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Rockies @ Cardinals 8.2 recap - Moss comes up with walk-off winner

Cards take three of four from the Rox; new guys key in the game.

By WyoCardsFan
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado Rockies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Yohan Flande (1-1, 3.68 ERA, 3.36 FIP, 1.318 FIP) vs. Jaime Garcia (3-4, 2.00 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 0.889 FIP)
1:15 p.m. CT 
Busch Stadium - St. Louis, Missouri

Today's Lineups -

Some News -

  • Pirates jumped on top of the Reds early and held on for the win.  Tempers flared - MLB.com
  • Cubs edged the Brewers 4-3.  Kris Bryant left the game with a possible head/neck injury after hard slide - MLB.com

Things we were looking for -

Yohan Flande is one I've got a soft spot for, having seen his MLB debut in person last year in Denver. He's the sort of pitcher that could give the Cards some troubles, being the "soft-tossing lefty" that he is.  Yadi gets a day off on a scorcher in the Lou.

Things that happened -

Top halves -

Jaime issued walks to D.J. LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado in the first.  He used 25 pitches to get through that first frame.

1-2-3 in the second for Jaime, looking sharp.

In the third, Charlie Blackmon walked, and then thefted second base.  Jaime was unfazed, and got LeMahieu to ground out to end the inning.

Another walk in the fourth, this one to Kyle Parker.  Jaime was getting squeezed a little, but was mostly just a bit off in command.

In the fifth, with two outs, Blackmon worked a full count, and then knocked the Rockies' first hit up the middle.   He thefted second again, and again was left on base when the third out came.

After weirdly hitting for himself in the fifth, Jaime pitched to one batter in the sixth.  LeMahieu's single knocked him out of the game.  Steve Cishek checked in.  Arenado snuck a ground ball through the infield to put two on.  Ben Paulsen drove in the Rox' first run of the game, doubling to right field.  Cishek fought back and got the second out and then threw a wild pitch off Cruz' shin guard that allowed the tying run to score. Game tied 2-2.

Jaime's final line: 5.0+ IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 K, 4 BB, 88 pitches thrown.

Kevin Siegrist pitched a clean seventh.  Jonathan Broxton did the same in the eighth, and he looked impressive doing so, utilizing a nasty slider.

Trevor Rosenthal came in for the ninth.  He allowed a ground-rule double to Carlos Gonzalez, but came away unscathed in the runs column

Bottom halves -

Yohan made it through the first with no damage done, except to Kolten Wong's backside when he got hit by a wayward fastball.  Leading off, Matt Carpenter made him work for the first out, racking up a 9-pitch at bat before ultimately flying out.

Flande made quick work of the 5,6,7 batters in the Cards' order, two by way of strikeouts- both on questionable third strike calls to Jason Heyward and Randal Grichuk.  He mowed through the third, too, retiring three with ease.

In the fourth, Stephen Piscotty collected the first hit of the game, a groundball single through the hole on the left.  Unfortunately it was erased in an inning-ending double play.

The Cards finally broke through in the fifth.  Heyward led off with a swinging-bunt-single.  Grichuk knocked him on around with a straight-away center two-run blast.  Mark Reynolds beat a shift by singling through where the second baseman should have been standing.  Tony Cruz grounded into a double play.  Cards lead 2-0.

The fifth inning was Flande's last.  His final line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 72 pitches thrown.

Justin Miller took the mound for the Rox in the sixth.  Piscotty doubled to the wall in left-center, but was left on third when Miller got outs from Wong and Jhonny Peralta.

Rafael Betancourt worked around a leadoff walk to Heyward, and a stolen base to get through the seventh.

When pinch hitter Greg Garcia singled to lead off the eighth, the Cards had a golden opportunity to get back on top.  He took second base when a pitch in the dirt got away from Hundley.  He got to third on a fly ball from Carp.  Piscotty walked, and so with one out, the Rockie infield decided on a half-double-play-depth approach with speedster Wong due up.  The strategy worked - Kolton grounded it back to Scott Oberg, who whipped around to get Piscotty at second, and a great turn by Jose Reyes was able to retire Wong to end the inning and the Cardinal threat.

Oberg came back for the bottom of the ninth.  Heyward blasted a one-out double.  Grichuk worked a deep cound and hit an infield single behind second base to put runners on first and third with one out.  That brought up pinch hitter Brandon Moss.  The new guy came through for a Cardinal winner, driving a single past Reyes at short to score Heyward and the winning run.  Cards win 3-2.

Final Notes -


  • It's hard to say that Jaime wasn't very good - after all, he did only give up 2 hits.  The four walks and high pitch count made for a short, but good-results outing.

  • Stephen Piscotty is fun!

  • During the 8th inning attempt to go ahead, Greg Garcia worked around to third base, and then Matheny elected to insert Peter Bourjos to pinch run for him.  It was odd, and felt like a quota-filling move to me.  Now Mike doesn't have to use PB for 46 more innings.

  • Fangraphs
  • Gamenotes: Rockies (Not Available) | Cardinals

Looking ahead -

Tune in Tuesday when the Cardinals head to Cincinnati for a three game set.  John Lackey will take on Anthony DeSclafani.  6:10 CT first pitch.

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