Bullpen Spoils Hudson’s Gem, but Cards Still Prevail 10-6 over Reds in Game 1

After an open date and a rain-out of last night’s game, the Cards have had 2 straight days off, but now were required to play back-to-back doubleheaders today and tomorrow. LHP Genesis Cabrera was added to the roster as the 26th man. I explain the transaction and talk about the history of Cardinal back-to-back doubleheaders here if you’re interested.

Although Dakota Hudson gave up 2 runs in the first inning, he wound up giving the Cards exactly what we needed to start things off today, settling down for 7.2 total IP and striking out a career-high 8 strikeouts in one major league game, and he only gave up 2 hits after the first inning. Both of his walks came in the 8th inning after he had thrown 100 pitches. The bullpen gave us a scare, as neither John Brebbia nor Giovanny Gallegos could get the job done, and the club used more pitchers than we had wanted. The Cards’ bats prevailed in the end, outhitting the Reds 12-7, with homers from Dexter Fowler and Yadier Molina and a 2 for 3 day with 2 BB and 2 key insurance RBIs from Kolten Wong, and another 2 RBIs from Paul Goldschmidt.

After Josh VanMeter struck out to start the game, Joey Votto sliced a center-cut fastball to left for a base hit. Marcell Ozuna caught the sinking liner on a hop with his body turned to the side on a dangerous backhand play that could easily have resulted in the ball going by him to the wall. Eugenio Suarez then crushed a high 3-2 hanging slider into the 2nd deck in left field next to Big Mac Land for a 2-run HR to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

Aristedes Aquino popped out to 1st, and Freddy Galvis tapped back to the mound to end the inning.

Dexter Fowler sharply grounded a center-cut fastball into a pocket of the shift for an infield hit. Derek Dietrich dove for it and threw to 1st from his knees, but the throw was late and got away from the 1st baseman. Reds starter Trevor Bauer threw a first pitch curveball to Wong in the dirt that got away from the catcher for a wild pitch to move Fowler to 2nd. Kolten Wong walked on 4 pitches. Paul Goldschmidt softly lined a high-and-outside slider for a base hit towards the left field line. Fowler scored to cut the Reds’ lead to 2-1 with Wong moving to 3rd base. After Fowler struck out swinging at a slider out of the zone, Paul DeJong lined a hanging slider down the left field line into the corner for a double to score Wong. VanMeter had a very difficult time getting the ball out of the corner, first whiffing when he tried to pick it up, then bobbling it. Because of VanMeter’s error, Goldschmidt also scored all the way from 1st base to give the Cards a 3-2 lead. For those of you scoring at home, DeJong gets 1 RBI on that play, not 2. Yadier Molina lined a hanging curveball to left that rolled to the wall for a double of his own to score DeJong and extend the Cards’ lead to 4-2. Matt Carpenter popped a fastball towards the left field line that looked like it was going to drop, but Suarez caught it with a basket over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory. Edman lined a slider to center to end the inning. Here is a video that shows the run-scoring plays for all 4 Cardinal runs:

After Dakota Hudson struck out 2 Reds in the top of the 2nd for a quick 1-2-3 inning, he struck out to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. Fowler skied a 3-1 middle-in fastball over the bullpen and into the seats in right-center for a solo HR to extend the Cards’ lead to 5-2.

Wong struck out, then Goldschmidt worked a 3-2 walk. Ozuna ripped a fastball on the ground to 3rd, but Suarez made a great reflexive play to come up with it for the out to end the inning. Hudson retired the Reds in order again in the top of the 3rd. With 1 out in the bottom half, Molina torched a center-cut 96-mph fastball over the left-center field wall for a solo HR to give the Cards a 6-2 lead.

Carpenter popped out to 3rd and Edman lined out to center to end that inning.

Hudson has settled down now, and retired the Reds in order in the top of the 4th including strikeouts of Suarez and Aquino. With 1 out in the bottom of the 4th, Fowler grounded a ball up the middle and opposite the shift. The third baseman Suarez was the only infielder on the left side, and he drifted towards it, fielded it, spun around and threw to 1st, but Fowler beat it out for an infield hit. Wong walked. On the 2-1 pitch to Goldschmidt, Fowler took off for 3rd base, but Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart threw him out trying to steal. Wong went to 2nd base on the throw, but Goldschmidt ended the inning by lining a shot right at Dietrich at 2nd base.

Barnhart sliced a center-cut fastball that landed just inside the left field line and bounced over the side wall for a ground rule double to start the top of the 5th. Dietrich bunted to Hudson to the mound on one hop for an out that did not advance the runner, and the Cards were gifted the first out of the inning. Hudson hit Phillip Ervin in the left triceps area with an inside 1-1 fastball. With runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out, Reds manager David Bell had Nick Senzel pinch hit for the pitcher Trevor Bauer. Senzel popped out to Goldschmidt at 1st in foul territory, and he spun around to make a strong throw to make sure no runners could advance. VanMeter sliced a fastball towards the gap in left-center, but Ozuna made a running catch to end the inning. Righty R.J. Alaniz came out to pitch the bottom of the 5th for the Reds, and retired the Cards in order with Ozuna giving a pitch a ride to the track in left.

With 1 out in the top of the 6th, Suarez sharply grounded a sinker down the 3rd base line for a base hit that rolled into the left field corner for a double. But the Reds couldn’t bring him in, as Aquino popped a first pitch inside fastball to 3rd base, and Galvis grounded out to 2nd base to strand the runner. Carpenter lined a hanging slider inside the first base line to bounced off the side wall for a double. Harrison Bader ran for Carpenter. Edman grounded out to 2nd base to move Bader to 3rd base. Alaniz then balked to score Bader and extend the Cards’ lead to 7-2. Hudson hit for himself and grounded out and Fowler also grounded out to end the inning.

For the top of the 7th, Bader stayed in the game in CF in the #7 spot, with Fowler moving from CF to RF and Edman moving from RF to 3B. Hudson retired the Reds in order again, with strikeouts #7 and 8 to end the inning, and he now has struck out more batters in one major league game than he ever has before. To lead off the bottom of the 7th, Wong sliced a base hit opposite the shift to left field, and stole second with Goldschmidt at the plate. Goldschmidt blooped an outside slider to right field for a base hit. Wong got a good jump, ran hard and beat Aquino’s throw from right to score and extend the Cards’ lead to 8-2. Ozuna and DeJong both flied out to right, and the Reds made a double switch. Righty Joel Kuhnel came in to pitch in the #7 spot, with Kyle Farmer coming in to play 2B in the #9 spot. Molina grounded into a 6-4 force to end the inning.

At 93 pitches by this point, Hudson came back out for the top of the 8th. Farmer hit a shot towards DeJong in the hole, but DeJong made a great jumping catch for the out.

VanMeter flied out to deep right-center. Votto walked with 2 out. Suarez then worked a 3-2 walk, and that was it for Hudson, who lasted as long as he could with 112 pitches. Shildt brought in John Brebbia to pitch to Aquino, who blooped a low-and-outside slider to left. Ozuna was playing deep and just jogged in and let it drop in front of him. I’m not sure if he could have caught it, but he neither ran full speed nor dove to try. Votto scored to cut the Cards’ lead to 8-3 and Suarez moved to 2nd base. Galvis worked a 3-2 walk to load the bases, and Shildt then brought in Gallegos to try to get out of this inning. Gallegos went to 3-0 on Barnhart, then 3-2, then Barnhart drove a high fastball (that would have been ball 4 if he had let it go) to the gap in right center with all of the runners taking off with the pitch. Bader cut it off before it could get to the wall, but the double cleared the bases to cut the Cards’ lead to 8-6.

Jose Iglesias pinch hit for Kuhnel and softly lined a middle-in fastball to right that dropped for a base hit. Barnhart could only advance to 3rd, and the Cards finally got out of what looked like an easy inning when Ervin grounded a hanging slider into a 6-4 force.

Righty Lucas Sims came out to pitch the bottom of the 8th for the Reds. Bader worked a 3-2 walk after being behind in the count 0-2, and laid off some sliders in the process. With Bader running on the 3-2 pitch to Edman, Edman lined a high fastball for a base hit to right to move Bader to 3rd. Aquino made a real strong throw to 3rd, but it bounced and got away from Suarez. The pitcher Sims backed the play up properly at 3rd, but it got away long enough to allow Edman to advance to 2nd base, and Aquino was charged with a throwing error. Tyler O’Neill pinch hit for Gallegos and struck out, looking awful against sliders. Fowler flied out to center. Wong worked the count to 3-2 and chased a couple of pitches to foul them off. On the 10th pitch of the plate appearance, Wong drove a center-cut fastball to deep center field. Ervin was playing a little shallow and the ball went over his head to bounce on the track and one-hop the wall for a double. Both Bader and Edman scored to give the Cards a 10-6 lead.

Goldschmidt flied out to left to end the inning. Shildt decided to bring in Carlos Martinez to pitch, and he retired the Reds in order on 7 pitches with 1 strikeout to end the game.

Odds and Ends

The Memphis Redbird run at the AAA playoffs ran out last night with a 5-1 loss to Iowa and they have been eliminated from the playoffs. Genesis Cabrera was set to make that start, but he was scratched and Tommy Parsons was promoted from AA Springfield to make the start instead. He gave up 5 runs in the first inning, and that was enough for Iowa to win. The Iowa Cubs used 10 players that had seen time in the majors this year, including Albert Almora, Daniel Descalso and Willson Contreras...Shildt has announced that Mike Mayers will be added to the 40-man roster tomorrow when rosters expand. In addition, Daniel Ponce de Leon will be activated to make his start. Others joining the club tomorrow will be Junior Fernandez and Andrew Knizner and Jose Martinez will be activated from the injured list. The Memphis season ends on Monday September 2nd, and joining the club on Tuesday September 3rd will be Rangel Ravelo, Randy Arozarena and Edmunso Sosa. I will have an article covering the September 1st moves tomorrow morning on the site before the game...The club will need a spot start on Wednesday, September 4th, but Anne Rogers, the Cardinals’ beat writer for MLB.com, reported on the Cardinals’ website that Jake Woodford never came up in discussions with the front office about who to promote in September. If Cabrera doesn’t pitch either today or tomorrow, he would be a possibility for the start. If Woodford is not the one, the only other option is a bullpen game...The rest of the season for the Gulf Coast League and the Florida State League have been cancelled in preparation for the hurricane.