The start was far better than the day before. The finish they booted.
The Cardinals used a crafty double steal in the seventh inning to tie the game Wednesday only to give what they took all away with a long, laborious and momentarily comic eighth innings. The Atlanta Braves snapped a 4-4 tie with three runs, all of them against setup man Giovanny Gallegos, in the top of the eighth to pull away for a 7-4 victory Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.
Atlanta laced Gallegos for three hits and a walk in the eighth inning as the righthander tried to hold tight to the tie. A sacrifice fly from No. 8 hitter Stephen Vogt misplaced the tie game, and then pinch-hitter Joc Pederson added to the lead with some help from the Cardinals’ outfielders. Pederson, one of three outfielders in the Braves’ lineup who were acquired around the trade deadline, lasered a liner to right field that rookie Dylan Carlson slid to catch. He appeared to get it in his glove but could not control it and instead slingshot it several yards in front of him.
As he scrambled to his feet to get the ball he knocked Harrison Bader off of his. The two outfielders collided over the ball, Bader forward and both leaving the ball behind.
That allowed Pederson to get to third having already collected two RBIs.
Atlanta's Will Smith retired the Cardinals in order in the ninth on 13 pitches to stop the Braves' run of alternating wins and losses since the All-Star break.
Cardinals starter J. A. Happ provided five innings and left the game with a one-run lead and a chance to win in his debut for the new team. The Cardinals built the lead with a three-run homer in the first, and they had a full-strength bullpen on standby to be a with any lead on Star Wars Night’s returns to Busch Stadium with a crowd of 32,205. This is the beginning of a stretch of games against teams with losing records – but now the Cardinals, 53-54, are peers.
This is not the homestand they’re looking for.
For six innings the Cardinals had the three runs from one swing by Nolan Arenado and nothing more against the Braves.
Atlanta caught up and lunged ahead in the sixth inning when outfielder Adam Duvall, one of the players acquired by the Braves at the trade deadline, drilled a pitch from Ryan Helsley for a two-run homer. That flipped the one-run lead Happ left the game with into a Braves lead and a chance for them to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly a month.
The Cardinals countered with theft.
Matt Carpenter entered the game as a pinch-hitter for a pinch-hitter to get the better matchup against Braves righthanded reliever Chris Martin. Carpenter singled. He got to second when Tommy Edman was hit by a pitch. Dylan Carlson was unable to advance either teammate to get the tying run to third base – so Carpenter did it on his own. With a good feel for Martin’s time to the plate and his disinterest in checking the runners, Carpenter and Edman bolted for the double steal. Carpenter’s second stole base of the season was third, and that was crucial.
It meant he could tie the game with a ball in play.
All Paul Goldschmidt had to do was provide it.
With a soaring fly ball to right field – he did.
Carpenter got home on the sacrifice fly and that sent the game into the eighth level, 4-4.
As far as debuts go for the latest lefty addition to the Cardinals’ pitching staff, Happ avoided the trap of his fellow newcomer, Jon Lester.
Against the second batter he faced of the evening, Happ caught the edge with a pitch for a called strike three, and able to establish his fastball at the corners he mostly kept the Braves contained through five innings. He struck out two of the first three batters he faced, pitched around two runners in the second inning and did not give up a run til the fourth inning, three innings after the Cardinals staked him to a lead.
The Braves mustered their first run on the lefty with an infield single, a stolen base, and then a double into the left-field corer.
Their second run on Happ was a solo homer by Jorge Soler.
Less than 24 hours after Lester allowed six runs in his first two innings, Happ was on the verge of pitching into the sixth inning having allowed two runs. The Cardinals called it a night for him after five. He allowed the two runs on five hits and minimized trouble by walking only one batter. The lefty built his start around the command he had of that fastball. He got 12 called strikes on the fastball, according to Baseball Savant’s data, and he got nine whiffs on the same pitch. In total, 30 of the 51 fastballs Happ threw were either called strikes, whiffs, or fouled off. Only seven were put in play.
Happ struck out four and radically improved upon his final outing with the Minnesota Twins before the trade deadline. In that game, against Detroit, Happ allowed nine runs on 10 hits and pitched three innings.
The Cardinals pursued a trade for Happ after that outing in large because they didn’t want to part with any prospects and if they could not add one of the top-tier starters on the move they sided with veterans and with veterans they could push to provide innings.
Despite allowing the six runs through two innings Tuesday, Lester, the active leader for wins by a lefty, found a way to pilot the Cardinals through five innings to keep the bullpen intact to hold a lead Wednesday if they had one.
They did for the entirety of Drew Smyly’s outing.
The Braves lefty tumbled into trouble in the first inning after Carlson lined a ball off Smyly’s glove hand. Carlson reached first easy on the infield hit and Smyly remained in the game after being checked by the team trainer. Smyly’s next pitch was roped for a single to left by Paul Goldschmidt. With two on, Arenado sent a ball into the visitors’ bullpen at Busch for a three-run homer, a three-run lead, and the three runs they spent the first half of the game clinging to, not adding to.
