Thursday’s Game Report: Cardinals split doubleheader with Royals
By Rob Rains
A late-inning comeback gave the Cardinals the win in the first game of their day-night doubleheader against the Royals on Thursday at Busch Stadium.
They needed another one in the night game, but didn’t get it.
Ivan Herrera’s eighth-inning home run in the day game put the Cardinals – who trailed 3-0 going to the seventh inning – in front and after they gave up the tying run in the ninth and another run in the 10th, they scored twice in the bottom of the 10th to get the 6-5 victory.
Willson Contreras drove in the winning run as he celebrated his 1,000th career game in the major leagues with the walk-off single, giving the Cardinals thei first extra-inning win this season.
The Cardinals did come back from a 5-1 deficit in the night game, but that was with a four-run third inning, before the Royals regained the lead and held on to win 7-5.
Starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore had to come out of the game after facing one batter in the fifth inning with what was described by a team spokesman as “fatigue-related issues.”
Here is how Thursday’s games broke down:
At the plate: Contreras had a big day with four hits, four RBIs and two runs scored. He singled in the Cardinals’ first run in game two before adding a two-run double … Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer to cap the four-run third inning, but the Royals allowed only two hits after that inning and neither runner advanced past first base … The Cardinals struck out nine times in their final 18 plate appearances after the fifth inning … In the first game, the offense struggled against Royals starter Noah Cameron with only two hits through six innings.
On the mound: Liberatore was charged with all seven runs in his four-plus innings, his second consecutive rough start. He gave up eight hits, including two home runs … Miles Mikolas worked six innings in the day game, giving up three runs on eight hits … Ryan Helsley suffered the blown save in the day game, allowing two singles and a sacrifice fly … JoJo Romero also gave up a run in the 10th inning before the Cardinals came back in the bottom of the inning … John King allowed a runner he inherited from Liberatore to score in game two before the bullpen shut out the Royals over the final four innings.
Key stat: The Cardinals had been 0-20 this season when trailing after seven innings before rallying for the win in the day game, then promptly fell to 1-21 when trailing after seven innings with the loss in the night game.
Worth noting: Jonathan India led off the day game with a home run. It was the second time he did that at Busch Stadium 3 and both times it came off Mikolas … This was the fifth doubleheader for the Cardinals in their first 62 games of the season their most at this point in the season other than in 2020 since 1964 … Riley O’Brien was promoted from Memphis to be the 27th man for the DH and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in the opener … Jordan Walker is eligible to come off the injured list on Sunday but might need more time to recover after getting an injection to try to reduce the inflammation in his left wrist … James Ramsey, a former first-round draft pick of the Cardinals who played in their farm system for three years before he was traded to Cleveland, was promoted to the head coaching position on Thursday at Georgia Tech.
Up next: The Cardinals will host the Dodgers over the weekend with Sonny Gray set to start the opening game of the three-game series on Friday night.
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