Cardinals Take Series From Phillies
THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Cardinals Take Series From Phillies
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
This was the kind of win the St. Louis Cardinals needed.
Not just because they beat the Philadelphia Phillies.
Not just because they won the game by six runs.
But because they took the series from a team sitting directly in the National League Wild Card traffic.
The Cardinals beat the Phillies, 7-1, Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium, using a strong start from Kyle Leahy, timely hitting against Zack Wheeler, and a clean bullpen finish to take two of three from Philadelphia.
That matters.
The Cardinals dropped the opener Monday night, 6-5, after a late rally came up one run short. They came back Tuesday with a 2-0 win behind Andre Pallante and Riley O’Brien. Then Wednesday, they finished the job.
For a team trying to stay alive in the postseason picture, that is the part that matters most.
They did not just avoid a bad series.
They won a good one.
Leahy set the tone on the mound, and the Cardinals gave him an early lead in the second inning. Jordan Walker reached and came around when Nathan Church doubled to left, putting St. Louis in front, 1-0.
It was a simple piece of offense, but it was important. Against Wheeler, runs are not usually easy to find. Getting one early gave Leahy something to work with and forced Philadelphia to chase.
The Phillies tied the game in the fourth after Bryce Harper doubled and Luis Arraez followed with a run-scoring double. That made it 1-1 and briefly quieted Busch Stadium.
Leahy did not let the inning get away.
That was a theme.
Philadelphia had six hits against him, but Leahy avoided the big inning, did not walk a batter, and kept the Phillies from building sustained pressure. He worked five innings, allowed one run, struck out six, and left with the Cardinals in control after the offense broke the game open.
That came in the fifth.
César Prieto reached, JJ Wetherholt got aboard, and Iván Herrera lined a single into deep right-center field to score Prieto and move Wetherholt to third. That gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead and flipped the game back in their direction.
Then Alec Burleson delivered the swing that changed the afternoon.
Burleson drove a double to deep center field, scoring Wetherholt and Herrera to push the Cardinals’ lead to 4-1. Moments later, Walker doubled to left, bringing Burleson home and stretching the lead to 5-1.
Four runs in the inning.
All against Wheeler.
That was the inning the Cardinals needed.
Wheeler came in with a 2.69 ERA and the kind of track record that usually makes clubs work for every inch. The Cardinals did more than work. They punished mistakes, drove the baseball into the gaps, and made Philadelphia pay for giving them traffic.
Wheeler finished after five innings, allowing six hits and five runs, four earned, with one walk and five strikeouts.
That is a good day’s work for a Cardinals lineup that had to beat one of the better arms in the National League.
The Cardinals added on in the seventh against José Alvarado. Wetherholt scored on Burleson’s single to right, and Church followed with a sacrifice fly to score Herrera. That pushed the lead to 7-1 and gave the Cardinals the kind of separation they have not always been able to find.
Burleson finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Church drove in two. Walker doubled, walked, stole a base and drove in a run. Wetherholt reached three times, scored twice and stole his 13th base. Herrera reached, scored twice and drove in a run.
That is what a lineup is supposed to look like when several pieces are working at the same time.
And for the Cardinals, the offensive balance was the encouraging part.
This was not one player carrying the day. Burleson had the biggest RBI total, but Wetherholt helped set the table. Herrera drove in a run and scored twice. Walker applied pressure. Church delivered early and added on late. Prieto started the fifth-inning push.
The Cardinals finished with eight hits and seven runs.
That is efficient baseball.
The bullpen also did its job.
Justin Bruihl followed Leahy and kept Philadelphia off the board. Gordon Graceffo worked clean relief behind him. Luis Gastelum handled the ninth, and the Cardinals closed out the Phillies without ever letting the game tighten again.
That is how a team protects a big inning.
Too many times this season, St. Louis has scored, then immediately given momentum back. Wednesday was different. Once the Cardinals built the 5-1 lead, they never let Philadelphia breathe. Once they pushed it to 7-1, the game felt finished.
That is what good teams do.
The Phillies came into the series ahead of the Cardinals in the Wild Card race. St. Louis could not afford to let this series pass without taking advantage of the head-to-head opportunity. After Monday’s loss, that became harder. After Tuesday’s win, the door reopened.
Wednesday, the Cardinals walked through it.
They moved back over .500, took the series, and did it against a playoff-caliber opponent.
That does not solve everything. It does not erase the inconsistency that has followed this team for much of the summer. It does not suddenly make the postseason path easy.
But this was still a big win.
The Cardinals beat Wheeler.
Leahy outpitched the moment.
Burleson drove in three.
Wetherholt kept reaching base.
Herrera and Walker helped apply pressure.
The bullpen gave Philadelphia nothing late.
That is a winning formula.
And on a Wednesday afternoon in August, against a team they are chasing, the Cardinals needed exactly that.
Cardinals 7, Phillies 1.
A big win.
A series win.
That’s a winner.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.
Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary:
www.cardinalchronicle.com
Photo Credit: Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB