Sunday’s Game Report: Rays 7, Cardinals 2
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals had to wait through a rain delay that lasted almost four and a half hours on Sunday before they could begin their game against the Rays in Tampa.
The game wasn’t worth the long delay.
The Cardinals trailed 1-0 going to the fifth inning, but Matthew Liberatore walked the bases loaded, and reliever Matt Svanson served up a grand slam on his first pitch to Junior Caminero that sent the Rays to the victory.
It also was a tough day for the Cardinals’ offense, which had only one hit and was shut out until the seventh inning.
The Cardinals and Rays had to sit out the long delay because it was the final day of the only trip for the Cardinals to Tampa this season and the two teams do not have any mutual days off the rest of the season.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Jose Fermin’s single with two outs in the third was the only hit for the Cardinals until Jordan Walker’s RBI single with two outs in the seventh that drove in Alec Burleson, who had reached base on an error … Burleson and Nolan Gorman added hits in the ninth inning, with Burleson scoring again on Gorman’s single, with Walker also reaching base on an infield single with two outs.
On the mound: One of the three hits Liberatore allowed in the first four innings was a two-out homer by Christopher Morel in the fourth … Liberatore fell to 0-5 with three no-decisions in his last eight starts dating back to July 5 … The Cardinals walked five batters and four of them came around to score … Chandler Simpson drove in the final two Tampa runs with a triple off Andre Granillo in the sixth.
Key stat: The Rays stole four bases in the game with one runner caught stealing. In their last nine games the Cardinals have allowed 21 stolen bases and have thrown out six runners. For the season the Cardinals have allowed 106 steals and thrown out 29 runners.
Worth noting: The official time of the delay was four hours, 25 minutes … Before the game, lefthander John King was recalled from his rehab assignment at Memphis and Anthony Veneziano was optioned to the Triple A club … Masyn Winn sat out Sunday’s game because of soreness in his knee, but even though he didn’t play he picked up an error because of an official scoring change from a game earlier on the road trip in Miami … Quinn Mathews allowed one run over 4 1/3 innings for Memphis on Sunday. Three of the four hits he allowed came in his final inning of work … JJ Wetherholt had three hits, raising his average to ..328 since his promotion to Memphis last month.
Up next: The Cardinals return home on Monday night to open a four-game series against the Pirates. Michael McGreevy is the scheduled starter.
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