Cards get to Cole, take series from Yanks

Today was a good day. The Cardinals were firing on all cylinders against the Yankees. It was certainly a pitcher’s duel between Jordan Montgomery and Gerrit Cole, but the former Yankee got the better of Cole this afternoon, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing one unearned run.

Jordan Walker and Andrew Knizner each drove in runs to put the Cardinals up 2-0. Things got interesting in the seventh when Jake Bauers drove in Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a double to make it 2-1. That was Montgomery’s unearned run and it ultimately led to his exit, but he got a warm hand from the crowd.

After Giovanny Gallegos got the Cardinals out of the seventh inning jam, Brendan Donovan provided some power, hitting a two-run homer to make it 4-1. One inning later, Knizner drove in another run.

The bullpen made those runs stand up as the Cardinals held on for a 5-1 victory. Let’s get into some takeaways from today’s game.

Monty dominates former club

The story of the game today was Jordan Montgomery. Simply put, he was lights out. I hate that he may end up being traded at the deadline given where the Cardinals are, but he has without question been the Cardinals most dependable starter this year. He struck out six batters while walking just three and lowering his ERA to 3.28.

Even more impressive was the fact that he took a no-hitter into the sixth. As every fan likely did, I started counting the outs before the no-no was eventually broken up. But I was very impressed with what I saw. It was great to see him outduel Cole and play the role of stopper against his old club, securing a much-needed series win over the Yankees, which we’ll get into in a minute.

Series win over Bronx Bombers

I’m still a tad frustrated that the Cards weren’t able to get a series win against the Astros, but in three separate games, they’ve managed to find weak spots with some of the best pitchers in baseball, those being Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, and Cole.

As a result, they managed to go 3-3 against two very good teams this homestand. I know the Yankees were without Aaron Judge, and his absence certainly had a ripple effect on the team, but it still is encouraging to know that the Cardinals were able to beat a far superior team this weekend.

I’m not sure it’s going to turn this season around, but the Cardinals took care of business over the past two days and managed to beat the Yankees, who even without Judge are a much better team than them.

The offense was clicking and the pitching was good, which is what we’re going to need to see more of from the Cardinals. We can only hope that this can give them a little momentum before heading to Miami.

At the very least, it’s a step in the right direction, and we’ll see if the Cardinals can bring some energy into their series against the Marlins.