After letting a potential victory slip away during heavy rains Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals will try to rebound Sunday afternoon when they conclude a three-game series with the visiting Chicago White Sox.
The Cardinals won the series opener 3-0 on Friday night. They rallied to take a 5-3 lead on Saturday afternoon before the White Sox came back to record a 6-5 victory in 10 innings to snap their four-game losing streak.
St. Louis loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th inning before White Sox reliever John Brebbia struck out Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn as a torrential downpour hit Busch Stadium.
Brebbia recorded a strike on Nolan Gorman before he walked off the mound and protested the rapidly deteriorating conditions. The umpiring crew stopped play, and White Sox reliever Tanner Bates struck out pinch-hitter Ivan Herrera after a three-hour delay to end the marathon.
“The at-bats obviously needed to be better,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “They were frustrated with it. They obviously want to come through there but didn’t. We had an opportunity wrap that up, and we missed it.”
Marmol has switched up his starting rotation with Steven Matz on the 15-day injured rotation. Left-hander Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 2.76 ERA) is expected to come out of the bullpen to take Sunday’s start.
This will be his first career appearance against the White Sox.
The Cardinals are expected to adjust their roster ahead of Sunday’s game by activating outfielder Dylan Carlson from the injured list and sending third catcher Pedro Pages back to Memphis.
The White Sox will close this series with promising left-hander Garrett Crochet (1-4, 5.97 ERA), who was a first-round pick in the 2020 draft.
After allowing 17 runs in 11 2/3 innings in his previous three starts, Crochet got back on track on Monday against the Minnesota Twins. He allowed two runs on two hits in five innings during a no-decision.
“He’s doing a really good job of pitching. Everybody knows he’s got incredible stuff, elite stuff,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “But the one thing that’s been impressive is his ability to mix in four pitches, throw strikes, not walk guys, get strikeouts when he needs them. For me, this was a critical start.”
Crochet struck out seven and walked one during that 77-pitch outing vs. the Twins. He wanted to go further, but Grifol and pitching coach Ethan Katz pulled him as part of their larger plan to manage his workload during his first full season as a starter.
“I was frustrated just because of the road trip we just went on, I took part in wearing out the bullpen a good bit,” Crochet said. “I felt like this was a good chance for me to save them. I had the long second (inning), but I was able to be efficient after that.”
In his one career appearance against the Cardinals, he faced three batters and allowed one hit and two walks.
Chicago’s bullpen took a hit after Dominic Leone exited the game with an injury after walking Nolan Arenado in the eighth inning.
The White Sox made a roster move before the game Saturday, promoting Bryan Ramos from Double-A Birmingham after fellow infielder Danny Mendick went on the 10-day injured list with an ailing back.
–Field Level Media