Game Recap - July 26 - Nats take high-scoring affair with Cardinals, 10-8

07/26/2024 11:53 PM

Cardinals lose in a rare ugly give-away

Top-Line Results

With early homers by Winn and Arenado powering a 5-spot the Cardinal's reverse the narrative about how they (don't) hit lefties. But they gift the Nationals 8 walks and allow the last 5 runs by the Nats to score with the benefit of a single hit, which itself was a misplayed fly ball that scored 3 in the tenth for a National's win. Final 10-8.

Pre-Game Notes

• Noticing that old friend Randy Arozarena has been traded to Seattle. He is now 29 years old and has stepped into the "notable" player range with 11.x WAR accumulated in his career. Thinking back to 2019, the Cardinals had something like 6 outfielders in their system who would go on to have capable ML careers (Bader, Garcia, Thomas, Nootbar and Arozarena). Thomas and Garcia may not cross the 10 WAR threshold to be considered "notable" but will get close. That many notable players clustered like that is unusual.
• It sounds like the trade market is heating up today. Eflin to Orioles. Hays to Phils. Garcia to Mariners.
• O'Brien is pitching at Memphis (on rehab) now. Had a nice outing the other night and I think he is on schedule to pitch again tonight. Next step for him is to keep pitching and build up to back-to-back outings. Edman is DHing (on rehab) in Springfield. Next step for him is to play the field. Both now look like mid-August arrivals if things go reasonably well. I was impressed with O'Brien when I saw him in Jupiter.
• Tink Hence continues to not pitch. He has been out almost 2 months with "cramping". Long enough that the season may run out before he can build back up again. Though, realistically I think 120 IP might have been a good target for him this year, and he might make that if he can get on the mound soon. If he gets to 120, maybe target 140-150 next year at AAA? They could then view him as a viable rotation candidate by this time next year. In the back of my mind, sometimes I wonder if they are going try and build him up in August and bring him to the MLB roster as one of the extra two players in September and plant him in the bullpen. Maybe try to catch lightning in a bottle? Would they do that?
• Nationals will actually start a right-handed pitcher this series.

Line-up (and roster machinations)

• Roster changes might be coming, just not today.
• Gray on the mound for the Cards and Gore for the Nats. If Gray is on his game and Gore is still left-handed, this could be a low scoring affair.
• Arenado and Goldy move up in line-up, Arenado to 4th, Goldy to 5th. Carlson starts in RF today, with Siani in CF. Donovan at 2B. So, Noot gets the back-to-back days off. Contreras at DH, Pages at C.

The Game

T1 - Sonny Gray strikes out the side to start the game.

B1 - Winn grounds out, but Contreras gets a broken bat single. Burleson forces him, and Arenado walks to set up a RISP. Goldy flies out to end the inning.

T2 - Yepez leads off with a single. Wood K's and Ruiz singles. Garcia doubles home 2 runs. Lipscomb K's. Garcia steals third, but Young grounds out to end the inning. Nats up 2-0.

B2 - Donovan grounds out. Carlson grounds out. Pages flies out to right.

T3 - Abrams K's. Thomas doubles. All or nothing for Gray tonight. Winker grounds out advancing the running. Then Gray uncorks a wild, wild pitch that bounces all the way back to Pages, and they trap Thomas off third to end the inning. That goes in the books as a fortuitous bounce.

B3 - Siani walks to lead off. Winn promptly hits one out to tie the game. Contreras singles, Burleson singles and Arenado hits a 3-run homer. Quite a quick outburst. Goldy grounds out. Dovovan K's. Boy, he is struggling. Carlson K's. I keep waiting for him to impact the baseball, but not so far. He always looks like he is on skates in the batter's box. No balance. Cards now up 5-2.

T4 - Yepez singles. Wood walks. Gray's command stayed behind in the dugout. Ruiz forces a runner at second. Garcia with an RBI single. Lipscomb F8. Young K's. Cards lead now 5-3.

B4 - Pages, Siani and Winn lead off with consecutive singles. They definitely have Gore on the hook. Winn's single is of the RBI variety. Good to get the run back. But Contreras GIDP and Burleson lines out. Cards now up 6-3.

T5 - Abrams walked. Thomas F8. Abrams steals. Winker walks. Command for Gray is worsening as we go. It wasn't great to start. Yepez with RBI double. Wood out 1-3 for an RBI. Ruiz lines out. Cards now up 6-5. Gray's line is not pretty. 5 IP. 5 R. 7 H and 3 BB in last 4 innings. Lots of traffic. He did have 7 K. Bottom line is he wasn't able to hold a nice lead.

B5 - Arenado out 5-3. Goldy with a well-placed pop double right. Donovan flies out. Carlson K's again.

T6 - King in for Gray. Garcia K's. Lipscomb 5-3. Young F8. Good inning for King.

B6 - Pages singles. Siani pops out to short. Winn lines out to SS. Contreras K's. Cards still up 6-5.

T7 - Abrams walks again. They nibble too much with him. Kittredge in for King. He then steals second. In the obligatory reliever walks his first guy, Thomas walks behind him. Double steal now. Nats are running wild. Winker K's. But Yepez with SacFly. That is a gift run without a hit. Tied. Romero in for Kit. Wood K's.

B7 - Burly out 5-3. Arenado F7. Goldy F9.

T8 - Romero back out. Ruiz 1-3. Then a K. Lipscomb and Young single, but Abrams F8 to end the threat.

B8 - Donovan lines out. He now 0 for last 16, I believe. Carlson K's again. Pages K's. Not much going on here. Still tied 6-6.

T9 - Helsley in for Romero. Of course, he walks the lead off batter. But he is caught stealing. Winker K's. Yepez F7. They finally get him out.

B9 - Nootbar 4-3. Winn F8. Contreras F9. I believe that is 12 outs in a row. A lil offense be nice here.

T10 - Fernandez in. Nunez placed a second. Wood K's. Ruiz F9, advancing gift runner to third. Garcia IBB. I hate this strategy. Then they let him steal second uncontested. Since when don't we care about trail runners in tie games? Fernandez then walks Lipscomb, which is what you'd expect from a rookie. This loads the bases. That is 8 (EIGHT!!) walks tonight. They played this all wrong. Carlson screws up a fly ball for a 3 run triple. Bad read, bad route. Probably bad positioning, too. Infield single RBI for Abrams. Thomas K's. Nats now up 10-6.

B10 - Finnegan in. Contreras is placed at second. Burly out 4-3. Arenado out 6-3. Contreras advances to third. Goldy picks up career hit 2,000 in pedestrian fashion, a 2 run HR. Rally Killer!! Donovan F7 to end the game 10-8.

Post-Game Notes (and random musings)

• This is my last game recap before the trade deadline. I'm not much for the hype of it all. MLBTradeRumors and all that is not my thing. I'm more apt to pay attention on Aug 1 and see who got what. I think Cardinal's needs are obvious and I think the path they take will be somewhat predictable. I'd love a good SP and a good RH bat, but I will be (pleasantly) surprised if they acquire either in ways that move the needle.