Isn't it great Matt Adams decided to hit home runs again?
How's it look?
Nationals lineup:
| Nationals | 2014 stats | Last 5 years vs. starter | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVG | HR | RBI | SB | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | |
| Span, D, CF | .262 | 1 | 14 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Rendon, A, 3B | .267 | 9 | 34 | 3 | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Werth, J, RF | .288 | 6 | 33 | 4 | 15 | .267 | 1 | 2 |
| Zimmerman, R, 1B | .253 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 9 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
| Hairston, S, LF | .370 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | .667 | 0 | 0 |
| Desmond, I, SS | .233 | 13 | 42 | 5 | 12 | .417 | 0 | 0 |
| Espinosa, D, 2B | .224 | 6 | 17 | 5 | 11 | .364 | 0 | 1 |
| Leon, S, C | .188 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
| Fister, D, P | .067 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
Cardinals lineup:
| Cardinals | 2014 stats | Last 5 years vs. starter | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVG | HR | RBI | SB | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | |
| Carpenter, M, 3B | .287 | 2 | 25 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Wong, K, 2B | .245 | 1 | 15 | 8 | - | - | - | - |
| Holliday, M, LF | .260 | 5 | 33 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Craig, A, RF | .257 | 6 | 35 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Adams, M, 1B | .327 | 6 | 21 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Peralta, J, SS | .232 | 10 | 26 | 1 | 9 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Jay, J, CF | .300 | 1 | 18 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Cruz, T, C | .262 | 0 | 7 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
| Garcia, J, P | .300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
Both Jaime Garcia and Doug Fister pitch perfect firsts, each knotting a strikeout.
The second was not as easy, as Jaime would complicated back-to-back one out singles by Scott Hairston and Ian Desmond by hitting Danny Espinosa with a pitch to load the bases. He would escape unscathed, however, after inducing a 5-2 groundout by catcher Sandy Leon and a strikeout of Fister.
Last night, an escape of a bases loaded jam was followed by a Matt Adams home run. Adams would follow the script today, sending an 84 mph cutter over the left field wall. Unlike last night, however, this homer was preceded by an Allen Craig single, plating two. 2-0 Cardinals.
RMI: 2 (Allen Craig, Matt Adams by Matt Adams)
MMI: 1 (Matt Adams by Matt Adams)
The Cardinals were not done yet, either. In the bottom of the fourth, Matt the Elder would get in on the dingering, pummeling the first pitch of the at bat into the bleachers in left center. 3-0 Cardinals.
RMI: 1 (Matt Holliday by Matt Holliday)
MMI: 1 (Matt Holliday by Matt Holliday)
Jaime Garcia was pitching well again this afternoon, featuring a changeup that would register 6 whiffs on the day. He ran into some trouble in top of the fifth, particularly with his command. After an Espinosa lead off single, Garcia would coax a groundout from Leon and a strikeout by Fister. With two outs, Jaime would walk Anthony Rendon, allow a Nate McClouth single to load the bases, and then walk Jayson Werth to walk a run in. A Ryan Zimmerman groundout would end the inning. The Cards will get the run back in the next half of the frame after a Kolten Wong triple and a Holliday sacrfice fly.4-1 Cardinals.
RMI: 1 (Kolten Wong by Matt Holliday)
For good measure, the Cardinals would tack on another run in the bottom of the seventh when a Craig double would score Holliday from first base. Holliday reached via the walk, taking the team lead in that department in the process. 5-1 Cardinals.
MBI: 1 (Matt Holliday by Allen Craig)
The game would cruise along until the ninth, when Sam Freeman entered the game to close it out. After getting two quick outs, Freeman allowed two soft singles, turning the game into a SAVE SITUATION™ and thus promting Matheny to go to CLOSER™Trevor Rosenthal, making this his third day pitching in a row. Mr. Manager would also take the opportunity to DOUBLE SWITCH™Jon Jay out of the game and replace him with Peter Bourjos. Not a terrible double switch, but almost comical in its lack of necessity. The SAVE™ was no picnic, however. A Rendon single would load the bases. Rosey wasn't wild, but picked around the strike zone, as he seems more apt to do this year, and was on the receiving end of a missed strike three call to Adam LaRoche. That lead to a RBI walk cutting the lead to 5-2. With the bases still loaded, Werth would pop out to Adams to end the threat and the game, giving Rosey SAVE™ number 20 for the year.
Source: FanGraphs
LIL SCOOTER'S PLAYER OF THE GAME SERIES:
Coach's decision on this one. Jaime Garcia leads all players in WPA today with .207, but Matt Adams hit his third dinger in as many games, so he gets the honor. Should individual game honors be base on prior games? Probably not, so I changed it! Adams was second in the game with .160 WPA.
TWEET/GAMETHREAD COMMENTS OF THE GAME:
I mean, I swear Matheny is just trolling us now.
Clearly this isn't what they mean, but double-switch here is cosmetic unless #Cardinals worry Rosenthal cannot hold 4-run lead w/ 1 out left
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) June 15, 2014Unconfirmed sightings of a hat being passed through Busch crowd to purchase Adams' visiting father a permanent residence in STL. #cardinals
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) June 15, 2014And on that note HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I didn't get my dad a major league home run, so I am not as cool as Matt Adams, but I did get him a book!
Tomorrow will feature Carlos Martinez (!) in his second major league start, filling in for the tired Adam Wainwright. He will face Jacob deGrom and the Mets at 7:10pm.