It was another crazy day in St. Louis, but the KC Royals couldn’t hold off the Cardinals offense, as they lost 10-7.

Starter Bruce Chen was LIT UP. He registered just five outs and allowed six runs on seven hits over just 1.2 innings. With one out, former Royal Carlos Beltran singled and Matt Holliday followed with a two-run homerun. After an out and a David Freese double, Yadier Molina followed with another two-run homerun.

In the second inning, Beltran and Holliday got to Chen again, with Beltran driving in a run with a single and Holliday following with an RBI double. That end Chen‘s afternoon.

That came after the Royals took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Cardinals rookie starter Joe Kelly on a Mike Moustakas RBI single. That all came after Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was ejected after a controversial call. Kelly turned a triple-play, but after Royals manager Ned Yost came out to argue, the umpires overturned the call, giving the Royals just one out.

The Royals offense kept chipping away, so much so that they took the lead in the top of the 7th inning. In that 7th inning, the Royals scored three runs. Mike Moustakas delivered an RBI single and Alcides Escobar drove in two runs with a single.

» Continue reading “Wild Game Goes to Cardinals”

The KC Royals received another solid starting performance from Vin Mazzaro. Yes I said it. Mazzaro has had two straight starts where he could have picked up wins. He allowed single runs in the first through third innings (on two sac flies and an Albert Pujols RBI double). He settled in from there. Mazzaro allowed those three runs on seven hits over six innings. This could be his last start before being sent to the minors with Kyle Davies and Bruce Chen set to return.

When he left the game, the Royals and St. Louis Cardinals were tied up at 3-3. With Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook still in the game in the 7th inning, Alex Gordon hit a solo homerun with two outs to give the Royals a 4-3 lead.

Lefty reliever Tim Collins pitched a perfect bottom of the 7th, but gave up a leadoff single to Colby Rasmus in the 8th inning. He was relieved by Greg Holland, who got Pujols to ground out. However Matt Holliday followed with a two-run homerun to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead.

Fernando Salas pitched a perfect 9th for the save as the Cardinals broke their seven game losing streak.

Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple in the 2nd inning and Matt Treanor hit a solo homerun in the 4th to cap the Royals scoring.

*Apparently the Cardinals did not get the memo that the Royals outfielders have good arms. Gordon threw Yadier Molina out at third base in the bottom of the 2nd on Daniel Descalso’s sac fly. Ryan Theriot was thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the 5th on Holliday’s double by Melky Cabrera.

Since the KC Royals and St. Louis Cardinals are set to match up for the second time in about a month for Interleague Play, Christina Coleman, my fellow AerysSports reporter for the Cardinals, and I decided to collaborate once again. She gives all you Royals fans a head’s up on what’s going on with the Cardinals. You can check out my Royals info on her site, Aaron Miles Fastball.

Via the KC Royals Media Relations Dept.

It is also a meaningful series as the two teams “Unite for Joplin”. You can check out Aaron Miles Fastball to read about what the Cardinals are doing (and check it out for all the latest Cardinals news) and scroll to the bottom of this post to see what the Royals are doing.

After beating the Astros on June 9, the Cardinals had the best record in the major leagues. Since then, they’ve not won a game – the losing streak is currently at six, after back-to-back sweeps by the Brewers and the Nationals. While the pitching, especially relief pitching, is a big reason for the slide, the offense has not done well either. And the defense was atrocious against the Nationals, with multiple errors made in each game and seven total for the series. Now they return home, hoping to get back on track.

Injuries/New Faces

Matt Holliday just returned from 15 days on the disabled list yesterday, although it came at the expense of rookie reliever Eduardo Sanchez taking his place with a strained shoulder. The Cards have seven guys currently on the DL, and have used the list 13 times so far this season – the total number of times they used it in 2010. New to the team since the Cards faced the Royals last month are catcher Tony Cruz, outfielder Andrew Brown and infielder Mark Hamilton.

Who’s Hot

Matt Holliday

Matt Holliday’s return from the DL was with a bang: he homered in his first at-bat last night. He also singled and raised his team-leading batting average to .348. He struggled with the quad injury for several weeks before he officially went on the DL, so his good health is welcome by the Cardinals.

Yadier Molina

Yadi is not a big home run hitter, but the ones he does hit always seem to have an impact – like last night’s ninth inning game-tying one against the Nationals. He’s been hitting well lately, perhaps more consistently than anything, and his batting average has been above .300 for more than a month now. He doesn’t strike out all that much, but conversely doesn’t walk all that much either.

Albert Pujols

After not being himself on offense for much of the season, Albert looked like Albert again two weeks ago when he hit walk-off homers on back-to-back days. He continued to hit well after that until facing the Brewers last weekend, but all the Cardinals tailed off at that point. He had a good game on offense yesterday, also hitting a homer against the Nationals and singling.

Starting Pitchers

Friday – Chris Carpenter (1-6, 4.47)

Carpenter’s season has been puzzling. He’s pitched well enough to win far more than one game, but also has victimized himself at times – often having only one bad inning that ultimately costs him the game. That was the case in his last start, when he faced Zack Greinke in Milwaukee. He’s also had some bad luck, as he’s thrown a complete game loss and pitched nine innings in a 10-inning team win for which he received no decision.

Saturday – Jake Westbrook (6-4, 5. 16)

After four consecutive wins, Westbrook had a rough outing in Milwaukee last weekend and gave up four earned runs in five innings for the loss. He hasn’t been pitching deep into games at all recently, with his last four outings all less than six innings. He’s had success against the Royals throughout his career, with a 7-3 record.

Sunday – Jaime Garcia (6-2, 3.18)

Garcia received no decision in his last start, when he allowed two runs in six innings to the Nationals on Tuesday – he left with a 6-2 lead in a game the Cards would lose 8-6. Overall he’s had a very good season, having some stellar starts (such as a perfect game for 7.1 innings in May) and was even among the National League leaders in ERA until a disastrous outing against the Rockies at the end of May. He allowed 11 earned runs in 3.1 innings at Coors Field, but has righted himself since then.

This should be an interesting series with both teams struggling and the Royals‘ road struggles. Will the Royals overcome their road demons or will the Cardinals snap out of their funk? Stay tuned.

» Continue reading “Catching up with the Cardinals”