St. Louis gave rookie Chase Petty a rude welcome in his big league debut. The Cardinals touched him up for nine runs and cruised their way past Cincinnati in game two of a day/night doubleheader with a 9-1 win as they took both games on Wednesday.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals (14-17) | 9 | 8 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (16-15) | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| W: Graceffo (1-0) L: Petty (0-1) |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Some days dreams come true and some days are nightmares. For Chase Petty it was a day of both. The 22-year-old right-handed pitcher was making his big league debut, but things went about as poorly as he could have imagined. The Cardinals put up three runs in the 1st inning on a Willson Contreras home run. They would add another run on a solo home run by Pedro Pages in the next inning.
In the 3rd inning they would score three more runs against Petty before he was removed from the game, but the Cardinals then scored two more runs with reliever Brent Suter on the mound that were charged to Petty – who finished the day with nine earned runs against him in just 2.1 innings.
The Reds offense was having a day similar to that of Petty – after being shut out in game one earlier in the day, they continued to struggle at the plate. They would finally get on the board in the bottom of the 6th inning when Elly De La Cruz singled into center and then came around to score later in the inning on a single by Santiago Espnial, cutting the lead to 9-1 for St. Louis.
The bullpen did a good job. While Suter did allow two inherited runners to score in the 3rd inning, he retired every hitter he faced after a single by the second batter he faced before turning the game over to Lyon Richardson in the 7th inning, who threw 3.0 perfect innings to follow.
Cincinnati’s offense was shut down in the final three frames by Gordon Graceffo, who threw the final 5.0 innings of the game. He sealed the win with a perfect 9th inning to pick up the win and give the Cardinals a sweep on the day.
Key Moment of the Game
It may not have felt like it at the time, but the 1st inning 3-run home run by Willson Contreras turned out to be more than enough for the Cardinals in this one.
Notes Worth Noting
Elly De La Cruz extended his hitting streak to a career best 14 games. His on-base streak now sits at 19 games. After going 2-3 he’s now hitting .281/.348/.438 and has 12 stolen bases.
Santiago Espinal went 3-4 with a double on the day. He’s now hitting .313 with just four strikeouts on the season in 22 games.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds
Thursday, May 1st, 12:40pm ET
Matthew Liberatore (2-2, 3.19 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (2-0, 3.60 ERA)
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