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We had ourselves a good ol’ pitcher’s duel Wednesday afternoon in St. Louis.
Lucas Giolito and Carlos Martinez went back and forth putting up zeroes on the board for most of the afternoon.
Giolito gave up his first run on a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Who hit it, you ask? Well, that would be Giolito’s counterpart, Martinez, who turned on a fastball and put it in the left field bleachers.
Giolito got into more trouble in the seventh inning, when he gave up a one-out single to Yadier Molina. Dexter Fowler followed with a two-run home run to center field to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
That was it for Giolito on the day, going 6 1⁄3 innings on four hits, three earned runs and two walks. His control escaped him a bit in the sixth, but he was otherwise impressive. He located his fastball well and had sharp break on his off-speed pitches.
But Carlos Martinez was better today. He went 7 1⁄3 innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks while striking out five. He was as good as advertised.
The Sox strung together a rally once Martinez departed, putting up a two-spot thanks to a Yolmer Sanchez RBI single and a Jose Abreu sacrifice fly/lineout.
Yoan Moncada injured his foot sliding into third on Sanchez’s single and had to exit the game. Scott Merkin tweeted that Moncada left with tightness in his left hamstring and is considered day-to-day.
Tommy Pham forgot how many outs there were in the eighth, as he kept running after Matt Carpenter flied out. Not really The Cardinal Way™, if you ask me.
Cardinals closer Bud Norris shut things down in the ninth, securing a 3-2 victory.
The White Sox move to 8-20 and host the Minnesota Twins tomorrow night.