BOSTON — Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 11, Red Sox 2
Nolan Arenado likely wishes the Cardinals had more than one game left against the Red Sox in Boston.
For the second night in a row, Arenado homered in his first at-bat of the game, going over the Green Monster again, as the Cardinals rolled to the easy win on Saturday night at Fenway Park.
Arenado later added an RBI single to cap a six-run sixth inning that put the game away for the Cardinals. The six runs equaled the Cardinals’ biggest inning of the season.
In his last four games at Fenway, since 2019, Arenado has gone 6-of-16 with three homers and six RBIs.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: Arenado hit one of three homers for the Cardinals with Nolan Gorman hitting his fourth of the year leading off the fourth and Tyler O’Neill also hitting his fourth in the sixth, when the Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate … Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt each drove in two of the six runs in the inning with singles as the Cardinals collected five hits and also capitalized on an error and three walks … Gorman made two of the outs in the inning as eight consecutive batters reached base following his leadoff strike out … Albert Pujols, who was honored in a pre-game ceremony, pinch-hit for Gorman in the eighth and struck out on an 11-pitch at-bat … O’Neill had three hits and scored three runs while Harrison Bader also had three hits … All nine Cardinals starters scored at least one run.
On the mound: Dakota Hudson again battled his control but was able to get through the fifth inning, allowing only two runs, to get the win. He issued five walks, including three in a row in the fourth, one of which brought in a run … Zack Thompson retired all nine hitters he faced in relief of Hudson, recording four strikeouts, before T.J. McFarland pitched the ninth.
Key stat: The five walks increased Hudson’s total to 32, in 70 innings, the most in the National League. Hudson led the league in walks with 86, in 174 innings, in his last full season in 2019.
Worth noting: Andrew Knizner had just two hits in his previous 39 at-bats before he doubled in the ninth inning, driving in the Cardinals’ last run. He had drawn walks in his previous two at-bats. It was just his second RBI in his last 15 games, but he lost another RBI when the ball bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, forcing Bader, who would have scored, to go back to third base … Ivan Herrera, recalled from Memphis on Friday, caught the ninth inning, with Knizner moving to first, and is likely to make his first start and get his first at-bat in Sunday’s game … Won-bin Cho, the 17-year-old outfielder the Cardinals signed from South Korea in January, made his pro debut on Saturday, going 1-of-2 with an RBI single for the rookie Complex League team in Florida. He also was hit by a pitch twice. Cho had been out of the lineup since the start of the team’s season with sore ribs, the result of running into the fence trying to make a catch during an extended spring training game.
Looking ahead: Andre Pallante will get the start in Sunday’s series finale.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains.
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