Sonny Gray days always bring a sense of relief and boy are they fun to watch. Gray was cooking through the first five innings of his night vs a very tough Baltimore lineup.
Gray would get some early help from his defense, as Norm/Winn would turn a smooth double play on the second batter of the game, Adley Rutschman. Winn’s throw was, to no one’s surprise, an absolute laser beam.
Sonny took that and builded some momentum in his 2nd frame, picking up his first two of six total strikeouts. After a first pitch ground out from Westburg, Gray would freeze Santander with a 94mph sinker and Cowser with an 86mph sweeper.
The Cardinals would put up the first run of the game in their half of the 2nd. Norm would draw a one out walk and proceed to swipe second base with no attempted throw from Rutschman with Siani at the dish. Siani took full advantage of the opportunity, sneaking a single up the middle to score Norm to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.
Sonny would rack up a couple more k’s in the 3rd, getting Hays (swinging) and Mateo (looking) both on 94mph sinkers. He would then follow that up with a nine-pitch 4th, inducing three easy ground balls from Rutschman-O’Hearn-Westburg.
The Cardinals would jump all over Dean Kremer in the 4th, opening the inning with back-to-back singles from Burly and Herrera. After a Gorman strikeout, Masyn Winn would deliver with an rbi double over Westburg’s glove at 3B, plating Burly to make it a 2-0 game.
Then the moment we’ve all been waiting for all season, our Lord and Savior, Michael Sinai’s first career nuke jawn. And what a time to deliver! Siani would take a high fastball from Kremer and deposit it into the Cardinals bullpen for a 3-run shot, putting the Cardinals ahead 5-0.
Sonny Gray, who was throwing a no-no up to this point, turned in a quick 5th inning, too. Picking up his final two strikeouts to open the inning, getting Santander on a sweeper and Cowser frozen on a sinker.
But the 6th inning changed tunes, as two unaccustomed Winn errors set things up for Gunnar Henderson. Henderson would then crush a 3-run HR to CF, his fourth HR in four consecutive games, to make it a 5-3 game.
The beautiful thing about baseball is you always get a chance to make up for it, Winn would do just that in the bottom of the 7th.
With the bases loaded vs Pérez, Winn would bloop a soft serve single in between Mountcastle, Mateo, and Pérez, bringing in Goldy to make it a 6-3 game.
JoJo-King-Kittredge-Helsley would work 3.1IP scoreless in relief of Gray tonight, Helsley picking up his 14th save in the process.
Lance Lynn (1-2, 4.17) will take the ball in game two, matching up with Kyle Bradish (0-0, 2.63). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew
Photo from tonight's game courtesy of @mmg49072
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