ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals’ offense, which has had more than its share of struggling nights this season, finally had one to enjoy on Friday night in the opener of a weekend series against the Red Sox.
Seven players drove in at least one run, the Cardinals hit a season-high four home runs and scored in seven of the eight innings in which they batted en route to the win at Busch Stadium.
Their 10 runs and 14 hits both tied their most in a game this season.
The homers came from Lars Nootbaar in the first inning, Nolan Gorman in the second, Alec Burleson in the fourth and Masyn Winn in the sixth.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals came into the game tied with the White Sox for the fewest home runs in the majors with 32. Their attack began with a two-run shot by Nootbaar in the first and included another two-run homer by Winn in the sixth, his first of the season … Gorman’s homer tied him with Willson Contreras for the team lead with six … Burleson had an RBI single in addition to his home run … Nolan Arenado had three hits, including an RBI single, while Nootbaar also walked twice and scored three runs … Brendan Donovan had a pair of doubles and scored twice.
On the mound: Kyle Gibson was charged with five runs on eight hits but he once again logged six innings as he got the win … Two of the runs that were charged to Gibson came with JoJo Romero on the mound in the seventh, after Gibson allowed the first two batters of the inning to reach before coming out of the game … Romero had previously allowed only one of seven inherited runners to score.
Key stat: This was only the fourth time this season the Cardinals have hit two home runs in a game with at least one runner on base. Nine of their previous 10 home runs had been hit with nobody on base.
Worth noting: This year’s Cardinals Hall of Fame class was revealed before Friday night’s game. Pitcher Matt Morris was selected in the fan’s vote, third baseman Whitey Kurowski was the veteran’s committee pick and longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as an organization pick. The enshrinement ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 7 at Ballpark Village … The team begin wearing a patch on their uniforms on Friday night in memory of former manager Whitey Herzog, who died in April … Contreras was back in the clubhouse before the game and already is out of a cast on his broken left arm. Manager Oli Marmol said it was still too early in Contreras’ recovery to discuss the next steps in his return … Matthew Liberatore has been moved into the rotation and won’t be pitching out of the bullpen for now, Marmol said … Left-hander Quinn Mathews will make his first start for high A Peoria on Saturday night after his promotion from Palm Beach.
Looking ahead: Miles Mikolas will get the start in the second game of the series on Saturday night.