Early Hole Too Much as Cardinals Drop Series Finale to Brewers
The Cardinal Chronicle
Early Hole Too Much as Cardinals Drop Finale to Brewers
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
ST. LOUIS — Andre Pallante was one pitch from getting through a clean first inning Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Instead, the inning unraveled.
After retiring the first two Milwaukee hitters, Pallante allowed a single, hit a batter and gave up another single before Andrew Vaughn drove a pitch into the Brewers’ bullpen for a three-run homer. The four-run first inning put the Cardinals in a hole they never climbed out of, and Milwaukee went on to beat St. Louis 6-2 in the finale of a shortened two-game series.
It was the most runs the Cardinals have allowed in the first inning this season, and it came after St. Louis had opened the series with a win Monday night before Tuesday’s game was postponed by rain.
Milwaukee did nearly all of its damage with two outs. Brice Turang started the first-inning trouble with a single, William Contreras was hit by a pitch, and Jake Bauers followed with a run-scoring single. Vaughn then delivered the blow that changed the game, launching a three-run homer to left-center field to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead before the Cardinals ever came to bat.
For Pallante, it continued a troubling early-game pattern. In seven starts this season, he has now allowed nine earned runs in the first inning. Three of the eight first-inning home runs allowed by Cardinals pitchers this season have come off Pallante.
The Cardinals nearly mounted an immediate response in the bottom of the first, as Iván Herrera laced a double into the left-center gap. But the rally fizzled, leaving Herrera stranded at second. That ringing double would stand as the Cardinals’ lone hit until Victor Scott II broke through with a sharp single to right field in the eighth, a testament to Milwaukee’s pitching dominance.
Herrera’s double did extend his on-base streak to 22 consecutive games, the longest of his career. Alec Burleson drove in Scott with a two-out single in the eighth for the Cardinals’ first run. St. Louis added another in the ninth when Nolan Gorman led off with a double and later scored on a Milwaukee fielding error.
St. Louis’ offense, searching for answers all afternoon, never managed to string together consistent at-bats. The Brewers’ bullpen parade—five pitchers in all—stifled any hopes of a comeback, limiting the Cardinals to just four scattered hits and keeping the home side off-balance from start to finish.
Pallante settled in after the first but could not escape the line. A wild pitch in the fifth brought home Milwaukee’s fifth run, and he finished after six innings and 104 pitches. His ERA at Busch Stadium rose to 5.91 in four home starts this season, with 14 earned runs allowed over 21 1/3 innings.
Matt Svanson allowed Milwaukee’s final run in the ninth when Jackson Chourio doubled home a run after Svanson had struck out the first two batters of the inning.
The Cardinals also had an injury concern. Outfielder Nathan Church left the game an inning after being hit by a 98 mph fastball on the left leg. The initial report was a left-leg contusion.
There were a few bright spots on the bases. Jordan Walker drew a fourth-inning walk and stole second, giving him a team-high seven steals on the season. Scott added his sixth steal after his eighth-inning single.
JJ Wetherholt, meanwhile, went hitless in four at-bats and finished the homestand 2-for-21.
Thomas Saggese was back with the Cardinals one day after being optioned to Memphis, recalled because of an elbow injury to Ramón Urías. Saggese never actually left St. Louis. Memphis was off Monday, and with rain expected Tuesday night in Toledo, he was still at his apartment when he got word he was rejoining the club.
Manager Oli Marmol said Urías is expected to miss “weeks.”
Tuesday’s rainout will be made up on July 7 as part of a split day-night doubleheader at Busch Stadium, turning that scheduled series against Milwaukee into a five-game set over four days.
The Cardinals left after the game for California, where they open a four-game series Thursday night against the Padres in San Diego. Matthew Liberatore is scheduled to start. After an off day on Monday, St. Louis will play three games against the Athletics in Sacramento for the first time.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
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