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pre game
royals lineup:
| Alcides Escobar | 6 |
| Mike Moustakas | 5 |
| Lorenzo Cain | 8 |
| Eric Hosmer | 3 |
| Salvador Perez | 2 |
| Alex Gordon | 7 |
| Alex Rios | 9 |
| Omar Infante | 8 |
| Yordano Ventura | 1 |
cardinals lineup:
| Kolten Wong | 4 |
| Matt Carpenter | 5 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 6 |
| Mark Reynolds | 3 |
| Yadier Molina | 2 |
| Jason Heyward | 9 |
| Randal Grichuk | 7 |
| Jon Jay | 8 |
| Jaime Garcia | 1 |
game
What a perfect night for a ballgame! The rain held off, it cooled off a little so the game was not entirely miserably hot. Jaime Garcia and the Cardinals were set to square off against St. Louis's friendly rivals from the western part of the state, the Kansas City Roy-
You know what? F*** it. I am doing this recap #FULLHEEL.
It was hot and muggy as summer in St. Louis tends to be. Jaime Garcia wiped his brow with his jersey sleeve, picked up a handful of dirt to dry up the fresh, slick perspiration on his hands. In the top of sixth, with two on and two out, he peered in at the sign his catcher flashed him and pitched a slider in the dirt, the third of the at bat, the third slider in a row. Eric Hosmer swung wildly and foolishly, striking out. Garcia walked off the mound the victor of that moment. The winner. The better.
Because Jaime Garcia is a badass. *Looks directly into camera
He is a bigger badass than you. He is a bigger badass than me. He is a bigger badass than any player on the Royals. He is a bigger badass than any other player on the Cardinals. He has half an arm, his shoulder is held together with shoe string and bubble gum, he has made more comebacks than... something that has made a lot of comebacks! And all that while maintaining meticulously groomed facial hair. And tonight, the Royals couldn't touch him. If the Royals even dreamed about beating Garcia they had better woke up and apologized. The Royals hadn't gotten a hit out of the infield and struck out six times against Hotme. He is a baaaad man.
Garcia has made four starts this year. In three of those starts, the Cardinals have scored zero runs (the team scored six in the remaining game). Tonight, the team managed to scrap together four runs in support of Jaime. The Birdos plated two early in the second inning after Grichuk hit a two-out single and circled the bases on a Jon Jay triple. Jaime Garcia helped his own cause by singling Jay home. The Cards tacked on two more in the eighth after Jason Heyward worked a one-out walk and Greek Gawd™ Randal Grichuk hit the Cardinals second triple of the game* to score Heyward and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jay with a terrific hook slide, just missing the glove of Perez after a strong throw by Gordon in left field. Siegrist completed the shutout with relative ease for the Cardinals fortieth win of the season.
*That definitely should not have been scored a triple
Stray thoughts:
- Jon Jay's triple tonight was his fourth extra base hit of the season.
- Matt Carpenter has struck out twelve times in his past twenty-six at bats. That... isn't good.
- Lance Lynn is on the fifteen day DL with a forearm strain. It does not sound serious, but Tyler Lyons will make the start in his place tomorrow.
- Yordano Ventura left the game after only three innings with what is being called "hand weakness".
- This was a really fun game to recap!
post game
LIL SCOOTER'S PLAYER OF THE GAME:
Jaime Garcia was terrific tonight pitching eight innings with six strikeouts, no walks, and like 71 ground balls. He is responsible for .492 WPA.
Source: FanGraphs
Tomorrow Tyler Lyons starts in place of the sore-armed Lance Lynn. Jeremy Guthrie takes the hill for the Royals. Game time is 3:10pm CST.