NEW YORK — Facing Marcus Stroman the last few years has worked out pretty well for the Cardinals – until Friday night.
Going into his start for the Yankees in the opener of their three-game series in New York, the Cardinals had been 6-0 in Stroman’s nine starts against them since the beginning of the 2021 season.
That success didn’t continue, however, as Stroman limited the Cardinals to just two runs over seven innings and the Yankees got a pair of two-run homers from Austin Wells for the victory.
It was only the second win of his career for Stroman against the Cardinals, the first coming in his rookie season with the Blue Jays in 2014.
The Cardinals fell back to one game below .500 for the season with the loss, which was their seventh in a row against the Yankees in New York. They were 0-3 in a series at old Yankee Stadium in 2003 and lost three consecutive games at the current stadium in 2017.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Paul Goldschmidt remained hot with his third three-hit game in his last four games. His single in the third inning drove in the Cardinals’ second run of the inning, following an RBI single from Brendan Donovan as they had four consecutive two-out singles … Goldschmidt also doubled in the second and singled in the sixth … Nolan Arenado homered in the eighth, his 15th of the year, to temporarily pull the Cardinals within a run … The Cardinals had 10 hits in the game but hit into three double plays … Masyn Winn was 0-of-4 and struck out three times.
On the mound: The Cardinals controlled the big hitters in the Yankees lineup, with Aaron Judge going 0-of-4 with three strikeouts, but couldn’t shut down Wells, who hit his first home run off Erick Fedde in the three-run third inning, then added his second of the game in the eighth off Riley O’Brien … Juan Soto had two hits, including an RBI double, but Giancarlo Stanton also struck out three times even though he also doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly … Fedde worked 5 1/3 innings and struck out eight but has won only one of his six starts for the Cardinals.
Key stat: Jordan Walker, recalled from Memphis and inserted into the starting lineup, had a single in four at-bats with a pair of strikeouts. The Cardinals say the plan is for him to play regularly in right field for the rest of the season.
Worth noting: The Cardinals recalled Walker after designating Tommy Pham for assignment. Pham had been placed on waivers on Thursday, but DFAing him allowed them to bring up Walker and not wait to see if another team claimed Pham off waivers. Pham had struggled since joining the Cardinals with Fedde in the three-way trade with the White Sox that sent Tommy Edman to the Dodgers … Reliever Shawn Armsrong, who had been DFA’d earlier in the week, was claimed on waivers by the Cubs … Quinn Mathews made his Tripla A debut on Friday night and allowed three runs in four innings against Iowa, striking out seven.
Looking ahead: Kyle Gibson will get the start in the second game of the series on Saturday. The first pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. St. Louis time.
