Cardinals avenge loss in opener to day, clobber Phillies 14-7 for series win

By MATT PIKE

St. Joseph Post

The St. Louis Cardinals lost their winning streak in the opener to Wednesday’s doubleheader in Philadelphia, but bounced back in the nightcap to claim the series, clobbering the Phillies with a dominating 14-7 win at Citizens Bank Park.

That did not happen though until the Redbirds fell behind early.  After taking the lead in the top of the first, a groundout from Nolan Arenado scoring Lars Nootbaar, the Phillies scored five runs in the bottom half of the inning.  A Nick Castellanos double drove in Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, and Castellanos scored on a single by Max Kepler.  J.T. Realmuto’s two run home finished the scoring putting the Phillies up 5-1 at the end of one. 

After a scoreless second inning by both teams, the Cardinals answered with five runs of their own to take the lead back. Nootbaar homered to lead off the inning and in the next at bat Masyn Winn walked, before being driven in on a double from Brendan Donovan on the third straight hit of the inning.  Back to back ground outs from Arenado and Willson Contreras allowed Donovan to score and Iván Herrera singled to keep the inning alive, bringing Alec Burleson to the plate to put St. Louis ahead, and score the final runs of the inning with a two run home run, the second of the inning for the Cardinals. 

Philadelphia tied the game up in the bottom half of the third, Kyle Schwarber hitting his 15th home run of the season, but St. Louis took the lead back the very next inning with another home run, this time from Winn.  Burleson drove in two more later in the inning with a single, scoring Arenado and Contreras who both singled, putting the Cardinals up 9-6 heading into the bottom of the fourth. 

Alec Bohm scored the final run for the Phillies in the bottom of the fourth, hitting the sixth home run of the game and his second of the season.  St. Louis did not score again until the eighth inning, a three run inning where Winn singled to score Victor Scott, then later scored on a wild pitch.  A sacrifice fly from Contreras drove in Donovan.  Nootbaar hit a sacrifice fly as well in the ninth inning scoring Jordan Walker, before Winn drove in his third run of the game, singling to bring home Scott for the final run. 

Chris Roycroft earned the win in relief for the Cardinals.  Neither St. Louis starter Sonny Gray nor Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola pitched past the fourth inning.  Winn was 4-5 at the plate with 3 RBI’s and one home run

St. Louis is off Thursday.  The Cardinals begin a series in Kansas City on Friday as Andre Pallante is slated to start for St. Louis against Cole Ragans for the Royals.  First pitch on Friday is at 6:40pm, pregame coverage will be joined at 6:30 for Cardinals coverage on KY 102 (102.5 FM) or will begin at 6pm for Royals coverage on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM). 

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.