Coming into Sunday's finale against the San Diego Padres, the St. Louis Cardinals had scored just 13 runs in their past five games, nine of which coming in one game. Coming into his Sunday start, Padres starter Clayton Richard had allowed four or more runs in a start in five of his eight starts this season. It seemed like a good opportunity for the bats to recalibrate.
That didn't happen. Richard soared and the Birds crashed again. Oh, and there's also the matter of Adam Wainwright. Here are five takeaways from a disheartening 5-3 loss in San Diego that left the Cards with a 22-16 record en route to Minnesota.
5) Kolten Wong can look like a Major League hitter one moment and an overzealous college freshman at the plate during the next. He went 0-4 with two strikeouts, including a horrendous three pitch strikeout in a key spot. Wong is zip for his last 16 at the plate, with a batting average of .186.
4) Harrison Bader is starting to show off some sneaky power at the plate. He tripled and homered in four at-bats batting in #2 spot. Bader's defense, especially in center field, is very good, but his bat remains the question as the season pushes on. He can collect singles and use his speed, but how much power is there? He now has three home runs in backup duty. Something's there.
3) Apparently Jedd Gyorko doesn't completely own the Padres. After gathering three hits on Friday, the Ex-Padre went hitless on Friday and Saturday, leaving some runners on. There's a rift among fans about how much stock one should put into Gyorko's success against his former team, and I'll admit this: when you hit eight home runs in 12 games against a team, there's something there. San Diego doesn't normally pitch well, plays in a park Gyorko likes, and doesn't face him enough to truly balloon the stats to readability. However, he is human after all in San Diego.
2) Marcell Ozuna had two singles, but Jose Martinez keeps on producing. "Cafe Jr." drove in a run with a key hit, keeping his average at .294 while collecting his 22nd run driven in. If Ozuna ever starts ripping at the plate-singles can only be so appetizing-these two could make a wonderful combo in the middle.
1) Wainwright didn't look good in his return from the disabled list. Making matters worse, he felt discomfort in the problematic right elbow that forced him to miss time this month. Taking it further, Wainwright felt the pain before the game started, but soldiered on anyway. That will divide fans who think Waino compromised his team by pitching. I'll say this. Lance Lynn pitched for months with a partially torn elbow ligament to help his team and because he was tough.
I don't think Wainwright thought he would walk six in 2.1 innings, but he made the choice to make the start instead of put his team in a pitcher arm bind. The man deserves to go out on his shield and Sunday may have been it, because a report from Craig Mish is stating the Achilles Heel injury forced Wainwright to alter his mechanics that now are coming back to bite him. He's headed back to St. Louis for further tests. I'll dig more into this later this afternoon.
You can't blame the arms too long for this one. John Gant and Matt Bowman didn't look great in relief, but the bats collected three runs on six hits, folding many opportunities in the process. Take away the nine run assault on Friday and the Cardinals scored six runs in three games against San Diego.
Until Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter-who were designed to be the table setters-get going, I feel this offense will continue to have problems scoring. Minnesota is next before Philadelphia awaits at Busch Stadium this weekend.
Thanks for reading,
DLB