ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals have had pretty good success against Madison Bumgarner in recent years, but that wasn’t the case on Friday night at Busch Stadium.
Bumgarner allowed just one run over five innings, a first-inning home run by Paul Goldschmidt, and the Diamondbacks went on to the win over the Cardinals.
It was Bumgarner’s best regular-season start against the Cardinals since throwing seven shutout innings on May 30, 2014 when he was with the Giants. In seven starts since that game going into Friday night, he had allowed a combined total of 31 runs in 33 1/3 innings.
In his last 11 regular-season starts since 2012 against the Cardinals, he had been 2-6 with three no-decisions.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: Goldschmidt’s homer was his first of the season and the first in nine games for the Cardinals, their longest streak without a home run since 2014 … Nolan Arenado doubled two batters later but the Cardinals had only three singles for the rest of the game … Their other run scored on a balk in the seventh following a walk to Harrison Bader and a single by Yadier Molina … Albert Pujols drew a walk in three plate appearances before being replaced by a pinch-hitter in the eighth.
On the mound: Adam Wainwright worked six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and five walks. One of the hitters he walked scored, and another runner who reached on a walk by T.J. McFarland came around to score as the Diamondbacks scored two runs in the seventh … Kodi Whitley gave up the final run in the eighth.
Key stat: Goldschmidt’s homer came in his 72nd at-bat of the year. Only once in his career has he hit less than three home runs in the month of April, hitting one in 2012.
Worth noting: The team’s five Gold Glove winners from last season – Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman, Arenado, Tyler O’Neill and Bader – received their awards in a pre-game ceremony … Pitching for Memphis on Friday night at Durham, Matthew Liberatore tossed seven shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak to 17 innings.
Looking ahead: Miles Mikolas is the scheduled starter for the 1:15 p.m. game on Saturday.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains.
