Tuesday’s Game Report: Marlins 5, Cardinals 0
By Rob Rains
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Marlins did not trade Sandy Alcantara before his start Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
One of the top starting pitchers expected to be traded in advance of Thursday’s deadline, Alcantara helped his cause by allowing only three hits over five scoreless innings before the Marlins’ bullpen completed the shutout.
Traded by the Cardinals to the Marlins after the 2017 season, Alcantara beat the Cardinals for only the second time in seven career starts – even though he now has a 1.71 career ERA against his former team.
The Cardinals mounted only one threat against Alcantara, when they loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth on a single, walk and hit batter, but he struck out Alec Burleson to end the inning.
Alcantara outdueled Sonny Gray, who gave up the first three Miami runs before coming out of the game after the fifth inning.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals finished the game with only four hits, all singles, as they were shut out for the 11th time this season … They also drew five walks and had two batters hit by pitches but only had four at-bats with a runner in scoring position and failed to get a hit in those situations … Victor Scott II drew two walks and stole two bases, increasing his season total to 29.
On the mound: Gray gave up a two-run homer to Graham Pauley, the Marlins’ ninth-place hitter, in the second and another two-out run in the fifth … Gray has not pitched past the fifth inning in any of his last five starts … Steven Matz allowed the final two runs for the Marlins, giving up three hits in the sixth … John King had to come out of the game after apparently hurting his left side while pitching in the ninth inning.
Key stat: The Cardinals are 8-15 in July and have been outscored 125-80 this month. The loss dropped them 10 games behind the division-leading Brewers, their biggest deficit of the season.
Worth noting: Brendan Donovan got the night off after hitting .190 (8-of-42) since the All-Star break … Nolan Gorman served as the DH for Springfield on Tuesday night in the first game of his rehab assignment and went 0-of-4, striking out twice … Gorman is expected to play second base on Wednesday night in Springfield while Lars Nootbaar begins his rehab assignment as the DH … JJ Wetherholt hit another leadoff home run for Memphis, at Norfolk, on Tuesday night and has seven home runs in his last 13 games, increasing his season total to 12 combined between Springfield and Memphis.
Up next: Miles Mikolas will get the start on Wednesday night in the final game of the series and homestand.
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