Game 14: Red Sox 7 Cardinals 1

Wherein the Sox Win the Small Ball Game, then Finally Put Up a Crooked Inning to Ice It

Not the formula I expected to mark the offense this season, but I'll take it 

Leahy is pitching for St. Louis, Ranger Suarez for us. I keep wanting to call him Patrick Leahy but it’s Kyle Leahy.  Too much New England.  Suarez has been bad, and there’s speculation ABS is working against him by getting a lot of close calls called against him. He does work the edges and if the edges are bleeding, there maybe something to that.

The game tonight is on Fox and I won’t tell you anything about how the Fox unit does because I’m listening to the game on the radio and watching the TV with the volume turned down. For once the TV is ahead of the radio so I can pause it and get the two synched. 

Roman is DHing tonight, Durbin second, Jarren 3rd in LF, then Contreras-Abreu-Story-Mayer-Narvaez-Rafaela as we’ve had the last few games. 

I can’t believe Marcelo is only hitting .182 ; he’s looked like he’s had an idea all year, but he’s nearly as bad as the rest of the lineup in the box score. Rafaela, Yoshida, and Abreu are the only +WAR players in the lineup (well, on the club, since Yoshida isn't in the lineup tonight).

Sox go quietly 1-2-3 in the first. Suarez gives up a first pitch hit but the Sox turn a neat 6-4-3 double play on the next batter. Then…. a walk, and another walk. GRRRRRRR. Then an ABS challenge against the Sox on a called strike three, but Suarez comes back to get the guy swinging on the next pitch. Fingers crossed this is just an early hiccup. 

In the second, Contreras is whacked on the back on the second pitch, putting on a runner for AL MVP Wilyer Abreu. But Wilyer grounds into a double play, so much for that. Trevor skies out and that’s it. Superfast. Leahy has thrown 19 pitches (14 for strikes) and Suarez has already thrown 27 (14 for strikes).

Ranger is throwing first pitch strikes but after that…and the Cards are swinging at them. Out-hit-out. Victor Scott the Sequel comes up as the number 9 hitter and Ranger’s got to go after him here. He grounds out to second, and it’s normally an easy play but Scott is so fast it almost looks close. Marcelo looking good out there, though. We will get to see him play short during his time with the Sox, I predict. (You do not need to be Karnak here.)

The Sox get a very satisfying rally in the third. Leadoff walk to Anthony, single by Duran, and then a one-out double by Contreras to score not only Anthony, but Jarren doing what he does best — so smoothly hustling all the way. He scored standing up…on a ball to left field! That is crazy. That was all the Sox got but it feels like they finagled a run there.

Suarez settles in and works the edges, and ends up lasting six full with only three hits and two walks, and six Ks. 84 pitches and Alex quits while we’re literally ahead. The little rally by the Sox put a ding in Leahy’s pitch count, however, and the Cards get into their bullpen in the 5th. It’s a really good outing by Suarez, in many ways maybe the best Sox start of the year. The Cards aren’t that fearsome offensively but settling down like that Suarez looked really good.

How can you have two appeals overturning the exact same play? We found out in the 7th when the Sox challenged a ridiculous hit by pitch call that was a foul tip strike three into Narvaez mitt for strike three. Only the umps, after overturning it, somehow called it a ball, for a 1-2 count instead of an 0-2 or strikeout. Then the CARDINALS challenged the SAME call, after a few minutes had transpired, claiming it was interference. If it was interference, why didn’t New York call it that on the initial review? It was interference, technically, because one of the leather strands of Narvaez’ glove hit the bat, but it was hardly the intent of the interference rule, which is when the catcher’s glove impedes the progress of the bat or alters its trajectory. The alleged interference only happened AFTER the ball had been fouled into the mitt. It was a call they got “right” twice and “wrong” three times. 

This almost hurt the Sox as eventually that runner got to third base, but Danny Coulombe picked up Greg Weissert on the play by inducing a fly out to right. 

Wow, in the top of the 8th we have the most outrageously bad call on a ball strike by the umpire on a withdrawn bunt attempt by Duran that was called a ball. It was almost as smack dab in the middle of the strikezone as you can get.  Poor Duran smokes an 0-2 pitch into the gap but the left fielder makes a spectacular diving play to rob him of at least two bases. Poor Wilyer smokes another ball deep to center but it just hangs up a bit and the centerfielder circles back to catch it on the warning track.

Now we’re into the part of the bullpen that should dominate, but somehow I feel like we should have put up some insurance runs. There’s a special kind of anxiety for the 2026 Red Sox where our lack of offensive output always puts disaster just a couple of plays away.  On comes Garrett Whitlock.

Whitlock gets Wetherholt to ground to first but has a very disconcerting slip on the base. It looks like an ankle breaker but Garrett is OK, thank goodness. At least for now. Second out on a strikeout K2-3 and Whitlock looking good…until…

Jordan freaking Walker first pitch swings and hits it so far Whitlock doesn’t even turn to look at it go out. 2-1 Red Sox and now we’re in the one-swing-can-tie-it territory. 

My goodness Jordan Walker has looked good thus far this year. His approach at the plate has looked so much more comfortable. He’s now leading the majors in homers with six.

Whitlock comes right back and strikes out Nolan Gorman, and we’ll be entering the ninth with a lead. This is going to kill me. I really want the Sox to have, like, an 11 run top of the 9th. We just have not had an inning like that all year. In fact, I think the most we’ve scored in a single inning thus far is four, and three a couple of times, and that’s about it. 

Trevor Story, who has always seemed to come up with runners in scoring position with mixed results thus far, leads off and works a walk, which is more like classic Trevor. Have we seen him run? Just that steal of home that was wasted the other day. He’s 1-1 in attempts this year. 

Marcelo, who has looked great at the plate but has little to show for it, rips a ball down the left field line but Fermin in left makes another excellent play — up against that narrow wall at Busch Stadium III that plays almost like Fenway (or Wrigley) — and we move to Carlos Narvaez. 

There’s a really good showing by Sox fans in St. Louis tonight, something that’s true wherever they go, but the Cards’ squishy teams in recent years have eroded the home fan base enough the Sox fans are really noticeable. Hard to tell from the crowd that’s full of red. The Sox and Cards’ reds have converged over the years so I can’t really tell them apart anymore. (Also: those classic Cardinals uniforms make yesterday’s City Connects look all the more worse.) The Sox are wearing their alternative red jerseys tonight, a look I also really like for a road uni. 

Now Trevor has drawn two throws to first on Narvaez’ AB, and this is a great time to steal. He is indeed running, and Narvaez makes contact the other way into the hole the shortstop created, and it’s first and third. I mean, this is the epitome of old fashioned scientific baseball, which is not what I expected from the Sox this year. 

Cedanne rips a first pitch single, Trevor scores, we get our run back! First and secon with one out. Cedanne looking like a steely eyed missile man on that one. Sox 3-1. 

Now Roman comes up and the kid really needs a pick me up. Roman come sup medium aggressive and hits another first pitch into center, almost the exact place Cedanne hit it.  4-1!

Possible Alex Cora Questionable Management Call: no Cards lefty up in the pen, Yoshida on the bench, but he sticks with Durbin. That seems like a bad decision. BUT NO, Durbin singles, and Alex proves once again why he sits in the dugout and I sit on my living room couch. RBI, Sox up 5-1, and we’re still at first and second with only one out. AM I GETTING MY WISH FOR A BIG INNING? It’s already a crooked inning and this reliever, Svanson, has nothing nothing on the ball. Duran up now.

Jarren works the count full and fouls off a couple, and IT’S A BASE HIT! It’s a pile on!!! Station to station! All singles!! 6-1 RED SOX! 

ANOTHER HIT! Contreras singles in a run, and that’s six consecutive hits! SEVEN TO ONE SOX! Man I’d still like to see a tater her to put the cherry on top in a big way, and here’s Wilyer Abreu. That will chase Svanson and we’ll see a lefty against Wilyer. 

New pitcher is Jared Shuster, whom I cannot recall having seen. But he gets Wilyer to ground into what should have been a double play but the aforementioned Shuster is slow to cover and it’s first and third with two outs. Trevor Story back up — we have batted around!!! OUR FIRST BAT AROUND OF THE YEAR! Trevor flies out and that’s it, but finally, finally a nice inning. FIVE RUNS ACROSS! SIX RUN LEAD!

Now instead of Chapman we’re getting Rule Fiver Ryan Watson. It feels like we’ve hardly seen Chapman this year, and yet he has appeared in five games and has three saves (with one blown save, and a loss) this year, just over two weeks in. The impression may be because he’s only had one appearance this week, and that four days ago now.

Nice two strike advantage to Watson on the first batter, and a groundout to third is there for the first out. He gets another grounder on Jose Fermin but it skitters under Story’s glove for a single. I am not cocky about a six run lead: I want a shut down for morale. ANOTHER ground ball on the next batter, not quite hard enough for a DP and we are ONE OUT AWAY. The Cards are shinging like they have dinner reservations.

OH how I wish this was easier to take: Watson hits Nathan Church on the foot, and we have runners on first and second with two outs. Up is Yohel Pozo, whom I love without knowing anything about it, just for his weird name. He grounds to Contreras, and it’s an easy 3-1 out to end the inning. Nice job by young Watson.

Takeaways: fantastic start by Ranger Suarez after a moderately alarming start to the game. The Sox bullpen scuffles a little, but the Sox put together a big station to station inning in the top of the ninth when the Cards had pulled to within one, that scored five runs and made it from a tense game most of the way into a laugher in the box score. I WILL TAKE IT!