Game Recap - July 12 - Hendricks shuts down Cardinal offense as Cubs ease to 5-1 romp.

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The listless Cardinals offense has departed for the All-Star break a few days too early. Kyle Hendricks shuts out Cardinals over 7 innings, not allowing a single runner past first base. 3 late runs against the bullpen puts game out of reach, and the sputtering offense ends up wasting a 7-inning quality start by Sonny Gray.

Pre-Game Notes

• Is it my imagination, or was Graceffo’s velo down a fair bit on Wednesday?
• The rehab pipeline now has just Tommy Edman. He is expected back later in July. He DH’ed last night and again tonight. He has yet to play the field.
• Ivan Herrera was activated today and optioned to Memphis. Guess they weren’t ready to make the really interesting roster decisions coming up. Good thing RH bat is not a glaring need...or anything like that...
• Robertson and Naughton have passed through rehab stage and would seem to be viewed as pitching depth at Memphis. Naughton pitching more effectively than Robertson.
• Matz and O’Brien still in recovery/progression stages. TBD for them. O’Brien throws another BP tomorrow. Matz just playing catch, so both are a ways away, at best.
• But at least the medical report is getting shorter.
• In one of the least shocking developments to-date, Tink Hence will NOT actually pitch in the Futures Game. Hmmm....

Line-up (and roster) Machinations

• Gray toes the rubber for the Cardinals. Cubs showed TBD until today. They did that the last time these two played, too. In what is hopefully positive news, they will not face Steele or Imanaga this weekend. I figure Cardinal-killer Hendricks, Taillon and a random lefty to start a bullpen game on Sunday, if it is not Assad.
• Typical line-up tonight, with Contreras catching and Burly at DH.

The Game

T1 - Hoerner leads off battling Gray for 8 pitches before lining out to right. Busch K’s. Suzuki lines out.

B1 - Winn pops out, kinda jamming himself on an 88 mph FB. Burly backwards K. Tried to be selective and got rung up for it. Ugh. Contreras drives one to the outfield for a hit, but gets thrown out trying to stretch to a double.

T2 - Happ K’s. Morel out F9. Swanson 6-3.

B2 - Goldy F8. Donovan F9. Arenado F7. All the outfielders were there, so inning over.

T3 - Mastrobuoni leads off with 0-2 single. Tough pitch, good hit. Crow-Armstrong bunts for a hit. Amaya with SacBunt to move them up. Hoerner with a ground out RBI. Busch F8. Cubs now up 1-0 on small ball.

B3 - Nootbar leads off with a single. Gorman takes some wild swings against Hendricks as if he is throwing 100, when he can’t break glass. K for him. Siani F8. Winn repeats his first AB, jamming himself on a FB that is slower than many changes.

T4 - Suzuki out 6-3. Happ doubles. They just pitch him wrong. Always have. Morel pops out to Gorman, but Swanson singles him home. Mastrobuoni out 3u to end the inning. Cubs now up 2-0. With the great Kyle Hendricks pitching, it seems like 20-0.

B4 - Burly leads off with a single. Contreras takes a page from Winn and jams himself and he pops out, too. Goldy K’s. Since he K’s so rarely, the Cardinals had Burly stealing on the pitch, but it didn’t work this time. Out stealing. Inning over.

T5 - Crow-Armstrong F8. I think that was really Donovans’s play but he lost it (in the lights?), but fortunately Siani was there to cover the play. Amaya flares a single. Mastrobuoni with a single. Lots of traffic for Gray last few innings. Busch GIDP to end the threat. Gray at 74 pitches. Pitching OK. Not super-sharp, judging by the limited number of whiffs, but doing all right.

B5 - Hoping for some better ABs here. Donovan leads off with a walk. Arenado GIDP. Nootbar gets his second hit. Gorman out 6-3 to end the inning. Still way out in front of all his pitches. Cubs still up 2-0.

T6 - Suzuki IF hit. Batted ball hits Gray, caroms to Goldy, but Gray loses the race to first. Injury delay ... I think the ball hit him in the hand. Happ K’s. He no like the sweeper. Morel K’s. Gray getting a head of steam here? Force out 6-4 ends inning. Gray at 89 pitches. Cubs still up 2-0.

B6 - Hendricks enters this inning at a mere 64 pitches. No runner has even reached second base yet. He is marching toward a CG shutout. Siani leads off with a line out. Winn up. Think the league has figured him a little ... soft stuff away, hard stuff in. Winn pops out a third time. Burly F7. Cubs scoreless pitching streak reaches 30 innings. Wow!

T7 - Gray back out. Mastrobuoni with another flare hit. Crow-Armstrong K’s. Amaya singles, now first and third. Hoerner SacFly. Busch K’s. Gray ends at 102 Pitches, 6K, 3 ER. A quality start, but for naught. Cubs now up 3-0.

B7 - Contreras out 6-3. Goldy out 4-3. Donovan singles. Arenado out 1-3. Hey, Hendricks made it to 90 pitches. I want a recount.

T8 - Roycroft in. Suzuki IF hit, except the replay review shows Arenado’s throw just beat him. Safe at first call is overturned. Happ with a long fly out. Morel singles. Swanson singles him to third. Roycroft out. King in. Bote to PH. Swanson advances to second on a ball in the dirt. Ruled WP. Bote spoils off a number of pitches, then doubles in 2 runs. Cubs now up 5-0. Crow-Armstrong flies out. Cubs now up 5-0.

B8 - Little in for Hendricks. 7 IP. 3 H. 1 BB. 3 K. Much soft contact. Shaves a full point off his ERA. Little is hurt after uncorking a slider on his fourth pitch. New pitcher. Doesn’t look good for Little. Leiter will come in for Little. I guess that is a way to neutralize an LHP. Nootbar out 4-3. Gorman K’s again. Carpenter PH for Siani. He K’s.

T9 - Gallegos in for King. Amaya out 1-3. Hoerner singles. Busch another GIDP, obligingly cleans up the inning.

B9 - Bigge in. Would like to have a Bigge inning. See! Other teams chase relievers walk the first guy, too. It’s a thing. Winn leads off with a walk. Burly F9. Contreras walks. Goldy RBI single. Hey, he hits a middle-middle FB 105 mph! That is a welcome sight. Neris replaces Bigge. Dovovan lines out. Arenado walks, bringing Nootbar to the plate as the potential tie run. He backwards K’s for an uninspiring end to an uninspiring game. Cubs win 5-1.

NOTE: Apologies for the late post and fast (and probably incomplete) editing. I had to break away during the ninth inning rally as we got a medical call to respond to. Suicidal subject. Mother of 2 young children harming herself. I don’t love those calls. Someone I know, too. Coming back and writing about baseball is a good outlet, and a reminder about keeping Cardinal struggles and losses in perspective. It is just a game and we get two more tomorrow.

Post-game Notes (and random musings)

• The Cubs bullpen progression tonight makes me wonder if they only have pitchers where their name is a size. Little was followed by someone Leiter, who then was followed by someone Bigge (pronounced Biggie). Does Imanaga mean teeny in Japanese, by chance?
• In early June, coming out of their series against the Astros, the Cardinals forward look to the next 32 games included 29 against sub .500 teams, with only a 3 game set with the Braves in the middle. By my count, that run ended when the Royals came in, with the Cardinals going 19-13. Just under .600 baseball.
• The next 23 games (including tonight) similarly feature 19 against sub .500 teams, the Braves in the middle (again!) and a one game make-up against the Mets, who are presently just over .500.
• In mid-August, the “soft” schedule recedes and the Cardinals will finish the last 6 weeks against playoff caliber teams in all but 4 series.
• I am fascinated with the restructuring of the rotation this week and decision to “stack” the rotation in the Cubs series by using the 27th man rule to sub in Graceffo and push the 3 veterans back a day (Gray gets +2) going into the ASB. I wonder how this will work out.
• Likewise, couldn’t they have elected to option Pallante after his start on Wednesday and rotate in a fresh reliever for the Cubs and Braves series? He won’t start in the Cubs or Braves series. If I have the optioning rules down (always a question...), he wouldn’t need to actually go to Memphis and would have been eligible to be recalled 10 days later, which would be the third (or later) game after the ASB, so he wouldn’t miss a start.
• I noticed today that since May 1, old friend Jordan Hicks ERA is > 5.00. A promising start for him has turned south.