Saturday’s Game Report: White Sox 6, Cardinals 5
By Rob Rains
It was a bad night to be a Cardinals reliever on Saturday night.
With Kyle Leahy once again working a scheduled short start, the bullpen was asked to cover six innings and couldn’t do it, even after they inherited a 3-0 lead.
The White Sox came back to tie the game, with most of the damage coming against Cooper Hjerpe and Luis Gastelum, before the Cardinals thought they had pulled the game out on an eighth-inning homer by Leo Bernal that put them in front 5-4.
That lead evaporated quickly in the ninth, however, when Riley O’Brien gave up a leadoff walk and then a go-ahead, two-out, two-strike homer to former Cardinal Randal Grichuk, which just cleared the fence in the right field corner.
It was the fourth loss in an opponent’s last at-bat in the last 11 games for the Cardinals.
The six Cardinals relievers combined to walk seven batters, gave up four hits and hit three batters, leading to the six runs.
After Grichuk’s home run the Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals took the early lead with three runs in the second inning, the first two scoring on a double by Masyn Winn. Winn then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Fermin … Nolan Gorman led off the fourth by drawing a walk and scored on a two-out double by Nathan Chuch, who also had a single in the second as he extended his hitting streak to 11 games … Bernal’s homer leading off the eighth was their first hit after the double by Church in the fourth … The Cardinals loaded the bases after Bernal’s homer but Ivan Herrera flew out to end the inning.
On the mound: Once again working on a strict pitch count, Leahy came out of the game after three scoreless innings, allowing only a pair of singles and throwing just 38 pitches … Hjerpe relieved and struggled in his Busch Stadium debut, walking four and allowing two hits and hitting two batters in one inning, leading to the four runs that tied the game. He left with the bases and was charged with two runs that scored after Gastelum relieved … O’Brien suffered his eighth loss and eighth blown save of the season.
Key stat: Bernal’s homer was his third in his first 11 games. He has also driven in 13 runs since he was promoted from Memphis on Sept. 1.
Worth noting: Jordan Walker was out of the Cardinals’ lineup because of a sore ankle which had forced him to leave Friday night’s game early. The injury is not considered serious and Walker could be back as soon as Sunday. He did pinch hit in the ninth inning but struck out … Double A Springfield will wrap up its regular season on Sunday and then begin the first round of the Texas League playoffs on Tuesday night … Thanks to the pre-game ceremony inducting Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols and Bill Sherdel into the Cardinals Hall of Fame, the game drew a crowd of 40,387.
Up next: Michael McGreevy will get the start on Sunday in the final game against the White Sox.
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