Photo Credit: winnersandwhiners.com
Sunday Night Baseball was in St. Louis last night for the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
A few nights before the game, the Cardinals found themselves in an extra innings slugfest with the Dodgers that ended in 16 innings. The bullpen was spent and starting pitchers began to come into the game as long relievers, messing with the 5-man rotation. This opened the door for a young pitcher by the name of Mike Mayers. He had the opportunity to make his MLB debut in front of the entire nation against a powerful Dodgers’ lineup.
Mayers will never admit it, but he may have waited on his debut had he known how it would go. After the first 3 batters in the Dodgers lineup reached base in the top of the 1st inning, Adrian Gonzalez hit a grand slam off of Mayers to make it 4-0 with 0 outs. The entire Dodgers lineup had a chance to bat in the 1st, and the score was 6-0 when the damage was done.
In the top of the 2nd inning, it was more of the same for Mayers. Dodgers’ left fielder Howie Kendrick blasted a home run off of Mayers with 1 out, ending Mayers’ day on the mound after just 1 and 1/3 inning.
As for Dodgers’ starter Scott Kazmir, he gave up 3 earned runs. Cardinals’ outfielder Matt Holliday and Tommy Pham had an RBI double and a 2-run home run, respectively, making the score 9-3 Dodgers. Kazmir pitched for 5 innings.
Despite 3 more runs tacked on by the Cardinals in the 7th, they fell short in the game by a score of 9-6. Mayers received the loss on his debut, while Kazmir picked up the win, moving him to 9-3 with a 4.35 ERA this season. The Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen got the save, his 29th of the season.
The Dodgers return to Los Angeles after going 5-4 on their road trip. They find themselves 3 games behind the first place San Francisco Giants in the National League West division and have a 2-game lead on the Miami Marlins for the top wild card spot in the National League.
As for St. Louis, they will head out to New York to play the Mets. The Cardinals drop to 52-46 and are 7.5 games behind the 1st place Cubs in the National League Central division and 1 game behind the Marlins for the final National League wild card spot.
Next week, Sunday Night baseball heads to Wrigley Field on the North side of Chicago for a game featuring the Chicago Cubs against the Seattle Mariners.
SportsPress 