Pallante, Cardinals Blank Reds
THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Pallante, Cardinals Blank Reds
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The St. Louis Cardinals needed a clean response.
Andre Pallante gave them one.
After letting Friday night’s opener against Cincinnati slip away, the Cardinals came back Saturday night at Busch Stadium with the kind of win that settles a clubhouse and calms a fan base, blanking the Reds, 7-0, behind seven dominant innings from Pallante and one decisive offensive eruption in the sixth.
This was not complicated baseball.
The starter threw strikes. The defense played behind him. The offense finally broke through. The Reds never found an answer.
That is a good night at the ballpark.
Pallante set the tone from the first inning, and he never really gave Cincinnati room to breathe. He worked seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out eight. He threw 90 pitches, 57 for strikes, and kept the Reds from building anything that resembled sustained pressure.
For a Cardinals club that has spent too many recent nights watching games get loose late, this was exactly what the doctor ordered.
No chaos.
No late collapse.
No bullpen fire drill.
Just a starter taking the baseball and doing his job.
The Cardinals grabbed an early lead in the bottom of the first. JJ Wetherholt reached on an error by Elly De La Cruz, and Jordan Walker followed with a single to left. Alec Burleson then came through with a single to left-center, scoring Wetherholt and giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
It was not a big inning, but it mattered.
After the way the offense had struggled Friday night, getting on the board early gave the Cardinals a little room to exhale. Hunter Greene limited the damage from there, striking out Iván Herrera and getting Lars Nootbaar to ground into a double play, but the Cardinals had at least forced Cincinnati to chase.
Pallante made that one run look larger than it was.
He struck out Tyler Stephenson and TJ Friedl in the second, worked around a two-out single by De La Cruz in the third, and stranded JJ Bleday after a fourth-inning single and stolen base. Every time Cincinnati looked like it might create a little movement, Pallante shut it down.
That has been the best version of Pallante.
He was not just throwing. He was pitching.
He changed speeds, worked ahead, got ground balls when he needed them, and missed bats when the Reds tried to get aggressive. Cincinnati’s lineup never looked comfortable, and Pallante’s confidence seemed to build inning by inning.
The Cardinals had chances before the sixth. Walker doubled in the third, but Burleson struck out to end the threat. Greene settled in for a stretch and kept St. Louis from stretching the lead.
Then the sixth arrived.
That inning changed everything.
Wetherholt walked to start the frame, and after Walker fouled out, Burleson singled to right. Herrera followed with the biggest swing of the night, driving a double to shallow left that scored both Wetherholt and Burleson, pushing the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0.
That gave St. Louis separation.
Then the Cardinals kept going.
Nootbaar walked, Masyn Winn singled to right, and Bryan Torres followed with an RBI single of his own, scoring Herrera and making it 4-0. Blaze Jordan then stepped in and delivered another timely swing, lining a two-run single to right to bring home Winn and Nootbaar.
Just like that, it was 6-0.
Nathan Church added the final run of the inning with a sacrifice bunt that scored Torres, giving the Cardinals a 7-0 lead and turning a tight game into a comfortable one.
That was the inning this lineup needed.
Not one swing and done. Not one run and hope the pitching staff makes it stand. The Cardinals strung together at-bats, kept the line moving, and put real pressure on Cincinnati. The inning forced Greene from the game and gave Pallante all the breathing room he needed.
Greene finished with 5.1 innings, allowing eight hits and seven runs, six earned, while walking two and striking out three. He had held the Cardinals close for five innings, but the sixth got away from him in a hurry.
The Cardinals finished with 10 hits, and the production came from several places. Burleson drove in the first run and helped start the sixth-inning rally. Herrera delivered the two-run double. Torres added an RBI single. Blaze Jordan drove in two more. Church executed the sacrifice bunt. Walker reached with a single and a double.
That is how a lineup gets healthy.
For St. Louis, the win also carried some weight beyond the box score. Friday night’s 4-2 loss was the kind of game that feeds frustration. Dustin May pitched well, the Cardinals briefly had the lead, and then the bullpen let it slip. Coming back less than 24 hours later with a shutout was the right answer.
It does not erase the larger questions around this team.
It does not fix every concern at the trade deadline.
It does not suddenly make the recent rough stretch disappear.
But it does stop the bleeding for a night.
And sometimes that is where a club has to start.
The Cardinals needed a starter to take control.
Pallante did.
They needed the offense to show some life.
The sixth inning took care of that.
They needed a clean win.
They got one.
Cardinals 7, Reds 0.
That’s a winner.
Bottom Line
The Cardinals needed this one.
Andre Pallante controlled the Reds for seven innings. The offense finally erupted in the sixth. Burleson, Herrera, Torres, Blaze Jordan and Church all helped drive the scoring, and St. Louis walked away with a clean 7-0 win.
After too many messy nights lately, this one was simple.
Pitch well.
Hit with men on base.
Win the game.
That’s a winner.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Andre Pallante, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB