St. Louis Cardinals defeat San Francisco Giants 4-3 – MLB Update
St. Louis Cardinals put in a good performance to defeat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 at Busch Stadium, St. Louis on Tuesday, May 31.
The game which was clearly in the Giants’ favour fell apart in the eighth inning with Skip Schumaker’s hit that drove in three-runs for St. Louis.
Schumaker’s feat could not possibly have come at a better time just when Ryan Franklin contributed a rewarding spell of pitching that contained the Giants’ hitters. Of particular mention, at least to the Cardinals’ team manager was Franklin.
It was the Giants that went ahead with a predictably aggressive start. Ryan Vogelsong, who was also the starting pitcher for the Giants, grounded out to short-stop enabling Crawford to score. Chris Carpenter gave up two hits in the inning that was safely
turned into profit by Ryan.
"I think he's used the time to get his delivery back together and quit tipping," manager Tony La Russa said. "If we're going to stay in this thing, he's a contributor." To Franklin, the moments of joy have to be kept moderate. "It feels good," Franklin said.
"It feels real good."
Jon Jay singled to left to level the score for St. Louis when Vogelsong came for pitching in the third inning. The game then witnessed increasingly fast pace of the pitchers and their remarkable ability to contain the hitters.
However, the Cardinals came under pressure in the fifth inning when Freddy Sanchez scored the tiebreaking run, paving the way for the Giants’ smooth run. Cody Ross made it a 3-1 lead for the Giants in the seventh inning.
The 3-1 lead seemed something that Giants could easily defend given the strong pitching line-up they had at their disposal. While Jeremy Affeldt pitched a strong sixth inning, disallowing any run to the Cardinals, little did he realise what his replacement
would bode for his team.
When Sergio Romo came for pitching in the eighth inning, after replacing Affeldt, the Cardinals’ hitters transformed the shape of the game and scored no less than three runs, to turn the previous 3-1 trail into a 4-3 lead.
Schumaker was one of the hitters who contributed to this three run eighth inning. The 4-3 lead was turned into victory by Fernando Salas who pitched a shut-out ninth inning, as the Cardinals took the first game of the four-game series.
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