Sunday’s Game Report: Twins 5, Cardinals 4
By Rob Rains
It was a bad weekend for the Cardinals’ bullpen in Minnesota.
The Twins scored 10 runs from the seventh inning on in the three games, including three runs on Sunday that propelled them to their second win in the series against the Cardinals.
The rally against JoJo Romero and George Soriano featured two runs in the seventh that wiped out a 4-2 Cardinals’ lead and the go-ahead run in the eighth.
In the seventh, a one-out walk to the ninth-place hitter started the rally, which included four consecutive singles, three off Romero. In the eighth, it was a two-out double by the ninth-place hitter, Luke Kaschall, that extended the inning before he scored on a double by Ryan Kreidler.
A two-run homer from JJ Wetherholt in the sixth and his RBI single in the seventh had given the Cardinals the two-run lead.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals only had three hits in the first six innings, but two of them were home runs. Alec Burleson hit his 13th of the season with one out in the fourth, extending his hitting streak to 14 games, before Wetherholt hit his 10th of the season in the sixth, a two-run shot that followed a walk to Nathan Church … In the seventh, Jose Fermin and Church singled with two outs before Wetherholt drove in his third run of the game … Blaze Jordan, starting at first base for the first time, had a single in four at-bats … Jordan Walker saw his 10-game hitting streak snapped as he went 0-of-4, striking out three times.
On the mound: The first two runs for the Twins came on a home run by Victor Caratini off Michael McGreevy in the fourth. McGreevy worked six innings, scattering seven hits, before the bullpen collapse cost him a victory … The 10 runs allowed by the bullpen in the series came in just 9 1/3 innings.
Key stat: The Cardinals finished their six-game trip to New York and Minnesota with a 3-3 record and all three losses were by one run. They are 12-9 this season in games decided by one run.
Worth noting: The Cardinals scored four or more runs in each game of the road trip and have scored at least four runs in each of their last 11 games. The last time they did that was in the first 11 games of last season. The last time they did it in more than 11 consecutive games was a 12-game streak in 2004.
Up next: The Cardinals return home on Monday night to open a brief homestand with the first of three games against the Padres. Dustin May is the scheduled starter.
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