Andre Pallante gave up the first run tonight because he was challenging hitters all over the zone, when he’s good at groundouts. Through two innings, the Mariners were up 1-0 because of an Arozarena double and a hit from Cole Young. While Pallante was struggling but mostly maintaining, the Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby was slicing through the Cardinals lineup all too efficiently.
Pallante looked a little more settled in during the third inning, and JJ Wetherholt made an astonishing play to end the inning! He just shifted over on a ball that looked like he couldn’t get to and was still able to throw the runner out. Could the Cardinals offense end the inning on an even better note by scoring a run?
Nope.
And then Pallante walked Naylor, and Dominic Canzone singled out to Fermin in left, and somehow Naylor scored. 2-0 Mariners.
Burleson walked in the 4th inning, Jordan Walker was up… he grounded into an out, but made it to first, Burleson out at second. Then Nolan Gorman hit a double, ahead of a pitch and barely fair in right field… Burleson advanced to third base… Masyn Winn batting 6th… In a moment we all knew the Winn magic was back, he hit a little flare over the infield into right field, just enough to score both Burleson and Gorman, and with Masyn Winn’s speed, he was able to get to second base.
The game was tied 2-2 and Nathan Church ended the top of the 4th with a fly out to Arozarena.
Pallante gets through the bottom of the 4th without trouble! somehow, some way.
The Cardinals at pitch 88 with Pallante persevered… but were damaged with a solo home run by Josh Naylor! 3-2 Mariners, breaking the tie. Pallante’s third run of the night allowed. Believe it or not, Pallante totally fooled Arozarena and struck him out!
At this point Marmol and the Cardinals decided to hedge their bets and not push Andre Pallante any further. A wise decision if you ask me. But what was next? Bruihl didn’t have it and walked a couple batters, but danced that fine line into a ground into double play, ending the inning.
The Cardinals were down 3-2 at this point and would go down 1-2-3 in the 6th.
George Soriano was the Cardinals reliever of choice in the 7th inning. With one on and one out, he was up against Cal Raleigh. Raleigh popped up to left field, and Fermin called off everyone to make the catch. Julio Rodriguez was up with two outs, 2-0… George ended up getting Julio to pop out to Ramon Urias over at third base.
Gordon Graceffo was in the game to try to keep the Cardinals down by a run in the 8th inning. He struck out Naylor. Randy Arozarena was up! At 2-2 Gordon Graceffo threw a crazy fast pitch just outside the zone to Arozarena, and struck him out! Then Rob Refsnyder lined out.
JJ Wetherholt singled to lead it off, then Ivan Herrera singled through the infield to Arozarena. Runners on first and second! Big ol’ Burly up. Alec Burleson the batting hero was not up to the plate that time, because he struck out. Only 1 out though! The Mariners went to their bullpen…
Jordan Walker grounded into a double play, ending the inning. Gordon Graceffo retired the side 1-2-3…
It was the end of the game, Nolan Gorman lined out sharply to right field… Masyn Winn was up, who had himself a good game already… 2-2 count, 1 out… Masyn ended up striking out on a slider in the dirt from Nunoz… 2 out.
Nathan Church somehow came up with a single slowly up the middle of infield, on a near golf shot. Urias was 0-3 on the night, and was quickly down 0-2. Urias ended up striking out to end the game.
- Jordan Walker going 0-4 with two strikeouts had the biggest impact on the Cardinals offense
- Masyn Winn going 2-4 with 2 RBI had the most positive impact on the game for the Cardinals
- Cardinals pitching kept them within the game, while the offense fell short: Urias and Burleson going 0-7 combined with only 1 walk between them
- The Mariners spread their runs out between three hitters, scoring just enough to win the game
The Mariners pitching actually gave up one more total base than the Cardinals pitching, but had better sequencing than the Cardinals did to score opportune runs. Just one of those games.