Cardinals vs Red Sox Recap: Cardinals lose 2-1 in Joe Kelly's Return

It was really nice to see the Cardinals fans give Joe Kelly such a large standing ovation when he was coming out to the mound to pitch.  He gave the Cardinals a lot of valuable innings over the last two years, and he's a super likable guy, so he deserved it.  Then they gave him another ovation when he came out to hit. Alright, cool, yeah, he's pretty awesome.  Dunno that he deserves two, but let's roll with it.

Then, they cheered him when an incorrect out call at first was overturned and he stood on first with a single. C'mon, guys. That's worse than the wave.

To be honest, there wasn't a whole lot going on in this game... The Cardinals got a run in the first on a Matt Matted In when Matt Adams singled Matt Carpenter in after Carpenter doubled, Kolten Wong moved him to third, and Matt Holliday grounded out. They got a single out of AJ Pierzynski and a walk out of Oscar Taveras in the second, but after that... nothing really happened for the remaining innings.

The Red Sox got their first run on a Xander Bogaerts 'double' that Matt Holliday misplayed, while they got their second and deciding run in the top of the ninth when Trevor Rosenthal loaded the bases and Bogaerts again hurt him with a sacrifice fly. Game. Set. Match.

There was a very odd call in the bottom of the fourth when Taveras was called out on a fielded ball that hit him.  He grounded out down the first base line, when Joe Kelly picked the ball up and tried to toss the ball to first.  It hit Taveras, but he was called out when the umpire ruled that Oscar was outside of the baseline.  Was he?  His foot may have stepped out, but there have been far more egregious violations. Take a look (via @stlcupofjoe):

Three Stars of the Game (by WPA)

1. Shelby Miller (.293) - 7 IP, 4 SO, 1 BB. He's been really strong lately, and has stopped walking people
2. Matt Adams (.200) - 2 for 4, both singles
3. Seth Maness (.172) - The Magical Double Play Man (NICKNAME PENDING) does it again.

Three ...not Stars of the Game (by WPA)

1. Trevor Rosenthal (-.316) - Giving up two hits, a walk (IBB), and the game-losing run isn't great
2. Jon Jay (-.228) - 0 for 3 and the last out of the game with two men on base
3. Jhonny Peralta (-.218) 0 for 4

Source: FanGraphs