Monday’s Game Report: Angels 5, Cardinals 4 (10 innings)
By Rob Rains
After a perfect opening series to the regular season, the Cardinals weren’t as fortunate on Monday night.
Despite allowing only four hits, and none when the Angels scored twice in the 10th inning, the Cardinals suffered their first loss of the year in the opener of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.
All three Angels batters who walked in the first seven innings came around to score, as did another walk in the 10th. One run scored in the extra inning on a fielder’s choice grounder and the second on a sacrifice fly.
The Cardinals scored once in the bottom of the 10th but left the tying run stranded on first.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Lars Nootbaar remained hot as he led off the first inning with a home run, walked twice and also had a single … Brendan Donovan hit his first homer of the season and Nolan Arenado added an RBI single … The Cardinals’ run in the 10th came on a sacrifice fly by Victor Scott II … Willson Contreras and Masyn Winn both remained hitless in the first four games of the year. Contreras was 0-of-4, striking out three times, and is 0-of-18 to begin the season. Winn was 0-of-5, striking out twice, and is 0-of-14.
On the mound: Miles Mikolas only allowed two hits in his 5 2/3 innings and walked two, both of whom came around to score … A two-out walk by Ryan Fernandez led to the third Angels run in the seventh that tied the game and erased a 3-2 Cardinals lead … Phil Maton struck out the side in the eighth and Ryan Helsley pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth, but JoJo Romero could not get through the 10th without allowing the two runs despite not allowing a hit.
Key stat: The game drew an announced attendance of 21,206, the smallest crown in the 20 seasons of Busch Stadium 3 that was played without attendance restrictions because of Covid.
Worth noting: Luken Baker made his first start of the season and had two hits and drew a walk as the DH … Jordan Walker and Scott II also had two-hit games … The Cardinals announced the opening-day roster for their Double A affiliate in Springfield and it includes their last two first-round draft picks, outfielder Chase Davis and infielder J.J. Wetherholt, who is skipping the high A level and jumping directly from low A Palm Beach. Tekoah Roby was named the starting pitcher for their season-opener on Friday against Wichita.
Up next: Matthew Liberatore will get the start on Tuesday night in the second game of the series. He will be opposed by Kyle Hendricks, a former Cub who signed with Los Angeles as a free agent. Hendricks has a career 14-4 record against the Cardinals.
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