Jack Flaherty versus Zach Greinke tonight in the desert in what should be a battle of the pitchers. Jose Martinez is in right field tonight which is an interesting move but one that probably needs to be made. Should be a fun night of Cardinals baseball from Phoenix!
- Matt Carpenter leads off the game with a base hit but the Cardinals can’t bring him around to score.
- Jack Flaherty looks good through the first through batters of the first but gives up two bloop singles and a walk. The D-backs jump out to an early 1-0 lead.
- Cardinals’ bats were rattlin’ in the top of the second. Yadi battles and gets a base hit, Gyorko rips a double, Munoz dives the ball to left for a single and scores Molina from third and Wong hits a sac fly to score Gyorko. Some nice timely hitting for the Birds; no long ball. Cardinals take the lead 2-1.
- After a bumpy first inning, Captain Jack settles in and retires the side including his second and third strike out of the game.
- Paul Goldschmidt went 4-for-4 in last night’s game. He’s 0-for-2 with two strikes verse Flaherty tonight through three innings.
- Diamondbacks get a lead off double in the fifth, only there third hit of the game. Jon Jay has a chance to score a run but is hit by a pitch. Paul Goldschmidt does not strike out this time around. He muscles up and hits an opposite field home run to give the Diamondbacks a 4-2 lead. Every Diamondback run scored tonight so far has been with two outs.
- Jack Flaherty retires the side in the sixth and that’s it for him tonight. He pitches six innings, gives up earned runs on four hits, walks one and strikes at seven.
- Cardinals load the bases in the seventh but can’t score a run. The offense is quite sluggish tonight.
- Zach Greinke goes 6 and 2/3 innings, gives up two runs on seven hits, walks one and strikes out four.
- Archie ‘Poops his pants’ Bradley enters the game in the eighth for Arizona. Cardinals go down in order and Archie keeps his pants clean.
- Jake Lamb hits a line drive to the left field wall in what appears to be home run in the bottom of the eighth. After umpire review, the hit is ruled a ground rule double due to fan interference. Arizona loads the bases but Austin Gomber gets David Peralta to ground into an inning ending double play. No extra image done, D-backs still up for 4-2.
- Brad Boxberger closes the game for the D-backs and that’s all she wrote.
- Cardinals fall to 43-41 on the season and are 6.5 games back in the NL Central and are 3.5 back of the final NL Wild Card spot.
- Cardinals have lost five of their last six games.
- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It’s Miles Mikolas versus Patrick Corbin in the Independence Day Rubber Match Bowl Game presented by Bad Boy Mowers ™ tomorrow at 9:10 p.m. CST.