By Morris Phillips
SAN FRANCISCO–Major League hitters don’t come to the park at spray line drives all over the place for nine innings like in days past. Now, they sport paltry batting averages, pick their spots and keep their focus on trying to impact the game with something big.
That’s the Giants winning style. And on Monday, the Cardinals adopted that style and thrived.
Matt Carpenter’s two-run triple in the seventh inning broke a scoreless tie, and sent to the Cardinals to a 5-3 win at Oracle Park in the opener of the Giants’ final homestand before the All-Star break. The Cardinals came to San Francisco sporting a chip on their collective shoulders from too many, narrow losses in recent weeks.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games and we’ve won some and we’ve lost some lately that have stung,” manager Mike Shildt said.
Carpenter cashed in a competitive at-bat against Giants’ All-Star Kevin Gausman, who was on his way to dropping his miniscule ERA even lower when he left a pitch over the plate to Carpenter in a hitters’ count. The breakthrough wasn’t easily had; Gausman had dealt to that point, allowing just one hit over the first six innings.
Carpenter, hitting just .174 coming into the at-bat, described his blast off the base of the left field wall as a breath of fresh air.
“I’d be OK if that was the swing that turned it around,” Carpenter said. “If we can have those kind of competitive at-bats that we showed and we did against a guy who is as good as anybody we’re going to face all season — if we can do that consistently, we’re going to catch some people.”
While the loss kept the Giants from extending their lead in the NL West, and their perch above all MLB clubs with the best record in baseball, the Cardinals got a needed boost from their spot in fourth place in the NL Central. For a proud franchise like St. Louis, the season hasn’t been what’s expected, but they’re of the mindset to turn it around even if that transition comes against the Giants, who they host coming out of the All-Star break next week as well.
The Giants attempted to rally with a run in the eighth and two in the bottom of the ninth, but came up short. Gausman suffered losses in back-to-back starts for the first time this season, and the Giants failed to build on their home dominance after 26 wins in their first 37 home contests.
Kwang Hyun Kim matched Gausman with a seven-inning outing in which he allowed three hits and two walks and departed with a 2-0 lead. Alex Reyes pitched an eventful ninth inning, allowing RBI singles to Donovan Solano and Steven Duggar, but he closed out with a strikeout of LaMonte Wade Jr. with a runner at third base.
Curt Casali got the start behind the plate in place of the injured Buster Posey, who injured his finger in the finale in Arizona on Sunday. Manager Gabe Kapler didn’t offer much of an update on Posey, other than to say that he remains on the roster, and the possibility of him avoiding a trip to the injured list is still a possibility.
The Giants are also awaiting updates on Evan Longoria, Tommy La Stella, Mike Tauchman and Brandon Belt as a major chunk of their offense is on the shelf heading into the break. Only Longoria appears to be a possibility to return to action during this homestand that concludes with the Washington Nationals over the weekend.
On Tuesday, veteran pitchers Adam Wainwright and Johnny Cueto matchup in the series’ second game at 6:45pm.
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