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The St. Louis Cardinals win 3-2 behind Wacha's strong start

The Cardinals once again won another baseball game, this time thanks to the help of Michael Wacha and Mark Reynolds. Other people were also involved in the win.

By stlcardsfan4
A rain-filled afternoon caused two delays, but the Cardinals won eventually.
A rain-filled afternoon caused two delays, but the Cardinals won eventually.
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

It feels weird to just ignore what happened earlier today so I won’t. I’ll keep my thoughts simple. It’s not good. The degree to which it’s not good is unknown. I’m speaking about the crime and the level to which the actual Cardinals organization is involved. The public opinion, well, the damage is done there. Good. No matter how serious this all turns out, at least embrace the villainy status, Cards fans.

Michael Wacha started the game against former Mizzou pitcher Kyle Gibson. The Twins started the game off with a long fly ball and eventual single from Brian Dozier.  Wacha struck out Joe Mauer, but Trevor Plouffe drove Dozier to give the Twins an early lead.  The Cardinals struck back in the second.  Yadier Molina hit a double with his apparent newfound power. After Heyward advanced Molina to third, habitual ding dong ditcher Randal Grichuk drove him in on a sac fly.

The Cardinals added to their score in the 3rd when Kolten Wong lined a double down the right field line. Matt Carpenter walked to make it runners on first and second.  Jhonny Peralta advanced both runners with a groundout to the right side. With two outs, tickler of small rodents Mark Reynolds drove them both in with a line drive single to make the score 3-1.

Meanwhile, Wacha cruised through the Twins lineup. After the Twins scored in the first, he retired 12 straight Twins, including former Cardinal Shane Robinson. These 12 outs included seven groundouts, and one strikeout. The streak was broken oddly enough by the opposing pitcher Gibson, but he quickly started a new streak when he struck out Byron Buxton to end the inning

In the 7th, Wacha walked Plouffe to begin the inning.  Eduardo Nunez grounded into a fielder’s choice and then stole second before the rain caused the second delay of the game. Dirt enthusiast Seth Maness came out to replace Wacha in the middle of his at-bat with Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki doubled, bringing the score to 3-2. After a wild pitch, the Twins had a man on third with one out.  Seth got out of the inning with a pop up and groundout to stop the scoring.

Buxton led off the 8th with a single off Matt Belisle.  After a pop-up, Molina quickly dispatched of a steal attempt by Buxton.  After a single by Torii Hunter, Randy Choate was brought in to get out Joe Mauer, which he did.  Once again, Trevor Rosenthal was not brought in for a save situation and once again Kevin Siegrist proved he would do fine if he needed to replace Rosenthal.  Though it didn't come easily as the Twins got a double and walk before the inning finished.

WPA Graph


Source: FanGraphs

Notes

- Carpenter went 2-3 with a walk.  Would still like to see him exhibit some of the power he showed early on, but it's encouraging that he's not striking out every at-bat.

- Speaking of power, Wong, Molina, and Bourjos all hit doubles today.  Obviously home runs are better, but I'll take doubles.

- Wacha final line: 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 HA, 5 Ks, BB

- The bullpen was a little rough today, but technically didn't allow any runs.  Maness allowed an inherited runner to score and every pitcher not named Choate allowed at least one baserunner.

Tomorrow, Carlos Martinez faces Tommy Milone as they travel to Minnesota to begin a two-game series there.

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