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Giants @ Cardinals recap 6.1- Cardinals drop series finale in spectacular fashion

Tim Hudson kept the Cards' offense quiet; Lance Lynn allowed the Giants' offense to be loud. Cards drop series finale 8-0

By WyoCardsFan
Lance Lynn compares this start to the last start in his mind. The last start was better.
Lance Lynn compares this start to the last start in his mind. The last start was better.
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

San Francisco Giants @ St. Louis Cardinals

Tim Hudson (5-2, 1.92 ERA, 2.94 FIP) vs. Lance Lynn (6-2, 3.13 ERA, 3.18 FIP)

1:15 p.m. CT
Busch Stadium- St. Louis, Missouri

Lineups:

The Giants welcome Posey back to the lineup after not seeing him for the first three in the series.  Michael Morse is not in the lineup with an ouchie foot.

Some News-

  • You may not have heard; it has kindof flown under the radar, but the Cardinals promoted some guy, and he was pretty good yesterday - STLToday
  • Kevin Siegrist is making progress, may return June 8 when he's eligible to come off the DL - MLB.com
  • Kyle Lohse pitched a three-hit, no walk, complete-game shutout to lead the Brewers to an 8-0 win over the Cubs - MLB.com
  • Cincinnati will play Arizona this afternoon - MLB.com
  • Pittsburgh will play Los Angeles tonight on ESPN2, after losing 12-2 yesterday - MLB.com

Against the opponent (before this game)-

all-time record (952-1062)
2013 (4-2) 
2014 (1-2)

Today's game was the 2024th regular season bout between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants.  By losing, the Cardinals fell further behind in the lifetime series, which now stands at 952-1063.

The last time these teams faced each other on June 1 was just last year.  Adam Wainwright and Shelby Miller won both ends of a lopsided double-header over Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain, outscoring the Giants 15-1 that day.

Things we were looking for-

In spants' series preview, she outlined several players who have contributed positively to their teams' league-leading success this year, including Michael Morse, Hunter Pence, Angel Pagan, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Tim Hudson (today's starter), and a few bullpen guys.  All the offensive guys except Crawford have had a pretty good series so far.

Lance Lynn pitched the best game of his career in his last start.  He threw a complete game shutout against the New York Yankees, only allowing five hits and three walks.

Obviously, the big news for the Cardinals has been the promotion of Oscar Taveras.  He homered yesterday in his debut, and he's batting fifth and starting in right field today.

Things that happened-

Top Halves-

The Giants jumped on Lance early and often.  Three consecutive singles by Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence, and Buster Posey scored one run.  With one out, Gregor Blanco tapped a grounder to Kolten Wong.  It should have been a double play, but Wong booted it twice, allowing everyone to reach their bags safely.  Brandon Crawford followed with a groundout that scored Hunter Pence.  On the groundout, Lynn tweaked a knee as he covered first base.  He used a couple practice pitches to determine that he was OK to continue.  A bases-loaded single off the bat of Joaquin Arias plated two more Giants, creating a four-run deficit.  Only one of the four runs in the first inning was "earned".

Lynn allowed a groundball single to Posey and a line drive double to Pablo Sandoval in the second, but he was able to work around them without allowing them to score.

To lead off the third, Lynn walked Brandons Crawford and Hicks, and then he allowed an RBI single to Arias.  That prompted the Cards' on-field brass to get Carlos Martinez, newly-minted "long man" in the bullpen to get up and throwing in the bullpen.  With runners on first and third, Pagan grounded softly to Lynn, who tried to start an inning-ending double play.  But the Cards' defense couldn't quite turn two.  Pagan beat out the throw to first, allowing Hicks to score, pushing the score to 6-0.

Lynn came in to start the fourth.  Posey led off with a hard-hit groundball single.  Sandoval flew out to right.  Lynn proceeded to walk Gregor Blanco.  Matheny had seen enough.  He made the move to Martinez.

Lynn's final line: 3 1/3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 88 pitches thrown.

Crawford got super lucky on a defensive swing and poked a ground-rule double down the left field line, scoring yet another run (charged to Lynn).  Martinez' pitches looked good, though.  After that first luck-hit, he retired  the next six batters he faced in order.  He got in some trouble in the sixth, when he walked Sandoval, and then gave up an RBI triple to Blanco (8-0 Giants).  In the end, Martinez used 47 pitches to get through 2 2/3 innings, giving up two hits, one walk, and one run.  He struck out four.

Seth Maness checked into the game in the seventh, along with Mark Ellis at first base and Randal Grichuk in left.  Maness allowed a leadoff single to Arias, but erased it by inducing a double play off the bat of Hudson.  Pagan singled, but Wong bailed Maness out of the inning by laying out to rob Pence of a hit. It was a beautiful play. Maness pitched two innings, allowing three hits but no runs.

Jason Motte pitched the ninth.  He allowed a walk and a hit, but was able to prevent any more damage.

Bottom Halves-

Matt Carpenter led off the game with a single to left, extending his hit streak to 14, but Tim Hudson took care of the 2-3-4 hitters with relative ease.

In the second, Oscar lined a base hit to right field to lead off the inning.  He advanced to second after a "wild pitch" that Posey mishandled.  Oscar was stranded at first after Hudson took care of Jhonny Peralta, Jon Jay, and Tony Cruz.  The Cards' batters hit several balls hard right at defenders the first time through the order.

In the third, Carpenter kept the hard hits coming, finding a gap with a double.  Matt Holliday walked.  Craig got smoked in the back of the head by a wayward 89 m.p.h. fastball from Hudson.  Thank goodness for batting helmets.  The HBP loaded the bases for Oscar, but unfortunately, Oscar hit a harmless groundout to second, stranding the bases loaded.

Hudson kept the Cards' offence quiet for the rest of his day.  After that third, he only allowed one baserunner through the seventh, after which he was replaced by Javier Lopez for the eighth.  Hudson's final line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 101 pitches thrown.

In the eighth, Lopez allowed a Wong single, but left him stranded.  That inning also included inducing groundouts from pinch hitters Peter Bourjos and Daniel Descalso.

David Huff pitched the bottom of the ninth.  Oscar worked an 8-pitch at bat, but ultimately grounded out to second.  Peralta and Jay followed suit and grounded out to end the game.  Cardinals lose 8-0.

Final Notes-

  • I didn't do a Ricky and Al says or a VEB says section cause they wear me out.  The announcers talked a lot about Oscar.  OurSaviorAaronMiles suggested that "Rick and Al is an echo chamber of stupid thoughts."
  • I'm not sure who was in charge of the VEB twitter machine today, but my favorite was:
  • Another classic:


  • One wonders whether Lynn's knee tweak in the first contributed to him being hittable and not having very good command.  There was some bad luck involved in his struggles today, but all-in-all, he just wasn't very good.  Sometimes, a pitcher can be unlucky but be good enough to have a decent game.  Sometimes, they can pitch poorly, but be lucky enough to get some good results.  Today, Lynn was bad AND unlucky, and it's hard to escape a game like that with positive results.  "Even Bob Gibson had games like that" - Al
  • At the risk of agreeing with Rick and Al, I am in favor of CMart taking on some long man duties for the time being.  Although it's unfortunate that the Cards needed a long man today, there were lots of positives coming out of Martinez' outing.  I'm not sure about the "confidence" thing, but Martinez pitching effectively, and the manager trusting that he can pitch effectively, will have a big impact on this team.  Today was a step in the right direction on that front.
  • Craig's HBP was scary, but he continued to play through the sixth without visible ill-effects, so hopefully he is OK.
  • Matt Carpenter looked fantastic at the plate today.
  • Oscar Taveras went 1-4 today.  He got robbed on a very nice play by Brandon Crawford up the middle.  He took some good swings.
  • Joaquin Arias played in lieu of Michael Morse today.  He went 3-4 with three RBIs.
  • The Cardinals left 14 on base today.
  • Fangraphs win expectancy chart
  • Gamenotes: Giants; Cards

Looking ahead-

Tune in tomorrow as the Royals come to town.  Danny Duffy will be opposed by Shelby Miller.  The fun begins at 7:10 CT.

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