Friday night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves was really two completely different stories. There’s the first third of the game which featured a pitcher’s duel between Kyle Leahy for the Cardinals and Chris Sale for the Braves. The final two-thirds of the game didn’t begin until a 2-hour rain delay was over and it would end with a Cardinals victory.
It was no surprise that the Atlanta Braves Chris Sale had nasty stuff, but what will sadly probably get overlooked by many is that Kyle Leahy for the Cardinals had better results for the 3 innings he was in the game before the rain delay removed both starters. The Cardinals at least managed a scoring threat in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Blaze Jordan hit a ground rule double and JJ Wetherholt walked. Kyle Leahy only allowed one hit which was an infield single to Jim Jarvis with two outs in the top of the 3rd inning.
The second two-thirds of the game started with a 1-2 count on Ozzie Albies in the top of the 4th inning after a two-hour rain delay that included a deluge of water that was spotted pouring into the dugouts.
After the game resumed, George Soriano pitched a scoreless top of the 4th, but wasn’t so fortunate in the top of the 5th when Mike Yastrzemski ripped a one-out double down into the right field corner. Austin Riley followed that with a RBI single to center to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Justin Bruihl was brought in to get the last 2 outs of the Braves 5th inning and he was successful and took care of Atlanta in the top of the 6th inning also.
The St. Louis Cardinals bats would finally mount a threat in the bottom of the 6th inning against Braves reliever Didier Fuentes when JJ Wetherholt would celebrate his newly-signed 8-year extension by drawing a one-out walk. Iván Herrera, the new All-Star DH, singled to move JJ up to second. Then, Jordan Walker, the Home Run Derby entrant All-Star, ripped a RBI single to right scoring Wetherholt and tying the game at 1-1. Alec Burleson’s foul out stranded Herrera and Walker on base, but at least St. Louis tied the game.
Ryne Stanek was brought into cover the top of the 7th inning. He walked Austin Riley with two outs, but otherwise kept the drama to a minimum as the game remained tied. For the Cardinals bottom half of the 7th inning, Masyn Winn walked, but was back on the bench quickly as José Fermín hit into a double play and then Blaze Jordan popped out.
JoJo Romero was given the top of the 8th inning responsibilities and Nathan Church was brought in as a defensive replacement in centerfield. The highlight of the top of the 8th was Jordan Walker catching Michael Harris II’s deep fly ball at the top of the wall that Jordan caught. The Apple TV announcer said that ball would have been a home run in 26 different ballparks, but Jordan Walker is tall so we win. The Braves were denied again.
In a 1-1 tied game, it just takes 1 swing to decide a winner and Friday night, that swing came from Jimmy Crooks who lifted an 83 mph sweeper from Braves reliever Danny Young 405 into the plants above the center field wall giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
The top of the 9th inning would be handed to All-Star Riley O’Brien. He struck out Matt Olson, but we all held our breath when Drake Baldwin flied out to DEEP center. Mauricio Dubón was the Braves final hope and fortunately for St. Louis Cardinals fans was no hope at all as O’Brien fanned him to end a rain-soaked Friday night of baseball.
After a long Friday night with a mega-rain delay, the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves will play game 2 of their weekend series Saturday night. Matthew Liberatore will get the start for the Cardinals while the Atlanta Braves will send Reynaldo López to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15pm central time at Busch Stadium. TV broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.
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