PHILADELPHIA — The Cardinals offense got off to a good start on Friday night when Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer in the first inning.
What they didn’t know was that it would be the extent of their offense for the evening.
The Phillies retired the final 21 Cardinals in order after a leadoff double in the third inning in winning the opener of a three-game series in Philadelphia.
Only four balls left the infield over that span of 21 consecutive outs.
The Phillies jumped on Miles Mikolas for three runs in the second inning, which turned out to be all of the runs they would need for the victory.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Three of the Cardinals’ five hits came in the first inning; a leadoff double by Tommy Edman, Goldschmidt’s 21st homer of the season and a two-out single by Willson Contreras … Their only other hits were an infield single by Taylor Motter in the second inning and a leadoff double by Tyler O’Neill in the third before he was stranded on third … The Cardinals were 1-of-5 with a runner in scoring position in the first three innings, leaving them 5-of-33 with a man on second or third in the first four games of this road trip.
On the mound: Seven of the eight hits allowed by Mikolas in his six innings went for extra bases, including six doubles and a home run, by Alec Bohm, that produced a total of five runs. Mikolas had two strikeouts in the first inning but registered only one against the final 23 hitters he faced … Andrew Suarez gave up the last two Phillies runs in the seventh, one coming on a long home run by Kyle Schwarber.
Key stat: The Cardinals fell to 1-7 in Mikolas’ last eight starts dating back to July 17. He is 0-5 over that stretch with a 7.34 ERA. Dating back to June 1, the Cardinals are just 3-13 in Mikolas’ 16 starts.
Worth noting: Nolan Arenado left the game in the seventh inning with lower back tightness, according to the team … The Cardinals activated Nolan Gorman from the injured list before the game and optioned Jose Fermin to Memphis … In another roster move reliever Drew VerHagen was placed on the bereavement list and Guillermo Zuniga was recalled from Memphis … At Double A Springfield on Friday night, Tink Hence allowed one unearned run over 4 2/3 innings while Victor Scott II stole his 80th base of the season and Thomas Saggese hit his 23rd home run.
Looking ahead: Dakota Hudson will get the start in Saturday night’s game, which will be televised by Fox with the first pitch set for 6:15 p.m. St. Louis time.
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