Sunday’s Game Report: Rays 11, Cardinals 7
By Rob Rains
There is one positive way to look at the Cardinals’ season-opening three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays – they won two of the three games.
The negative way to look at the series is that they allowed 41 hits and 23 runs, 16 of which scored in just 13 innings against the bullpen.
The offense produced 22 runs, but a couple of failed opportunities on Sunday cost them a chance to complete a series sweep.
The final game of the series might have turned on just one at-bat, when Masyn Winn came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh with the Cardinals trailing 6-4. He popped out on the first pitch.
Had the result of the at-bat been different, it could have changed how the Cardinals deployed their bullpen the rest of the game, when Matt Pushard, making his MLB debut, and Chris Roycroft allowed five runs over the final two innings.
That negated a three-run rally in the eighth for the Cardinals which included home runs from Nolan Gorman and Pedro Pages, which followed an earlier three-run homer from Jordan Walker.
“Sometimes that’s just the way it plays out,” said Cardinals’ manager Oli Marmol.
Dustin May made his Cardinals debut and allowed six runs over four innings.
“There was a lot of bad luck and a lot of bad execution tied together,” May said. “I missed too much in the heart of the plate.”
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Walker had a three-hit day, adding a double and single to his home run, and scored three runs … Before the failed chance in the seventh, the Cardinals trailed 6-4 when they left a runner on third in both the fifth and sixth innings … Gorman’s homer in the eighth was measured at an estimated 443 feet … Winn had a single and a double … Victor Scott II had a pair of singles and finished the first three games of the season with a team-high five hits in 10 at-bats.
On the mound: May allowed 10 hits over his four innings. He allowed three runs in the second and then had two outs and nobody on base in the fourth when he walked the ninth-place hitter, then gave up three consecutive doubles which produced three more runs … Justin Bruihl worked two scoreless innings and George Soriano made his Cardinals debut with one scoreless inning before Pushard allowed three runs in the eighth and Roycroft gave up two runs in the ninth.
Key stat: This was the most hits the Cardinals have allowed in a three-game season-opening series at home since 1938, when the Pirates had a combined 44 hits in the first three games at Sportsman’s Park.
Worth noting: The 41 hits were the most the Cardinals have allowed in the first three games of the season since the Rockies had 43 in 2001 at Colorado … This was first time the Cardinals scored six or more runs in each of the first three games of the season since 2003 against Milwaukee … Ivan Herrera recovered well enough from catching on Saturday to be able to DH but went 0-of-5 … Thomas Saggese made his first regular-season start in left field and made a diving catch on his first chance in the first inning.
Up next: The Mets come to town on Monday night to begin a three-game series at Busch Stadium. Kyle Leahy will get the start in the opener, followed by Andre Pallante on Tuesday night and Matthew Liberatore on Wednesday.
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