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After another impressive letdown last night on the south side of Chicago, the Cardinals bounced back on Saturday with a shutout win over the White Sox, 3-0. Miles Mikolas has been horribly inconsistent lately, but the Lizard King was able to give his squad seven shutout innings one day after the Cardinals bullpen was thoroughly pounded by the White Sox.
A Paul DeJong RBI single in the second inning turned out to be the game-winning run, but Jordan Walker also contibuted his second ninth-inning homer of the week — a solo shot to make it 3-0.
Here are the starting lineups for the Cardinals and the White Sox in game two of this series:
Cardinals:
- Brendan Donovan, DH
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Lars Nootbaar, LF
- Nolan Arenado, 3B
- Nolan Gorman, 2B
- Jordan Walker, RF
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Ivan Herrera, C
- Dylan Carlson, CF
Miles Mikolas - SP
White Sox:
- Zach Remillard, 2B
- Tim Anderson, SS
- Luis Robert, CF
- Eloy Jimenez, DH
- Andrew Caughn, 1B
- Jake Burger, 3B
- Gavin Sheets, LF
- Oscar Colas, RF
- Seby Zavala, C
Touki Toussaint - SP
1st Inning
Brendan Donovan — the owner of three three-hit games in the last week — led off and worked a full count against Touki Toussaint. The eighth pitch of the at-bat was a few inches outside, but home plate umpire Lance Barrett rung him up regardless for the first out of the game. Goldschmidt struck out swinging at a high fastball for the second out, and Nootbaar was robbed of a base hit thanks to a diving play at second base by Zach Remillard.
Mikolas matched Toussaint in the first, working a 1-2-3 opening frame on 10 pitches. Remillard flew out to right, Tim Anderson struck out swinging, and Luis Robert popped out on the infield.
2nd Inning
The Cardinals got to Toussaint in the second. Arenado led off the inning and yanked a hard ground ball down the third base line that rolled all the way down towards the corner. But Gavin Sheets played it well off the wall and got the ball in quickly, holding Arenado to a single. Nolan Gorman grounded into a force out at second, with the White Sox getting Nolan at the bag, with Gorman reaching at first.
With the infield shifted to the pull side just a little, Jordan Walker pushed a ground ball the other way into right field for a base hit, moving Gorman to third. A Paul DeJong RBI single to center field scored Gorman to get St. Louis on the board first, 1-0.
Ivan Herrero struck out for the second out, and Dylan Carlson worked a four-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs. Toussaint was able to strike out Donovan for the second straight at-bat to strand the bases loaded and keep the game at 1-0.
Mikolas breezed through the second inning on 11 pitches, much like the previous inning. Eloy grounded out to second, Andrew Vaughn’s 105 mph line drive was caught by Nootbaar in left, and Jake Burger struck out swinging.
3rd Inning
After a Goldschmidt groundout, Nootbaar slapped a base hit the other way down the left field line with one out. But Arenado ended the inning by grounding into a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the third.
Mikolas started the botom of the third by striking out Sheets after a seven-pitch battle. The recently-recalled Oscar Colas went the other way with a base hit to left with one out, but both Sevy Zavala and Zach Remillard flew out to end the third inning.
4th Inning
St. Louis went quietly against Toussaint in the fourth. Gorman struck out swinging at a splitter in the dirt, and both Walker and DeJong grounded out.
Mikolas ran into some traffic in the bottom of the fourth, but was able to work through it and put up another zero. Tim Anderson led off the inning and hit a soft tapper back to Mikolas for the first out. But a Robert single to left and an Eloy Jimenez infield hit put two runners on with just one out.
Andrew Vaughn gave Mikolas’ first pitch sinker a ride deep into left field, but Nootbaar ran it down on the warning track for the second out of the inning. Buger grounded out to DeJong at short for the final out of the fourth.
5th Inning
Ivan Herrera led off the fifth with a base knock to center — the fifth hit of his young MLB career. Carlson’s soft groundout to third moved Herrera into scoring position with one out. Wth Donovan batting in an 0-1 count, Toussaint was called for a balk, moving Herrera to third base with still just one out. Donovan came through with an RBI groundout, chopping a high and slow bouncer to Burger at third base that he had no play at home with. That doubled the Cardinals’ lead, making it 2-0. Goldschmidt grounded out to second for th third out.
Sheets led off the bottom of the fifth and gave Mikolas’ first pitch of the inning a ride to center, whacking the curveball 366 feet to center, where Carlson made the catch. Each of the next two hitters could only make weak contact against Miles, with Colas popping out to Arenado at third and Zavala hitting a lazy fly ball to right field. It was a seven-pitch fifth inning for Mikolas.
Toussaint’s final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K’s (81 pitches)
6th Inning
Left-hander Aaron Bummer replaced Toussaint in the top of the sixth after the former pitched a season-high five innings. He struck out Nootbaar, Gorman, and Walker to put up a scoreles sixth, with an Arenado base hit sprinkled in there as well between Nootbaar and Gorman.
Mikolas continued to cruise in the sixth. Remillard struck out swinging at a slider at the knees, Anderson grounded out to Arenado at third base, and Robert popped out to Gorman at second.
7th Inning
Dominican right-hander Reynaldo Lopez took the mound in the seventh, replacing Bummer. He struck out DeJong and Herrera (that’s five straight outs via strikeout for the Cardinals) before walking Carlson on six pitches. Donovan’s two-out fly ball to right was tracked down deep and close to the warning track by Colas, ending the top of the seventh.
Mikolas returned for the bottom of the seventh, sitting at a tidy 78 pitches. Eloy Jimenez hit first, and hit a soft ground ball right back to Mikolas that he flipped to first for the out. Vaughn got jammed with a 94 mph sinker on the hands, but was able to fist it into center field for a one-out base hit. Mikolas struck out Burger and Sheets to end the inning — and his outing as well.
Mikolas’ final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K’s (95 pitches)
8th Inning
Goldschmidt greeted Lopez with a leadoff single to left field to start the eighth, and Pedro Grifol decided his day was done. He brought in left-hander Tanner Banks, with Nootbaar and Gorman each due to bat in the inning. Nootbaar was called out on strikes on a 3-2 slider that looked like it might’ve been just a bit low, and both Nootbaar and Oli Marmol began shouting at Barrett. Even after Nootbaar had walked back to the dugout, the shouting continued, and Barrett had to remove his mask to politely advise Marmol and Nootbaar that they were done complaining. Nobody was ejected.
Arenado popped out on the infield for the second out, and Gorman struck out swinging at a 1-2 slider for the third time in the game (hat trick!).
Despite only sitting at 95 pitches and looking very strong at the end of his outing, Mikolas did not come back out for the eighth. Instead, it was Giovanny Gallegos. Before he even threw a pitch, Barrett brought a towel out to the mound and wiped off the left forearm of Gallegos — the broadcast wasn’t able to clarify what substance was (potentially) on Gallegos arm that had to be wiped off.
Colas led off and hit a sharp ground ball back up the middle that likely would’ve been a groundout, but Gallegos stabbed at it with his glove and slowed it down, turning it into an infield single. Yasmani Grandal pinch-hit for Zavala and struck out swinging, and Remillard did the same right after.
After the strikeout of Remillard, Barrett walked back out to the mound and wiped off Gallegos’ forearm a second time, clearly not approving of some type of substance Gallegos had rubbed up his arm (but that he was apparently able to re-apply while on the mound, in front of everyone?). Gallegos got Tim Anderson to ground out to end the eighth, and began shouting at Barrett as he walked off the mound and towards the dugout.
Note - After the game, Oli Marmol clarified that Gallegos had rosin on his arm, and that it is a Major League Baseball rule that you can’t have rosin on the “opposite arm”
9th Inning
Jordan Walker led off the ninth inning and hammered a 1-1 curveball from Banks deep into left field. Sheets moved back and lept at the wall, nearly bringing it back — but not quite. It bounced into the bullpen for a solo homer to make it 3-0 St. Louis. It was Walker’s eighth homer of the season, and traveled 385 feet.
DeJong popped out and Herrera struck out, and then Carlson worked his third walk of the game. Donovan was called out on strikes on another questionable call, with the 93 mph fastball landing just a bit outside of the zone for strike three. It was just the sixth time in his career that Donovan had struck out three times in the same game.
Jordan Hicks jogged in for the bottom of the ninth, and there was no shortage of drama. Hicks got Robert to pop out for the first out of the inning, but Jimenez and Vaughn each recorded base hits to put two runners on with one out.
Jake Burger hit as the potential tying-run, but struck out looking at a 102-mph sinker at the top of the zone. Sheets flew out to Nootbaar in left field to end the game.
FINAL: St. Louis 3, Chicago 0
Up Next
The Cardinals (37-52) finish out their first half with an afternoon game in Chicago against the White Sox (38-53). Steven Matz (0-7, 5.02 ERA) gets his first start since May 24 against the Reds. Lucas Giolito (6-5, 3.50 ERA) will get the start for the White Sox. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.
Around the Central
Pirates 0, D-Backs 0 - TOP 5
Brewers 4, Reds 1 - TOP 4
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