Astros 9, Cardinals 4: Did You See that Bullpen Meltdown?
By
Zeldink
Posted at 10:25 pm
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astros (46-59) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 2 |
| Cardinals (59-47) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
Brand new St. Louis Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook opened the series against the Houston Astros tonight and pitched good enough for the win. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, but fortunately for the Reds, the relievers didn’t get the memo.
Westbrook was good, allowing just 2 runs over 6 innings. He allowed 4 hits, but struck out 7. Once the game was turned over to the bullpen, the win Westbrook was in line for was stolen away.
Jason Motte pitched a scoreless 7th, but was taken out after he couldn’t get a batter out in the 8th. The 2 batters he did face both reached and later scored. Coming in to add gasoline to the fire were Mike MacDougal (1 run, 1 inning), Trever Miller (3 runs, 1/3 inning), and Blake Hawksworth (1 run, 2/3 inning).
Every Cardinals pitcher allowed runs, but only one of them pitched more innings than runs allowed. It was an ugly night for the bullpen, and the implosion knocked them out of first place, thanks to a Reds win. Cincinnati is now 1/2 game ahead, and at 13 games over .500, has the best record they’ve had since 1999.