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Pitching and Timely Hitting Key to Cardinals Opening Night Win
The 35 Cardinals continued to build on the success of the 2017 season, using a familiar formula of shutdown pitching and timely hits enroute to 3-0 victory over the Riverdogs to open the 2018 season at the swampy, rain drenched Bicentennial Park field Wednesday night.
Ed Pevos tossed 6 innings of shutout baseball, working out of a couple of jams and limiting the Riverdogs to 4 hits to pick up the win. Ryan Noward closed it out with a scoreless 7th to seal it for the Cards.
Noward also got the ball rolling on offense in the 2nd inning, cracking a double to deep left field, scoring Brian Spence who had reached on an error for the first run of the season. Noward then advanced to 3rd on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
The Cardinals added an important insurance run in the 3rd inning when Shane Pfannes led off with an opposite field single. Joel Welsh put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Pfannes to 2nd. He then went to 3rd on a wild pitch then scored on a sacrifice fly by Clint Berryman to make it 3-0.
The Cardinals return to action next Tuesday at 6pm vs the A's at Hazel Park
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Cardinals Grind Out a Close Win Over the A's
At Hazel Park, Ryan Schihl delivered a clutch 2-out hit on the top of the 7th to break a 3-3 tie and Carlos Portocarrero picked up his first MSBL pitching win in relief, locking down the 4-3 victory, giving the Cardinals their second straight win to start the 2018 season.
A's pitcher Doug Belles kept the Cardinal hitters off balance most of the night locating his variety of 2-seamers and sliders, resulting in a lot of ground balls. Belles retired the first 6 batters on about 15 pitches in the first 2 innings while Cardinals starter Ed Pevos held the A's scoreless, before both teams broke through in the 3rd inning. Cardinals catcher Kevin Tardivi opened the 3rd inning with an opposite field single and Brian Spence (running for Tardivi) promptly stole second. With one out, Tim Croll drilled a run scoring single to score Spence and the Cardinals jumped on top, 1-0. But the A's answered back in the bottom of the 3rd with a run scoring single to tie the game and 2-out, 2-run triple by Floyd Parker, giving the A's a 3-1 lead.
The Cardinals answered right back with 2 manufactured runs in the top of the 4th to tie the game. Gary Fritts reached on an infield single and kept going to second on a throwing error, then moved to 3rd on a wild pitch. Fritts scored on a fielder's choice when Portocarrero grounded to short and an errant throw to the plate trying to throw him out. Portocarrero advanced to second on the overthrow, stole 3rd and scored on a groundout by Tom Borkowski to tie the game.
Pevos held the A's scoreless through the 4th while Belles kept the Cardinals at bay through the 6th. Portocarrero relieved Pevos in the 5th, working around a 1-out single, striking out two batters, then worked around a 1-out walk in the 6th, again striking out two batters to keep the score tied, setting up the 7th inning. Portocarrero led off the 7th, working a walk, but then left 1B early on a steal attempt, resulting in a pickoff. Darrin Clark then picked him up with a hustle double to the right centerfield gap. With 2 outs Schihl hit a perefectly placed hit to the same gap, scoring Clark and giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. After getting the first two outs in the bottom of the 7th, the A's would not go down easily, getting a Texas League single to center and a walk to put the tying and winning runs on base. Portocarrero then reached back, striking out the last batter for his 6th of the game and sealing the win.
The Cardinals will return to action after Memorial weekend on Friday, June 1st against the Orioles at Hazel Park.
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Cardinals’ Big Inning Seals Victory Over Dodgers
An early pitcher’s duel between the Cardinals’ Ed Pevos and the Dodgers’ Mike Dawson took a turn in the 5th inning when the Cardinals scored 6 runs enroute to a 10-2 win at Ford Field.
It appeared this game was going to be over in about 90 minutes as both pitchers breezed through the first 3 innings with just 3 baserunners total. The visiting Cardinals broke through in the 4th when Gary Fritts reached on an infield grounder and a close call that went the Cardinals’ way, otherwise known as a “break”. Fritts stole second and scored on a seeing eye hit up the middle by Brian Spence for a 1-0 lead. The Cards loaded the bases with one out but Dawson worked his way out of the jam, limiting the damage.
After Pevos put up another zero, the Cardinals went back to work in the 5th. Pevos drew a leadoff walk and stole second, then moved to 3rd on a hard line drive to right by Clint Berryman. Carlos Portocarrero followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Pevos to make it 2-0. Fritts followed with a perfect bunt, easily beating it out for a hit to load the bases. Darrin Clark chopped a grounder toward first and 3 runs scored on an overthrow as the ball went to the backstop to make it 5-0. Run scoring singles by Spence and Ryan Noward made it 7-0.
The Dodgers answered back with 2 runs, putting together 5 hits, including a run scoring single and a wild pitch, as Pevos’ night came to an end. The Cardinals tacked on 3 more runs in the 6th to make it 10-2, including RBI singles by Clark and Noward to close out the scoring. Noward pitched 2 scoreless innings to seal the win.
The win was the 3rd straight to start the season and the Cards will look to make it 4 straight on Saturday morning when they take on the Old English D’s at Fraser.
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Cardinals Schedule