Rays 2, Cardinals 5: A rough start for Taj in St. Louis

The Rays leave 11 stranded in loss.

It was a battle of the City Connect jerseys tonight in St. Louis as the Rays took on the Cardinals. For the Rays, Taj Bradley was on the mound, and the Cards called on Erick Fedde to start.

The Rays went 1-2-3 to start the first, then in the bottom half Masyn Winn kicked things off with a leadoff double. Willson Contreras then got a one-out single to bring Winn home and put the Cardinals on the board nice and early. Nolan Arenado then singled, but no additional runs scored.

Josh Lowe started the second inning with a leadoff double, then Dylan Carlson drew a walk. Both men were left stranded as Fedde got the next three outs in order. Matt Carpenter walked to start the home half, but Bradley limited any potential damage getting three outs in order.

Alex Jackson singled to open up the third, and Yandy Diaz followed with a single of his own that got Jackson to third. A Brandon Lowe grounder got Diaz out, but scored Jackson to tie up the game. Lowe then stole second, and Christopher Morel walked, but no additional runs scored. Alec Burleson singled for the Cardinals in the home half. Then things got a little messy as Contreras singled, but advanced to second on a fielding error from Jose Siri, and Burleson advanced to third. Arenado then got a one-out double to score two runs.

In the fourth, Jose Caballero singled, then TWICE stole second base (the first didn’t count due to a pitch count violation on Fedde), and when he did successfully get there the second time, it was his 30th of the season. Unfortunately the hustle didn’t score any runs. Nolan Gorman drew a leadoff walk to start the home half of the fourth. Winn got a one-out single, followed by a Burleson double to bring home two more runs.

It was a 1-2-3 top of the fifth for the Rays. For the Cardinals, Matt Carpenter got a two-out walk, then Gorman hit a ground-rule double. That was it for Bradley, whose final line for the game was 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 0 HR on 92 pitches. Certainly not his best outing. Hunter Bigge came in to get the final out of the inning.

Ryan Fernandez replaced Fedde in the sixth, and gave up back-to-back singles to Josh Lowe and Dylan Carlson. Jose Siri then drew a walk. A Cabellero sac fly scored Lowe, putting the Rays at 2-5. The Cardinals went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.

Jojo Romero was the next Cardinals pitcher off the bench, and got the Rays out in order. Then in the bottom of the inning the triumphant return of Drew Rasmussen (welcome back Drew!) who came back and got three outs in a row.

Andrew Kittredge came out in relief and it’s weird to write that when the Rays are batting. Jose Siri got a two-out single, but no runs scored. The Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

The Rays were down to their last chance in the top of the ninth. Ryan Helsley was in, and gave up a one-out single to Ben Rortvedt, then Yandy Diaz walked, but the Rays couldn’t pull it off.

Final: Cardinals 5, Rays 2