ST. LOUIS — Phillies 11, Cardinals 1
The biggest game in St. Louis on Tuesday night was played about seven blocks west of Busch Stadium, so it was only fitting that the biggest cheers of the night came when a goal by the Blues was shown on the jumbotron.
There certainly wasn’t much for the Cardinals’ fans to cheer about.
The game was basically over in the second inning, which arguably was the Cardinals’ worst inning of the season. It featured two walks, two errors, a passed ball and was capped by a grand slam by Bryce Harper that gave the Phillies a 6-0 lead.
All six runs were unearned against Dakota Hudson. The Cardinals had allowed only seven unearned runs total in their first 35 games of the season.
The loss was their fifth in their last six games for the Cardinals, who had lost only one of their previous 11 games.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: The only moment the Cardinals’ fans got to cheer about was Matt Wieters hitting his first home run for the Cardinals leading off the sixth inning after he entered the game as part of a double-switch …The Cardinals only hit through the first five innings was a leadoff single by Jose Martinez in the second, but he was erased in a double play … Their only hits after Wieters’ homer were a two-out single by Paul DeJong in the sixth and a two-out infield single by Yairo Munoz in the eighth.
On the mound: Harper’s homer was the ninth allowed by Hudson in 35 innings and followed throwing errors by Kolten Wong and Paul Goldschmidt and a passed ball by Yadier Molina, making all of the runs unearned. Hudson made it through five innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits in that inning … The Phillies added two more runs in the seventh, charged to Luke Gregerson. Both scored after Tyler Webb entered the game … Their final run came on a homer by Rhys Hoskins off Dominic Leone in the ninth. Leone has now allowed 15 runs in his last 5 2/3 innings covering six appearances.
Key stat: Goldschmidt was 0-of-4, extending his streak without an extra-base hit to 47 consecutive at-bats, the longest drought of his career. He has had eight singles in the last 12 games since hitting a double on April 24. He also has now gone 51 at-bats without an RBI and 55 at-bats since his last home run on April 22.
Worth noting: Harper’s grand slam was the third allowed by the Cardinals in the last four games. It also was the first hit by Philadelphia at Busch Stadium since Ryan Howard off Kyle Lohse on May 4, 2009 … The 10 runs were the most scored by the Phillies in a game at Busch Stadium since they won 20-2 on June 13, 2008.
Looking ahead: Jack Flaherty gets the start in the 12:15 p.m. series finale on Wednesday before the Pirates arrive for a four-game series beginning on Thursday night.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains