Thursday’s Game Report: Cardinals sweep doubleheader over White Sox
By Rob Rains
The good news for the Cardinals is that they won both games of their doubleheader on Thursday to complete a sweep of the three-game series against the White Sox.
The bad news for the Cardinals is that they don’t have any more games left this season against the White Sox.
Andre Granillo certainly had a day to remember in the sweep in Chicago as he picked up his first career win in the first game and then earned the first save of his major-league career in the second game. The final out of that game also was the first major-league strikeout for Granillo.
The Cardinals had to rally from a 4-2 deficit in the eighth inning to win the opener. A two-run homer from Willson Contreras tied the game and an RBI single by pinch-hitter Yohel Pozo drove in what turned out to be the winning run in the 5-4 victory.
In the second game, the Cardinals blew a 6-1 lead when the White Sox scored five runs in the seventh, the big blow a game-tying grand slam by Andrew Benintendi off Kyle Leahy before they came back to win te game 8-6 in the 10th.
Nolan Arenado’s RBI single put the Cardinals in front before Lars Nootbaar, mired in a long slump, homered to account for the final two-run margin.
Here is how Thursday’s games broke down:
At the plate: Contreras drove in five runs combined in the two games as he had a sacrifice fly in addition to his home run in game one, then delivered a two-run double in the second game … Alec Burleson and Arenado hit back-to-back homers in game two, with Burleson delivering a three-run blast in the four-run third inning … Nootbaar broke his 0-of-27 slump with an infield single in game one, when he also walked twice, but he was 0-of-4 in the second game before his home run … Arenado had three hits in the second game after going 0-of-4 in game one.
On the mound: Granillo got the win in game one despite only throwing four pitches, getting the final out in the seventh inning. He retired all three batters he faced in the 10th to earn the save in game two … Erick Fedde allowed two runs, one unearned, over five innings in game one while Michael McGreevy, promoted from Memphis to start game two as the 27th man for the doubleheader, allowed a solo home run and just three hits over five innings in his start … Ryan Helsley picked up the save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning in game one.
Key stat: This was the sixth doubleheader of the season for the Cardinals in the first 75 games of the season. There have only been a total of 17 doubleheaders in the majors this year and 15 teams have not played in one.
Worth noting: Steven Matz became only the second Cardinal to record four strikeouts in an inning in game one. The first batter of the inning reached when strike three was a wild pitch. The only other Cardinal to strike out four batters in an inning was Bob Gibson on June 7, 1966 … The home run by Arenado was the 350th of his career … Sonny Gray had been scheduled to pitck on Wednesday night but when the game was rained out his next start was pushed back to Saturday. That gave him a chance to throw a bullpen session on Thursday and also lines him for a start against the Cubs at home next week.
Up next: The Cardinas return to Busch Stadium to open a three-game series against the Reds on Friday night. Andre Pallante is the scheduled starter.
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