The St. Louis Cardinals came into Monday night’s series opener with the Philadelphia Phillies losers of four straight. The Phillies came in red hot, winning six in a row. Something had to give Monday night, and the Cards used their bats to end their slide.
Thanks to five home runs in the 10-3 victory, St, Louis now has 40 home runs so far this season, tops in the MLB. After digging himself a 3-0 hole, starting pitcher Adam Wainwright launched a three-run home run, that according to ESPN’s Home Run tracker, traveled 397 feet.
“Ever since I was 8 years old, I’ve dreamed about hitting the ball like that,” Wainwright said. “So, I’m one for however many at-bats I’ve had in my life hitting it like that. I knew that was a home run. I’ve hit some really far homers in Little League whatever but I’ve never hit a ball and known it was gone. I’ve always sprinted out of the box and say `Go, go,’ but I’ve never known it was a homer but I knew this one was.”
Wainwright (2-3) put himself in position for his second straight victory by not allowing another run in the following three innings after the third. He pitched six innings, had four strikeouts, and gave up three earned runs. He went 2-2 at the plate, also registering a double.
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“If the damage is going to be done in one inning, I’ve got to keep it to one inning,” Wainwright said.
The Cardinals also got home runs from first baseman Mike Adams shortstop Aledmys Diaz, second baseman Kolten Wong, and outfielder Randal Grichuck. Adams and Diaz went back-to-back in the sixth to put Wainwright in line for the when as long as the bullpen held up, which it did, with three shutout innings.
Grichuck followed up Wong’s two run shot in the seventh with a solo shot of his own.
Freddy Galvis and Maikel Franco drove in all three runs for Philadelphia with a Galvis two run single followed by a sacrifirce fly that scored Odubel Herrera, who was 2-4, as was Galvis. Franco went 1-3.
Jeremy Hellickson (2-2) took the loss for the Phillies after allowing 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings.
“I fell behind too many guys,” Hellickson said. “I couldn’t find the zone. I didn’t have too many first-pitch strikes and I couldn’t get myself back in the counts. I had too many balls up.”
The second game of the four game series in tonight with the first pitch at Busch Stadium set for 8:15 PM EST. The host Cardinals will send Michael Wacha (2-1, 3.07 ERA) to face Aaron Nola (1-2, 3.55 ERA).
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