Friday’s Game Report: Cardinals 2, Braves 1
By Rob Rains
Jimmy Crooks made certain waiting out a long rain delay was worth it for the Cardinals.
Crooks, who came into the game in the seventh inning, homered leading off the eighth inning to give the Cardinals the win over the Braves on Friday night at Busch Stadium.
The homer, Crooks’ second of the season, came a few minutes after midnight in a game that was delayed for 2 hours, 44 minutes by rain in the top of the fourth inning.
It was only the fourth win of the season for the Cardinals when they scored two runs. They are now 4-23 when scoring two runs this season.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Jordan Walker drove in the first run for the Cardinals with a sixth-inning single that tied the game at 1. His 74th RBI of the season followed a one-out walk to JJ Wetherholt and a single by Ivan Herrera … The Cardinals had only five hits in the game.
On the mound: Kyle Leahy only allowed one hit through the first three innings but had his start cut short because of the long rain delay … That started a parade of relievers for the Cardinals to cover the final six innings. The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Mike Yastrzemski doubled and scored on a single by Austin Riley off George Soriano … Riley O’Brien earned his 23rd save by retiring the Braves in order in the ninth, although he got a scare when Drake Baldwin just missed a game-tying home run with a fly out to the wall in center field.
Key stat: Scoring runs at Busch Stadium continues to be a problem for the Cardinals. They have scored a combined 39 runs in their 15 home games since June 15, an average of 2.6 runs per game. They have gone 6-9 in those games.
Worth noting: Herrera will join Walker and O’Brien on the NL roster for Tuesday night’s All-Star game. Herrera was added to the team on Friday as a replacement at DH for Shohei Ohtani, who will be unable to play because of an injury … The MLB Draft gets underway on Saturday with the Cardinals having six of the top 86 picks and seven overall day one choices, the most of any team. The first pick for the Cardinals will be the 13th overall selection. Rounds 1 through 4 will be completed on Saturday with rounds 5 through 20 on Sunday.
Up next: Matthew Liberatore will get the start on Saturday night in the second game of the series.
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To hear Oli Marmol’s postgame interview: