Saturday’s Game Report: Phillies 4, Cardinals 1
By Rob Rains
There was one primary reason the Cardinals were not able to come back from an early deficit in Saturday’s game against the Phillies at Busch Stadium.
They kept hitting into double plays.
For only the second time in the last 51 seasons the Cardinals grounded into five double plays, which allowed the Phillies to protect their early lead and pick up the victory.
Three of the double plays came in the first three innings, including one in the third when the Cardinals had the bases loaded with only one out.
The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off Miles Mikolas before increasing the lead to 3-0 in the fifth.
The last time the Cardinals grounded into five double plays was on April 27, 2011 at Houston, the only time it has happened since 1974.
Here is how Saturday’s game broke down:
At the plate: After getting the night off on Friday, Willson Contreras had two hits, including a single in the sixth that drove in the Cardinals’ only run. He also beat out an infield single in the eighth … Their only extra-base hit was a double by Luken Baker in the sixth, and he scored on Contreras’ hit … Brendan Donovan’s single in the second was his 20th hit of the season, tied for the most in the majors … Lars Nootbaar reached base on a walk and infield single. He has reached base in all 13 games he has played.
On the mound: After generating just two swings and misses in 81 pitches in his last start in Boston, Mikolas was much better on Saturday, getting 11 swings and misses in 82 pitches over his five innings of work. His ERA dropped from 11.25 to 9.00 as he allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six … Steven Matz made his last relief appearance before rejoining the starting rotation and allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings … Roddery Munoz made his Cardinals debut and struck out the only two hitters he faced to strand runners on second and third in the eighth.
Key stat: The Cardinals have scored in only three of their last 33 innings, producing a total of four runs. They have not homered in their last 145 at-bats.
Worth noting: Before the game the Cardinals placed Masyn Winn on the 10-day injured list and activated Nolan Gorman, who had been out with a strained hamstring. Gorman appeared as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and flied to center … Winn had to come out of Friday night’s game after the first inning because of back spasms and the team decided not to have him try to play through the injury or play a man short for the next several days. “We feel better about the route we’re taking,” manager Oli Marmol said. Thomas Saggese is expected to get the bulk of the work at shortstop in Winn’s absence although Brendan Donovan finished the game there on Saturday … The injury forced catcher Pedro Pages into playing second base on Friday night, a position he said he thought he last played when he was “about 12.”
Up next: Matthew Liberatore will get the start in the final game of the series on Sunday. The Cardinals will be trying to win their first series against the Phillies since 2017.
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