Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 1, Royals 0
By Rob Rains
The start to this season has been tough for Jordan Walker offensively, with only a few moments that he truly could enjoy.
He had one of them on Saturday night.
Walker’s home run leading off the sixth inning was the only run of the game as the Cardinals beat the Royals in Kansas City.
It was Walker’s third homer of the season but his first since April 13. In between that homer and the one on Saturday night, Walker had only 10 hits, eight of them singles, in 79 at-bats, a .127 average, and struck out 28 times.
But his swing against the Royals gave the Cardinals their seventh win in eight games on the current road trip, and their 12th in their last 13 games overall. They now are 26-20, a season-high six games over .500.
Walker’s homer was one of only two hits for the Cardinals, and one of only six combined hits total between the two teams. The game was played in 1 hour, 49 minutes, the Cardinals’ fastest game since 2002.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The only other hit for the Cardinals was a two-out single by Ivan Herrera in the fifth inning … Their only other baserunner came as a result of an error by Jonathan India in front of a double play …. Willson Contreras saw his on-base streak snapped at a career-high 27 games … The Cardinals did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
On the mound: Miles Mikolas allowed only two hits over his six shutout innings while walking two and striking out four. Mikolas has only given up a total of four runs in his last five starts, covering a combined 27 2/3 innings … Kyle Leahy gave up singles to the first two hitters he faced in the eighth, including a bunt, before Donovan made two outstanding plays, including starting a double play, to preserve the 1-0 lead … Winn’s play came with Ryan Helsley on the mound in the ninth, helping him to a 1-2-3 inning and his ninth save.
Key stat: The Cardinals had been 2-31 in their previous 33 games in which they had no more than two hits. The last time they won a game 1-0 with only two hits and one of them a home run was on Aug. 26, 1969 over Houston on a home run from Julian Javier.
Worth noting: This was the Cardinals’ 130tj game all-time against the Royals and only the second 1-0 win. The other was on May 2, 2022 in St. Louis on a home run from Paul Goldschmidt … The Cardinals played another errorless game and got outstanding defensive plays from Victor Scott II on a fly ball at the warning track in the fourth inning and the big plays from Donovan and Winn in the final two innings. The Cardinals have not committed an error in the first eight games on this trip … Minor-league catcher Rainiel Rodriguez homered for the fourth game in a row on Saturday for the rookie Complex League team. The 18-year-old Rodriguez has six homers in his first 10 games of the season, in 31 at-bats, while the rest of his team has combined for a total of three homers.
Up next: The Cardinals will send Matthew Liberatore to the mound on Sunday to try to complete a sweep of the series and finish off an 8-1 road trip. Former Cardinal Michael Wacha is scheduled to start for the Royals.
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