St. Louis Cardinals defeat Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 to win series – MLB Update
St. Louis Cardinals denied Philadelphia Phillies a win in the finale of the four-game series, winning 4-3 to successfully complete a 3-1 series win at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday, September 19.
With Roy Halladay starting, the Phillies were positive to get their 99th win of the season, but the visitors, searching for a series win to keep their postseason hopes intact, made three quick-runs in the first three innings to impose pressure
on the home side.
Rafael Furcal scored the first run for Cardinals in the first inning before Lance Berkman, in an elegant display of hitting, homered towards right-field to double the lead, even before the Phillies had a chance to respond.
Halladay lacked accuracy throughout his stay on the mound, allowing a season-high four walks to lose his sixth start of the season. In total, Halladay gave away four runs on six hits to see his ERA surge to 2.41 for the season. Favourite to win the National
League Cy Young Award this season, Halladay experienced a serious dip in form just before the postseason which, for the Phillies, is a situation of grave concern.
Kyle Lohse, on the contrary, pitched into the eighth inning for the Cardinals, leaking just a solitary run in the second inning to win his 14th start of the season. His spotless pitching reduced the deficit to just 2.5 games in the Wild Card standings,
bolstering his team’s chances for the postseason with ten more games to play.
Placido Polanco added the first run for the Phillies in the second inning to bring the lead down to one run, but Lohse replicated his pitching form on the plate, scoring a run in the third inning to re-impose a two-run advantage over the home side.
Lohse had a memorable outing, going one-for-three on the plate and keeping the Phillies at bay from the mound. Philadelphia, nonetheless, scored two more runs in the ninth inning to re-establish their strength in the game, but the effort was not enough to
safely see them through.
Phillies are still four-games shy of making a record for most wins in a single season and it is only a matter of time before they bag this honour as well.
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