What’s up, fam? Long time, no talk, but we have to have fun with this one tonight!
The Cardinals would pull off a thrilling, 7-6, victory in a 12-inning affair with the Marlins. The game was far from ordinary, as a 1-1 game heading to the 8th inning turned into some of the wildest baseball ever the final four frames. So with that being said, let’s get into this one. And for what it’s worth, this is my favorite win of the season up to this point.
Sonny Gray took the mound tonight in Miami and he was dominate, but dominate in an efficiency standpoint rather than racking up a million whiffs and k’s.
Sonny was also helped in a big way by his defense behind him. Case in point being the double play Masyn Winn turned on the Marlins second batter of the game, Bryan De La Cruz. Winn would field the grounder and beat Chisholm to 2B himself, firing the ball over to get De La Cruz at 1B.
Michael Siani (worship him!!!) continued the defensive effort behind Gray in the 2nd, ranging back to deep CF on a first-pitch liner from Sánchez.
And guess what? Or who? Oh yeah, that Masyn Winn fella turning another 6u-3 DP to erase a leadoff single from Tim Anderson in the 3rd. Winn would beat Anderson to the bag and fire over to Goldy to get Lopez out on the double play.
Through three innings, Sonny Gray was sitting at 21 pitches.
The Cardinals would finally crack the 0-0 tie and Braxton Garrett how we all thought they would, with a Michael Siani solo HR on the first pitch to open the 5th inning, making it a 1-0 Cardinals game.
The Marlins would tie things up, 1-1, with a two-out triple from Jazz Chisholm in the bottom of the 6th, as Jazz would shoot a ball past a diving Goldy down the line and into the RF corner.
The Cardinals would retake the lead in the 8th on Calvin Faucher, who wouldn’t help his own case with a couple of wild pitches. Iván Herrera would be the hero this inning, blooping a triple (not sure about that scoring) to plate Winn and Goldy to take a 3-1 lead. Brendan Donovan followed that up with an rbi single to CF, making it 4-1.
But, what do ya know? The Marlins would answer right back with three of their own with two outs in the bottom of the 8th. JoJo would come in relief of Gray, who was only at 84 pitches, but his command was getting a little fizzled in the 8th with a walk to Lopez.
Chisholm would draw a walk and De La Cruz would follow that up with a 3R HR on a changeup that stayed up from Romero, tying the game, 4-4.
As the game went to extras, neither team would be able to plate a run in the 10th. Cronin would strand Gorman at 3B after Goldy moved him over on a groundout to second. Cronin then struck out Arenado on a slider and got Burly (pinch-hitting for Herrera) on a fly out to LF.
Ryan Fernandez was working his second inning of work in the 10th, stranding two runners in scoring position to take things to the 11th. Lopez would sacrifice bunt Anderson over to 3B, but Bruján would pop out to Goldy in foul territory for a quick second out.
The Cardinals then elected to IBB Chisholm, who advanced to 2B on defensive indifference. Fernandez then struck out De La Cruz on a front door slider, the 9th pitch of the at bat.
A Dylan Carlson sac-fly in the 11th would give the Cardinals a brief, 5-4, lead. But the Marlins would answer right back on a Sánchez rbi FC, on a SICK diving stop from Masyn Winn. I want to point out how incredible smart a play it was here from Masyn to look to the plate and gather his feet for the play at first instead of forcing a throw home.
And boy, did it turn out to work in the biggest way. With AJ Puk now in the game for Miami, Masyn Winn would come to the dish with one out in the 12th and he would crank a 2R shot off Puk to LF to put the Cardinals back on top, 7-5.
With Kittredge back out for his second inning of work in the 12th, Nick Gordon would greet him with an rbi triple to make it a 7-6 game. The triple was in question, as the ball got lodged under the wall in RF for Carlson, but it didn’t matter because Carlson pulled out the HOSE!!!!
On a Tim Anderson liner, Carl Bean would set himself up perfectly for the throw home, nailing Gordon out for a 9-2 double play to keep the score at 7-6.
Kittredge would get Lopez to ground out to Arenado to end the long game one marathon, ending with a 7-6 Cardinals winner.
Lance Lynn (2-3, 3.75) will get the nod in game two, matching up against Roddery Muñoz (1-2, 4.56). First pitch is scheduled for 5:10pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew