Cardinal Bats Quiet in Loss
06/15/2024 06:01 PM
Cardinals fell to the Cubs 5-1 in Chicago Saturday afternoon while only managing to collect four hits in the game.
The Cardinals offense got an early scoring chance after Alec Burleson smacked a leadoff double facing Cubs ace Shota Imanaga. Paul Goldschmidt moved him over with a groundout to shortstop and Nolan Arenado was able to drive him in on a sacrifice fly giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead and their only run of the game.
On the other side of the ball St. Louis sent Andre Pallante to the mound for his fourth start of the year. Early results were positive as he only allowed three baserunners through the first three innings.
He found trouble in the fourth after back-to-back singles to start the inning gave the Cubs first and second with nobody out. Pallante was able to strike out Ian Happ but that would be the end of the line for the Cardinal right-hander as Oli Marmol made the early move to the bullpen.
Chris Roycroft replaced Pallante and gave up a soft contact ground ball back to the pitcher. Roycroft wasn't able to handle it and a runner scored on the fielding error by the pitcher tying the game 1-1. With runners once again on first and third the next batter Dansby Swanson hit another soft contact ground ball, this time catcher Pedro Pagés was able to field it and throw the runner out at first base. This plated the Cubs second run of the game giving them the lead 2-1.
Pallante was pulled after only 59 pitches and only being able to complete three and 1/3 innings. In those innings he gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out four. He would earn the loss in this game dropping his record on the year to 2-3.
Roycroft would stay in to pitch the fifth and got a quick two outs after a double play erased a leadoff single. However, three consecutive walks would knock him out of the game bringing in rookie Kyle Leahy. Leahy was able to wiggle out of the inherited jam by inducing a one pitch fly out to left fielder Brendan Donovan.
The score would remain 2-1 until the seventh inning when Ian Happ stepped to the plate with runners on second and third with two outs. Happ would take a 1-2 slider below the zone and drive it 376 feet to left center blowing the game open 5-1.
The Cardinals would go quietly in the ninth and drop the second game of the series. This loss drops the Cardinals to a 34-35 record as they still fight to reach an above .500 record. This was a disappointing game for the offense who went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and was only able to get four player to reach base altogether.
The Cardinals will look to take the rubber game of the series Sunday afternoon in Wrigley as Miles Mikolas takes on Cubs righty Jameson Taillon. First pitch is set for 12:05 CST.
