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Game 87 (7/6) Recap and Odds and Ends--Cards' defense collapses in the bottom of the 4th as the Cards lose 8-4

Don't call it a comeback. I wish I had picked a different day to resume the recaps. Earlier in the season, I had some work things come up, and while I had always written recaps for myself, sometimes they were not as timely as this group would have the right to expect. On a couple of occasions, I did not want to step on the toes of guys like Clemens, LaRue and Stlcardsfan4, who all have a greater artistic flair and sense of humor than I, and a couple of other times, I posted a recap a litlle bit after the fact, and there didn't seem to be much interest in reading it late. After that, I got behind on the games a little bit, and it snowballed. Other than for a week towards the middle of the month, I hope to resume these nightly, as it looks like the recaps have almost stopped for the most part and our longtime members should have something to read.

Tonight, the Cards had their 3-game winning streak snapped, and although you can't let Mikolas completely off the hook, the big inning happened when Miles arguably should have been out of the inning already. There is an interesting discussion to be had on what to do with our outfield. With our offensive struggles, do we leave Fowler and Martinez out there since they are among the very few guys we've got who are doing anything offensively? Or do we just suck it up and put Bader out there despite his regression at the plate this year and hope to use his defense to stay in the game? I don't pretend there is an easy solution.

The Cards announced before the game that Molina would not start either today's game or tomorrow's game so he can rest his ailing hand. Despite a lefty being on the mound for the second game in a row, the Cards started Fowler in CF again and benched Bader again. It worked last night, would it work tonight?

The Cards got something going right away in the top of the 1st. Edman blooped a 1-2 inside cutter to center for a base hit. J. Martinez then smoked a fastball right back to the mound that hit Madison Bumgarner right above the left elbow and deflected high in the air to the 3rd baseman for a base hit to move Edman to 2nd. The swelling on his elbow was visible the telecast, but Bumgarner stayed in the game after the staff came out to check on him and he threw a few warmup pitches. After DeJong chased a curveball to strike out, Goldschmidt lined a low curveball through the hole to left to score Edman from 2nd, move J. Martinez to 2nd base and give the Cards a 1-0 lead. O’Neill flied out to deep right field, allowing J. Martinez to tag up and go to 3rd. With 2 out and runners at the corners, Fowler struck out on a 3-2 high fastball to end the inning.

Brandon Belt lined an 0-2 low slider to center for a base hit to lead off the bottom of the 1st. After Mike Yastrzeksmi struck out looking, Buster Posey blooped an inside fastball that dropped in front of Martinez in right for a base hit to move Belt to 2nd, and it didn’t look like Martinez made much of an effort to catch it. Mikolas then hit Alex Dickerson with a slider near the dirt on the top of his back left foot to load the bases. Pablo Sandoval sliced a high fastball for a liner to the track in left for a Sac Fly to score Belt to tie the game 1-1. The other runners stayed at 1st and 2nd and Mikolas struck Brandon Crawford out to end the inning. Bumgarner actually came back out for the top of the 2nd inning. With 1 out, Wong grounded a low cutter up the middle for a base hit to center, and Mikolas sacrificed him to 2nd. Edman, however, popped to the catcher in foul territory to strand the runner in scoring position. Kevin Pillar grounded a low fastball up the middle for a base hit to center to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. Joe Panik flied a high fastball deep to the track in right-center that Martinez drifted over to make a good catch on, with the ball deep enough to allow Pillar to tag up and advance to 2nd. But Bumgarner struck out swinging on a high slider and Belt struck out looking on an outside fastball that looked like it should have been called a ball.

The decision was made to remove Bumgarner from the game after he went to the mound in the top of the 3rd. With his night done after 39 pitches, righty Sam Dyson came in to the game, with the game delayed a bit to give him time to warm up, and retired the Cards in order with 2 strikeouts. Fowler lined a hanging changeup to center for a base hit with 1 out in the top of the 4th, the first hit Dyson allowed. But he was erased when Wieters grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Sandoval sliced a center-cut fastball past Edman at 3rd for a base hit to lead off the bottom of the 4th. After Crawford struck out, Pillar blooped an outside slider that dropped in front of Fowler—who did not get a good jump on the ball—for a base hit to move Sandoval to 2nd. Panik flied a routine ball to O’Neill in LF. It was his ball all the way, he settled under it, then he looked to his left, perhaps thinking that Fowler was going to go for it, then must have lost it in the lights, as it dropped to his left. O’Neill was correctly charged with an error and the bases were loaded. The Giants brought in righty Austin Slater to pinch hit for Dyson and he sliced a hanging slider just over the wall and inside the foul pole in right for an opposite field grand slam to give the Giants a 5-1 lead.

Righty Reyes Moronta came in to pitch for the Giants in the top of the 5th and hit Wong with a bounced 90 mph changeup in the left leg. Shildt decided to bring in Ravelo to pinch hit for Mikolas, and he struck out looking. Edman forced Wong and J. Martinez struck out on 3 pitches to end the inning. With Mikolas done after 72 pitches, Ponce de Leon came out for us in the bottom of the 5th on just 1 day of rest after throwing 2.2 IP on July 4 and retired the Giants in order with 1 strikeout. With 2 out in the top of the 6th, O’Neill fouled an 0-1 fastball back to home plate umpire Mike Everitt that hit him in the neck area and he ended up leaving the game after a delay. This is the 4th game the Cards have been involved in where the home plate umpire has had to leave the game. The 2B umpire Lance Barrett came behind the plate and the game continued after about 10 minutes with a 3-man crew. When play resumed, O’Neill popped a slider to the mound. The pitcher Moronta didn’t call for it or direct traffic, leaving Posey to try to catch it running forward, and it dropped in front of him. With Posey charged with an error, Fowler blooped an 0-2 inside fastball to center for a base hit to move O’Neill to 2nd. It turned out to be for naught as Wieters struck out to end the inning.

With 2 out in the bottom of the 6th, Joe Panik grounded a high changeup through the hole to left for a base hit, but Ponce got out of the inning by striking out the pinch hitter Tyler Austin to end the inning. Righty Mark Melancon came out to pitch the top of the 7th and retired the Cards in order. Webb pitched the bottom of the 7th for the Cards. With 1 out, Yastrzemski grounded a fastball that just escaped through the hole to left for a base hit. Posey struck out on a low changeup, with Yastrzemski stealing 2nd base on the play. Dickerson lined a hanging slider to the gap in right-center that rolled all the way to the wall for a triple in "Triple Alley" to score Yastrzemski and extend the Giants’ lead to 6-1. Pablo Sandoval then lined a center-cut fastball just over the left-center field wall at the 382 sign for a 2-run HR to give the Giants an 8-1 lead. Crawford grounded a hanging slider through the right side past the glove of the diving Wong for a base hit. Shildt had finally seen enough of Webb for the night and brought Brebbia in, who struck Pillar out looking on 3 pitches to end the inning.

Lefty Tony Watson pitched the top of the 8th for the Giants and the Cards got something going. J. Martinez smoked a hard grounder down the 3rd base line. Sandoval dove for it, made an excellent play, got up and threw a one-hopper to Belt at 1st base, but he couldn’t come up with the pick. Watson then hit DeJong on the left leg with an 0-2 slider. Goldschmidt sliced a low-and-away changeup for a liner that just barely went over the right field wall for a 3-run HR to cut the Giants’ lead to 8-4. O’Neill sharply grounded a changeup that just got by Crawford through the hole to left for a base hit. With 1 out, Wieters smoked an inside fastball to the track in left-center that kept carrying, but Pillar caught it at the track near the wall on the run for an outstanding play. In a curious move, Shildt had Munoz pinch hit for Wong and he flied out to center to end the inning. Now the semi-injured Molina is the only bench player the Cards had left and they would have had to use him to pinch hit if Munoz had reached.

In any case, Munoz stayed in the game at 3B in the #8 spot and Edman switched from 3B to 2B. Then we learned that Wong was removed from the game due to tightness in his calf that was hit by the pitch in the 5th. Brandon Belt worked a 3-2 walk with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th, but Brebbia otherwise retired the side in order. Giants closer lefty Will Smith came out to pitch the top of the 9th. Molina pinch hit for Brebbia and blooped a base hit to right. Edman grounded a hot shot to 3rd, which Sandoval fielded for the force play, but Edman beat out the throw to 1st. J. Martinez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

Odds and Ends: So far, the "Victory Blue" uniforms are anything but. In the first half, the Cards are 1-6 in the Unis, winning only on May 18 at the Texas Rangers. Thanks in part to the 12-2 shellacking at the hands of the Padres on June 29, the Cards have been outscored 49-32 while wearing them...After the game tomorrow, look for a transaction analysis catch-up post, where I survey the roster moves the Cards have made, get you caught up on the transactions, and discuss what we've got on the farm. As a preview, you would actually be amazed at how little help we could summon right now if we were so inclined...The Cubs scored 5 runs in the top of the 5th to break a 1-1 tie and beat the White Sox 6-3. They walked 5 times in the inning and Kyle Schwarber and Javier Baez hit back-to-back 2-RBI doubles. Kimbrel picked up his 2nd save of the year...After a rain delay, the Pirates destroyed the Brewers 12-2 and outhit them 17-7. Kevin Newman and Colin Moran both went 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs, with Newman including a solo HR. With the game tied 2-2, the Indians scored 2 in the 8th and 3 in the 9th to beat the Reds 5-2. Michael Lorenzen took the loss after allowing a 2-out, 2-run HR to Roberto Perez in the 8th. Former Card Matt Bowman allowed the other 3 runs...A 4-run 4th inning was enough runs for Memphis to beat Iowa 5-4. The bullpen was the most interesting part of the night as Mike Mayers on a rehab assignment, pitched 1 inning with 1 hit and no runs allowed. Ryan Helsley, who had struggled while on his rehab assignment, got 4 days rest and picked up a 2-inning save with no hits allowed and 4 strikeouts...Springfield lost a tough game 2-1 in 11 innings. Springfield was outhit 10-5 but didn't lose until the bottom of the 11th. In extra innings in the minors, a runner is automatically put at 2nd base and Roel Ramirez gave up a game-ending ground rule double. As a bit of nostalgia, remember Sam Tuivailala? After we traded him last year to the Mariners, he ruptured his achilles tendon almost immediately and has barely pitched. Currently on the Mariners' 60-day IL, he pitched for Arkansas, the Mariners' AA affiliate, on a rehab assignment today, and retired the S-Cards in order in the 7th inning with 1 strikeout. Palm Beach reliever Ben Yokley entered the game against Ft. Myers with a 3-2 lead, and his defense let him down with 1 out. Somehow a routine grounder to 3rd ended up with both 3B Zach Gahagan and SS Imeldo Diaz being charged with errors, allowing the batter to advance all the way to 3rd base. Then Yokley allowed a run-scoring single, walked 2 and hit a guy, and Palm Beach lost 4-3...Peoria lost to Burlington 9-2 despite only being outhit 14-10, owing in large part to hitting 1-9 with runners in scoring position.