Cardinals Lose Big in D.C.
07/06/2024 08:06 PM
Cardinals fell to the Nationals in D.C. Saturday by a blowout score of 14-6 behind Lance Lynn's shortest start of the season.
Lance Lynn took the mound for the Cardinals in the second game of the series and it was a game that he would rather forget. He found himself in an early hole as the first pitch he threw was a home run off the bat of CJ Abrams. He would go on to give up two more hits in the inning the big one being a three-run home run by catcher Keibert Ruiz bringing the deficit to 4-0.
Lynn's struggles continued in the second inning as they tagged him with five more runs on four hits and two walks. The long ball stayed a problem as James Wood hit a three-run shot that paired with a Luis García Jr. RBI single stretched the Nationals' lead to a whooping 9-0.
The Cardinals showed life in the top of the third as Nolan Gorman led the inning off with a double. He would later be knocked in by a Masyn Winn single giving St. Louis their first run of the game. With runners on second and third a groundout from Willson Contreras would net the Cardinals another run. Then after a Paul Goldschmidt walk, back to back singles from Arenado and Donovan would give the Cardinals a total of four runs in the inning making it a 9-4 deficit.
Brendan Donovan's single gave him 43 RBI's on the year which is good enough to share the lead on the team with Nolan Gorman. His success with driving in runs can be attributed to his .808 OPS with runners in scoring position on the year.
Lynn would go back out in the third and after a two-run double from James Wood he would walk Jessie Winker which would drive the veteran from the game with the score being 11-4. Lynn's final line would be two 2/3 innings pitched while giving up 11 runs (10 earned) on nine hits four walks while striking out two. This is a season high in earned runs and walks for Lynn.
Mathew Liberatore would come on and pitch two 1/3 innings giving up two runs on 3 hits and his only blemish coming on a Lane Thomas two-run single in the fourth extending the Nationals lead to 13-5.
The Cardinals would conclude their scoring in the seventh on an RBI ground out from Michael Siani after Nolan Gorman's second double of the game put runners on second and third.
Giovanni Gallegos would come on and pitch the final three innings of the game in mop up duty. He would do a nice job with this assignment as he only gave up one run on three hits one walk and striking out one. The lone run was on an eighth inning double by Luis García Jr. extended the already big lead even more to 14-6.
The Cardinals would go quietly in the ninth and lose a forgettable game dropping their record to 46-42.
Despite the pitching woes the offense had a good day. Winn, Arenado, Donovan and Gorman all had multi-hit games with Gorman going 3-for-5 with two doubles. Arenado followed his four hit performance last night with two more today giving him six hits in the series so far.
The Cardinals will look to take the series tomorrow afternoon in Nationals Park as they send Kyle Gibson to the mound to take on Nationals rookie DJ Herz. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 CST.
