Friday’s Game Report: Cardinals 7, Brewers 1
By Rob Rains
One of the reasons why Nolan Arenado wanted to come back and play before the end of the season was for the kind of moment that presented itself in the fifth inning on Friday night.
Arenado has not had a lot of big highlights this year, even before the shoulder injury that put him on the injured list for six weeks, but this offered him another chance.
Three consecutive singles had loaded the bases for the Cardinals and Arenado greeted Milwaukee reliever Rob Zastryzny with a double to left that cleared the bases, the biggest hit in a five-run inning in the win at Busch Stadium.
It was only the third three-RBI game this season for Arenado, the others coming on May 23 and June 10.
Arenado’s double was his only hit of the game in five at-bats, leaving him 3-of-16 in four games since returning to the lineup on Monday.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: A leadoff walk in each of the first two innings led to runs for the Cardinals, who then blew open a 2-1 game with the five-run fifth. After the Arenado double, he scored on a double by Thomas Saggese, who came home on a single by Jordan Walker … The Cardinals had seven hits in the inning, sending 10 batters to the plate … Alec Burleson had three of the team’s 14 hits.
On the mound: Sonny Gray won his 14th game of the year allowing only a home run by Sal Frelick over his six innings. He scattered nine hits, did not walk a batter and struck out seven … Gordon Graceffo pitched around a single and a walk in his two scoreless innings before Ryan Fernandez closed out the win, allowing an infield single before ending the game with back-to-back strikeouts.
Key stat: The Cardinals had 28 plate appearances through the fifth inning with 16 at-bats with a runner in scoring position. They put the leadoff hitter on base in each of the first five innings.
Worth noting: Arenado had three combined RBIs in his previous 16 games before Friday night, in a span of 58 at-bats … Packy Elkins, the Cardinals’ game planning coach, is coaching first base this weekend while Stubby Clapp is away from the team because of a family matter … The Springfield Cardinals advanced to the Texas League championship series with a win over Tulsa on Thursday night. The best-of-three finals against Midland will begin on Sunday night in Springfield. The team will be trying to win its first league title since 2012.
Up next: Miles Mikolas will get the start on Saturday night in the second game of the series.
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