Sunday’s Game Report: White Sox 5, Cardinals 1
By Rob Rains
Of all the choices of negative numbers which could be used to help illustrate why the Cardinals lost two of three games to the lowly White Sox this weekend, one probably provides the best possible answer.
All of the Cardinal batters not named Nolan Arenado or Willson Contreras combined for six hits in 78 at-bats against a team that had won one road game this season when they arrived in St. Louis on Friday. That works out to be an .077 average.
Four of those hits – including three on Sunday – did not leave the infield.
Five players came into Sunday’s game with streaks of 10 or more at-bats since their last hit. Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn put an end to their streaks with infield hits. Paul Goldschmidt was 0-of-4 and doesn’t have a hit in his last 16 at-bats.
“You’ve got to keep working,” said manager Oli Marmol. “That’s all we can do … there is no answer other than work. A day like today, a series like this one, you’ve got to figure out a way to take this series and we didn’t. We didn’t give ourselves opportunities to do that today.”
The Cardinals’ second, third and fourth hitters – Contreras, Goldschmidt and Arenado – struck out a combined seven times in their 12 at-bats on Sunday.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The only run for the Cardinals came on a home run from Contreras leading off the fourth inning, their only hit that went out of the infield. They had only one other runner reach second base, on a wild pitch, and their only at-bat with a runner in scoring position ended in a strikeout … Winn had been 0-of-16 when he got his infield hit in the eighth while Nootbaar, dropped to ninth in the order, had been 0-of-10 when he got a hit off the pitcher’s leg in the third inning … Dylan Carlson made his season debut after coming off the injured list and grounded out in each of his three at-bats.
On the mound: Matthew Liberatore got the start in the bullpen game and gave up one run in 3 2/3 innings … Kyle Leahy retired all seven hitters he faced, keeping it a 1-1 game through the sixth inning … Giovanny Gallegos took over for the seventh and allowed a home run and two doubles to the three hitters he faced. Over his last two appearances Gallegos has faced seven hitters and not recorded an out, giving up a home run, walk, double, walk, home run, double, double. All seven runners scored. He could be headed to the injured list on Monday after Marmol said after the game, “it doesn’t look right.” Gallegos now has a 12.00 ERA for the season.
Key stat: Contreras leads the team with six home runs – and has only 11 RBIs. His home runs have accounted for eight RBIs, meaning he has driven in only three runs that did not come on a home run.
Worth noting: More of the ugly numbers – the Cardinals have scored three runs or less in 21 of their 34 games … They are now 1-10 in the final game of a series and 0-6 on Sunday … They equaled their season low of four games under .500 (15-19) … Their team average fell to .201 in their 15 home games, where they have a 6-9 record … Their other two current double-digit hitless streaks are by Nolan Gorman (0-of-11) and Alec Burleson (0-of-10) neither of whom played on Sunday … To make room for Carlson the Cardinals optioned Pedro Pages to Memphis, going back to two catchers.
Looking ahead: The homestand continues on Monday night with the first of three games against the Mets. Kyle Gibson is the scheduled starter.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
