Cardinals’ unsung heroes lead them to victory against rival Royals
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
The St. Louis Cardinals resilience never ceases to be amazing.
On Friday, the ball club placed another starter, right-hander Lance Lynn, on the disabled list. Later that evening, they recalled spot starter/long reliever Tyler Lyons to the majors and then penciled him in the lineup on Saturday. All Lyons did was was handle the American League champions Kansas City Royals for five quality innings, which helped the team to a 3-2 victory and continued their remarkable tradition of the next man up carrying the torch.
Just check out who’s all missing for this team.
The injury to Matt Adams has opened playing time for veteran Mark Reynolds at first base. Despite having a 44 home run season under his belt in 2009, he’s been mostly a part-time player in recent years and for the Cardinals he’s been an unsung hero. That continued on Saturday with a fifth inning solo home run that provided the difference.
Now check this out.
The Wainwright injury alone would have crippled several teams. Just not the Cardinals. At a league-best 41-21, they’ve only gotten stronger.
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MARINERS TURN THE TABLES, ROUGH UP COLLIN MCHUGH
Talk about a role reversal. One day after Felix Hernandez was torched for eight first-inning runs in his worst career outing, the Seattle Mariners put a similar first-inning smackdown on Astros starter Collin McHugh, roughing him up for five runs on their way to an 8-1 victory.
It took an extra couple innings, but Seattle finally got their eight against McHugh with a three spot in the third. Logan Morrison did most of the damage, connecting for a three-run homer in the first and a two-run blast in the third.
That was more than enough support for rookie Mike Montgomery, who cruised to his first career victory with six innings of one-run ball. Montgomery walked three and struck out four, but more importantly than anything helped give Seattle’s bullpen a breather.
In the win, Seattle snapped a two-game, two-city scoring drought. They were shut out 6-0 Thursday in Cleveland and 10-0 on Friday. The Astros, on the other hand, have now lost eight of nine.
RANGERS KEEP THE PRESSURE ON
While Houston goes through its first extended rough stretch of the season, the Texas Rangers are applying some pressure.
With Saturday’s 11-7 victory against the Minnesota Twins, the Rangers moved to within a game and a half of Houston for the top spot in the AL West.
As the score indicates, this was an offensive bonanza for the Rangers, with all 11 of their runs coming between the second and fifth innings. The first five in Texas’ order — Delino DeShields, Shin-soo Choo, Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland and Joey Gallo — went a combined 10-for-19 with five walks, two home runs, nine RBIs and eight runs scored. Moreland and Gallo hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth, with Gallo’s traveling 461 feet.
[On this week’s StewPod: Should fans really pick the MLB All-Stars?]
Here’s where the score is misleading. Texas got another quality start from Colby Lewis, who allowed three runs over seven frames. That makes nine straight quality starts (six innings or more with three runs or less) overall for the Rangers mish-mash rotation. Another quality start on Sunday would tie the franchise’s longest streak.
On the other side, the once hot Minnesota Twins have now dropped five straight. That’s the bad news. The potentially uplifting news is that baseball’s top prospect, Byron Buxton, is on his way and will debut on Sunday.
ALBERT PUJOLS 1, OAKLAND A’S 0
With two outs in the first inning, Albert Pujols connected for career home run No. 538. That would be all the Los Angeles Angels needed, as C.J. Wilson, Joe Smith and Huston Street combined to shut out the Oakland A’s, 1-0.
The home run was Albert’s 18th of the season, which as you can see came much, much earlier than in recent years.
Pujols’ is quietly on pace to have his first truly monster season since joining the Angels in 2012.
A lot of factors are involved, of course, including his health. But in a season that Los Angeles truly needed Pujols to be something close to his prime seasons in St. Louis, he’s definitely providing it.
The same could be said of C.J. Wilson, who hasn’t always endeared himself in LA. He was on point Saturday, striking out eight while allowing just two hits. He improved to 4-5.
Want to see more from Saturday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
