Cardinals Pound Happ, Phillies On Late Inning Runs
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Phillies lefthander J.A. Happ was solved for 1 run on 3 hits in the second inning by the St. Louis Cardinals. Then he cruised through the next three innings retiring 9 of the next 10 hitters he faced before the roof caved in a 4 run Cards’ sixth inning to lose his 1st game of the season after having gone undefeated. Cards’ starter Joel Pineiro pitched a six inning 4 hit shutout as the Cards added 2 more runs in the seventh and 1 more in the eighth against Tyler Walker and Andrew Carpenter, 2 recent Phillies bullpen call-ups, as the Cardinals pounded Happ and the Phillies on Friday by an 8-1 score on late inning runs.
With the loss, the Phils’ lead in the NL East division race dropped to
5 1/2 games over Atlanta and Florida, both tied for 2nd place. The Mets remain in 4th place 10 1/2 games back.
The Phils managed to get runners on in every inning except the first when Pineiro went clean on them. They left 10 runners on for the game but couldn’t uncork their offense against Pineiro. The only inning when they had more than 1 hitter reach was the seventh inning when they scored their only run. They actually had 3 reach, but 1 runner was rubbed out on a doubleplay. Rightfielder Jayson Werth, who led off with a single, score the Phils only run on a 2 out wild pitch.
The Cardinals saw quick return on their acquisition of leftfielder Matt Holliday, who was quickly installed as #4 hitter behind 1st baseman Albert Pujols and ahead of rightfielder Ryan Ludwick. The acquisition gives the Cards a dangerous middle of the lineup and great protection for Pujols. Holliday went 4 for 5 with a double and an RBI.
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi recaps a close game which turned into a rout for Yahoo sports:
Matt Holliday hopped off a train, joined his new team and made an immediate contribution before making good contact.
Holliday went 4 for 5 with one RBI to back Joel Pineiro and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-1 on Friday night in a matchup of division leaders.
Acquired from Oakland for a package of prospects earlier in the day, Holliday had two soft hits and a stolen base to help the Cardinals build a 5-0 lead. He ripped a double in the seventh and got his second infield single in the ninth.
Julio Lugo homered and tripled in his first game with St. Louis and Rick Ankiel went 3 for 4 with four RBIs.
“It was frustrating to say the least,” Happ said. “You feel like you’re executing, but the balls are dropping.”
Holliday drove in the first run during a four-run sixth with a bloop single. After Mark DeRosa lined a single leading off, Pujols looped a hit just out of second baseman Chase Utley’s reach. Holliday dropped his single down the right-field line to score DeRosa. Ryan Ludwick followed with an RBI single, but Holliday was thrown out at third. Yadier Molina’s broken-bat single scored Ludwick before Ankiel’s RBI double made it 5-0.
Jayson Werth scored Philadelphia’s only run on a wild pitch in the seventh. He started the inning with a single off Kyle McClellan.
Holliday had a tougher time in the outfield than he did at the plate. He mistimed his jump at the warning track on Ryan Howard’s shot to left in the fourth and the ball went over his glove for a double.
Happ’s line looked darn good until the sixth inning at 1 run on 4 hits. He finished allowing 5 runs on 10 hits while striking out 6. He walked noone. Walker got roughed up for 2 runs in the seventh and Carpenter gave up a run in the eight.
Winning pitcher Pineiro pitched six impressive innings giving up 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 3 in evening his record to 9-9. 4 Cardinals relievers gave up 1 run on 4 hits and a walk the rest of the way while shutting the door on the Phils.
For the scores of all of Friday’s games, click here.
The Phils hope to even the series in Saturday’s game 2 as Rodrigo Lopez faces Kyle Lohse.
For all of Saturday’s games, click here.
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