Cardinals-White Sox Recap: Cards Drop Two
It speaks volumes that it took a Cy Young candidate to stop the Cardinals, both on just how dominant this team is, and how good Chris Sale is as a pitcher. The Cardinals dropped two at home to the Chicago White Sox in their recent series. Despite the losses, the Cardinals, now 51-26, are still firmly atop the the NL Central; their seven game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates is the largest gap between the 1st and 2nd place teams in any major league division.
Chris Sale was the story in game one. The White Sox ace fanned 12 in eight innings of stellar work. In that effort, he joined Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers to notch 10 strikeouts in at least 8 consecutive starts. Sale even helped his own cause, scoring in the third on a Jose Abreu single. However, even Sale boosting the White Sox’s paltry run support wasn’t enough. Sale gave up a solo home run to Randal Grichuk in the fourth inning to tie it at one. The score would stay that way until the eleventh, when White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers hit a 431 foot solo homer off Miguel Socolovich, putting the White Sox up permanently at 2-1.
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Game two got off to a rough start, as multiple rain delays threatened to postpone the game. The first rain delay lasted an hour and 49 minutes, stalling first pitch from 7:15 PM CT to 9:05 PM CT. John Lackey started off with a 1-2-3 inning, but Jose Quintana only threw two pitches before the rain came again and delayed the action. After a 2nd rain delay, the Cardinals wasted no time getting the action going again; leadoff man Kolten Wong hit a single before later scoring on Jhonny Peralta double. The next few innings were quiet until Lackey’s stuff dropped off in the fifth and sixth.
A bobble by Mark Reynolds in fifth inning prevented a double play as Tyler Flowers made it safely to second. That bobble would come back to bite the Cards as Tyler Flowers came around to score on an Adam Eaton single the next at-bat. In the 6th inning Melky Cabrera hit a solo shot off a Lackey curve down above the plate, putting the White Sox up 2-1. The White Sox offense came to life in the 9th at the expense of the Cardinals bullpen. Tyler Flowers hit his second homer in as many nights to put the Sox up 4-1, Jose Abreu and Melky Cabrera both drove in runs on singles to put the Sox up 6-1, and Matt Carpenter missed a throw to put Adam Eaton home to make it 7-1.
Despite the two losses the Cardinals are in good shape. The bullpen didn’t exactly impress, and the number of guys on the DL has certainly started to take its toll. But up next, the Cardinals have two four-game series against the Padres and Cubs, both of whom are struggling as of late. It shouldn’t be hard for the Cardinals to take both of those series and regain their stride before their series with the Pirates starts July 9.