenado reached base in all five of his plate appearances with two singles and two walks in addition to the home run … Their only other hit was a single by Michael Siani, also in the fifth … Willson Contreras drew three walks … In the 10th, a single by Arenado and a fielder’s choice, with Goldschmidt holding at third, loaded the bases with nobody out. Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn both struck out before the rain delay … The team was 3-of-13 with a runner in scoring position and their combined team average at home fell to ..206 this season (93-of-451).
On the mound: The first three hitters of the game reached base off Lance Lynn, leading to two first-inning runs. Lynn had allowed only two runs combined in the first inning of his six previous starts this season … A leadoff single led to a third run in the fourth inning and Lynn walked the first two batters in the sixth, knocking him out of the game … Both of those runners came around to score on a two-out single off Andrew Kittredge … JoJo Romero and Ryan Helsley kept the game tied in the eighth and ninth, but the White Sox took the lead off Ryan Fernandez in the 10th.
Key stat: The Cardinals’ hitters other than Arenado and Contreras were a combined 3-of-55 in the first two games of the series. The White Sox came into Saturday’s game with a 5.10 ERA, the second worst in the majors.
Worth noting: Dylan Carlson was back in the Cardinals’ clubhouse on Saturday after playing four games for Memphis. He returned because of a forecast for rain this weekend in Charlotte, where Memphis was playing, and because the team was not scheduled to face a lefthanded pitcher. Carlson will work out this weekend and perhaps could be activated from the injured list early next week … The Cardinals decided to push Kyle Gibson’s start back from Sunday to Monday, also moving Miles Mikolas back a day until Tuesday, giving each starter an extra day of rest.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals announced after the game that Matthew Liberatore will start on Sunday, electing to make it a bullpen game.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
