Royals Pound Cardinals in 14-6 Series Loss

The Cardinal Chronicle
Royals Pound Cardinals in 14-6 Series-Opening Loss
Kansas City, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals had enough offense Thursday night to stay in a ballgame.

They did not have nearly enough pitching.

Kansas City hammered Cardinals arms for 17 hits and three home runs, turning the opener of the I-70 series into a 14-6 loss for St. Louis at Kauffman Stadium. The Cardinals scored early, collected 13 hits, and had several offensive bright spots, but none of it mattered much once the Royals’ lineup started stacking hard contact.

This was one of those nights where the score tells the truth.

The Cardinals jumped in front in the first inning, giving Matthew Liberatore a 2-0 lead before he ever took the mound. JJ Wetherholt opened another strong night by getting aboard, Ivan Herrera reached, and Jordan Walker brought home the first run on a fielder’s choice. Alec Burleson followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Herrera and giving St. Louis an early two-run cushion.

That should have been a good start.

It did not last.

Bobby Witt Jr. answered immediately with a solo home run to left-center in the bottom of the first, cutting the lead to 2-1 and setting the tone for a long night of damage from Kansas City’s lineup.

The second inning was where the game got away.

The Royals sent traffic all over the bases and put six runs on the board. Carter Jensen doubled home Salvador Perez to tie the game. Isaac Collins followed with a double to score Jensen. Michael Massey reached on an error by Nelson Velázquez in left field, allowing Collins to score. Lane Thomas doubled home Massey. Witt singled home Thomas. Starling Marte then doubled home Witt.

By the time the inning ended, the Cardinals’ 2-0 lead had become a 7-2 deficit.

Liberatore’s night ended after just 1 2/3 innings. He allowed seven runs, five earned, on seven hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out two, but Kansas City squared him up repeatedly. It was not a command disaster. It was a contact disaster.

That is a different kind of problem, and usually a louder one.

The Cardinals tried to chip away in the fourth. Blaze Jordan reached and eventually scored when Walker beat out an infield single, cutting the deficit to 7-3. But Kansas City answered again in the bottom half, and that response buried any realistic comeback attempt.

Jac Caglianone launched a two-run home run to left-center off Gordon Graceffo, stretching the lead to 9-3. Later in the inning, Nick Loftin doubled home Jensen and Marte, pushing the Royals’ lead to 11-3.

At that point, the game had moved beyond uncomfortable.

The Cardinals kept taking their at-bats, and to their credit, they did not completely disappear. Masyn Winn had a three-hit night and scored twice. Wetherholt continued to look like a table-setter with real impact, finishing with three hits and two walks. Walker had two hits, a walk and an RBI. Jordan added two hits and scored twice. José Fermín drove in two runs.

There were offensive pieces worth saving from the wreckage.

Wetherholt doubled. Winn doubled. Jordan doubled. Velázquez doubled. The Cardinals had 13 hits, drew six walks, and scored in four different innings.

But they also left 15 runners on base.

That is the kind of number that looks ugly in any game. In a game where the pitching staff gives up 14 runs, it becomes almost irrelevant, but it still tells part of the story. St. Louis had chances to make the game more competitive and could not land enough big swings.

The Cardinals scored once in the fifth when Fermín singled home Winn, making it 11-4. Kansas City answered in the sixth when Perez homered to left off Max Rajcic, pushing the lead back to eight.

St. Louis scored twice more in the seventh. Fermín grounded out to bring in Winn, and Pedro Pagés lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jordan. That made it 12-6, but again, the Royals had an answer. Thomas singled home Collins in the bottom half, and Kansas City added another run in the eighth on a passed ball.

The final margin was 14-6.

It was that kind of night.

Kansas City’s lineup got production everywhere. Thomas drove in two runs. Witt homered, singled and drove in two before leaving the game. Caglianone homered and drove in two. Marte had three hits. Perez had three hits, including a home run and a double. Jensen had two hits. Loftin doubled twice and drove in two. Collins added two hits and two runs.

That is not one hitter beating you.

That is a lineup taking turns.

The Cardinals’ pitching line was rough from start to finish. Liberatore allowed seven runs, five earned, in 1 2/3 innings. Graceffo followed and allowed four runs in 1 2/3 innings. Rajcic gave up one run over two innings. Justin Bruihl covered the final 2 2/3 innings and allowed two runs, one earned.

No one really stopped the bleeding.

The loss dropped St. Louis to 40-33, while Kansas City improved to 31-45. For the Cardinals, it marked a second straight loss after Wednesday’s series finale against San Diego. More importantly, it was a reminder that the rotation depth and middle relief questions are not going away just because the club has spent much of June playing good baseball.

Good teams still have bad nights.

This was a bad night.

Burleson’s long hitting streak also came to an end, though he still drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. That should not take away from the run he has been on, but it was another small sign that Thursday did not belong to St. Louis.

The Cardinals can point to the offense and say they competed. That is fair. Thirteen hits and six runs usually give a club a chance.

But this game was decided on the mound.

When the starter lasts fewer than two innings and the opponent scores 11 runs by the fourth, the rest of the night becomes damage control. The Cardinals never found enough of it.

The good news is simple. It counts as one loss.

The bad news is just as simple. It looked like more than one.

The Cardinals will need to turn the page quickly as the series continues in Kansas City. Nights like this happen over 162 games, but the teams that survive them are the ones that do not let one ugly pitching night become a trend.

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