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Cardinals @ Phillies 6.21 recap - Wacha, Cards drop finale with vigor

Wacha, Cardinals drop finale hard on Father's Day.

By WyoCardsFan
Wacha struggles on Father's Day
Wacha struggles on Father's Day
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies

Michael Wacha (9-2, 2.48 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.044 WHIP) vs. Adam Morgan (MLB Debut)
12:35 p.m. CT
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Today's Lineups -

Some News -

Things we were looking for -

Randal Grichuk batting leadoff doesn't seem ideal.  The Cardinals look to finish the sweep as they've outscored the Phillies 22-5 so far in the series.

Things that happened -

Top halves -

Adam Morgan had a fantastic first inning in the bigs.  Randal Grichuk didn't make him wait long for his strikeout, and Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta lofted some easy fly ball outs for a 1-2-3 inning with 9 pitches for Mr. Morgan.

The second didn't start off quite as well for him.  Mark Reynolds doubled.  Jason Heyward singled.  When Jon Jay grounded to third, the Phillies alertly got  a double play- Heyward at second, and then they got Reynolds hung up between third and home.  Tony Cruz also singled in the inning, but with the strikeout of Greg Garcia, Morgan got through the inning with no damage done in the score column.

Morgan recorded another 1-2-3 in the third.

Peralta put the Cards on the board, leading off the fourth with a home run that just carried over the wall in right-center.  Phillies up 3-1.

Garcia stretched a single into a double to start out the fifth.  He got stranded on third.  Carpenter got rung up on a low strike call to end the inning.  He was none too pleased about it.

With two outs in the sixth, Heyward singled to center, and Jay collected a walk, but they were stranded to end the inning.  Morgan left after the walk to Jay.  His final line: 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 78 pitches thrown.

Luis pitched 1 1/3 of clean ball for the Phils to get them through the seventh.

Ken Giles goes 1-2-3 in the eighth.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in the ninth to close out the game in a non-save situation.  Jason Heyward continued his great series by taking him deep to lead off the inning.  That cut the lead to 7.  Papelbon bounced back, though, and retired the next three in order, securing the win for the Phils 9-2.

Bottom halves -

Michael Wacha allowed a single to Maikel Franco in the first, and showed early signs of shaky command.

The Phillies struck first in the second.  Dominic Brown led off with a double to center.  He came around to score on a Cody Asche double to right.  Cameron Rupp followed that up with a hard-hit single to right to put runners on the corners, still with no outs.  Wacha got a gift out when Freddie Galvis bunted back to him.  Asche mis-read the bunt and tried to score, but was thrown out easily.  After a walk to Ben Revere, Cesar Hernandez scored two more with a single to right.  Phillies lead 3-0.

Wacha had an easy third, using only 6 pitches to retire 3 guys.  He retired the next three in the fourth.

The Phillies struck for a couple more in the fifth.  Two singles (Revere, Howard), a double (Franco), and an error (Wacha), pushed two more across for the Phils.  Wacha just simply was not sharp, leaving extremely hittable pitches for the opposition.  Phils lead 5-1.

The fifth was Wacha's last.  His final line: 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 81 pitches.

Seth Maness took the sixth.  Odubel Herrera created a run with his speed.  He beat out an infield single, and then stole a base, and then scored on a Revere single.  Phils lead 6-1.

In the seventh, Matt Belisle allowed a few more- a single (Franco) and a walk (Brown), followed by a three-run jack by pinch-hitter Andres Blanco.  Phils lead 9-1.

Miguel Socolovitch in the eighth.  He fared the best of the Cards pitchers, only allowing a single.

Final Notes -



Looking ahead -

Tune in Tuesday for a Miami matchup.  Carlos Martinez takes the mound opposed by Jose Urena.  Gametime is 6:00 CT.

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