Royals, Rain Deliver 3-2 Loss For Cardinals
Playing the Kansas City Royals in the rain, the St. Louis Cardinals saw their third straight loss (a season high) on Saturday night.
Edinson Volquez piched six innings in solid form and Alex Gorden managed a two-run homer in a game that got called due to rain in the 6th inning — but not before the Royals won 3-2.
The Royals went up to 28-14, getting them the majors’ best record. However, the Cardinals are still leading the NL Central with 27-16. The game got stopped when Kansas City came up to bat during the sixth, and after a 70 minute wait got called entirely.
“It’s too bad,” the Cardinals’ Randal Grichuk told reporters, noting that they had nine outs with which they could work and were down by just one run. “We let it slip away,” he said, noting that it was tough for the team to “go as a loss.”
Volquez (4-3) walked three and gave up four separate hits. He also gave up a run during the second, snapping a 27 consecutive shutout inning streak on behalf of the Royals’ rotation.
Gorden scored a home run off John Lackey (2-3) during the second inning, improving his stats to 7 of 14 and two career home runs against right-hander Lackey.
Jhonny Peralta led off the Cardinals’ second with a double, and the bases were loaded with none out after Volquez walked Adams and Grichuk. Yadier Molina’s grounder let Peralta score.
Kansas City’s fourth began with Eric Hosmer doubling, then he scored off Perez’s single and brought the Royals to a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals then intentionally walked Gordon.
Cardinals manager Matheny explained he realized it might be a 5-inning game, so they walked Gordon. Unfortunately the idea didn’t work. “We had opportunities,” he said, and that’s just the “story of the game.” The team twice got the bases loaded and ended up having one run. If they’d gotten more, they’d be “celebrating this decision now.”
Matt Carpenter hit a single during the fifth and scored Peter Bourjos for a second Cardinals run. After Matt Holliday got hit by a pitch, the Cardinals had the bases loaded and one out, but the inning ended with a double play after Volquez brought Peralta to ground.
Their three defeats have seen the Cardinals score two runs.
“This is baseball,” Matheny explained. They’d just scored a “whole bunch” of runs back in New York. “Today we left some things on the table.” In other words, fans with tickets to future Cardinals games shouldn’t give up hope just yet.
Holliday has managed to make it to base in some 40 consecutive games starting the season. It’s the longest streak a Cardinal has seen since Pujols set the record of 42 straight starting the 2008 season.
According to the Cardinals, Jason Heyward wasn’t able to start the game due to tightness in his hip. Lance Lynn on the other hand was suffering from cramps in his back during the first inning of his start on Friday, but still managed to labor through some six innings. Lynn explained that this has happened for the first time, and the team is planning to “get it fixed” so they can “get going again.”
For the Royals, Mike Moustakas was pulled after 4 innings due to a bruised collarbone on the left side. His injury happened in the second inning after Molina sent a hard hopper in his direction. Erik Kratz, suffering from left plantar fasciitis, managed to score a home run on rehab assignment for Omaha’s Triple A on Friday. Alex Rios, whose left hand is fractured, may start a rehab assignment in the minor leagues over the next few days.