Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
The St. Louis Cardinals broke through in the seventh after being no-hit for 6 1/3 innings by Kevin Gausman to record a 5-3 win over the Giants Monday afternoon at Oracle Park.
Gausman was masterful a day after learning that he’d earned his first All-Star selection, allowing only two hitters to reach base on walks while retiring 19 of the first 21 batters he faced before Nolan Arenado got to him for a one out single in the seventh. Three batters later, after another single from Tommy Edman, Matt Carpenter tripled to deep left center field to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.
St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado prepares to throw to first after fielding a sharp grounder off the bat of Jaylin Davis in the seventh inning of the Cardinals 5-3 win over the Giants Monday afternoon.
Arenado, a long-time Giants killer during his eight years with the Colorado Rockies playing his first game in the Bay Area for St. Louis, did more damage the following inning, singling to drive in another run that boosted the Cards lead to 3-0.
Speaking about Arenado after the game, Gausman stated, “He’s obviously one of the best third basemen, if not the best third baseman, in baseball. That’s what good players do. They make an adjustment.”
While Gausman (8-3, 1.74) finished with eight strikeouts on the day, the two Giants relievers that followed didn’t fare nearly as well, as both Zack Littell and Jimmie Sherfy combined to allow three runs in the final two innings to eliminate any chance of a Giants comeback.
Kevin Gausman delivers a pitch during the Giants 5-3 loss to St. Louis Monday at Oracle Park. The Giants ace took a no-hitter into the seventh, but ended up taking the loss despite only giving up three hits while striking out eight.
Meanwhile, St. Louis starter Kwang Hyun Kim (3-5, 3.39) out-dueled Gausman with seven shutout innings of his own, only allowing three hits and a pair of walks while just throwing 89 pitches.
“I’m proud of the way we fought in the ninth and that we were able to string some good at-bats together,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “As a general effort, I don’t think it was our best overall. I thought Gausman was excellent.”
San Francisco finally broke thru on a solo home run in the eighth by Alex Dickerson, and the bottom of the ninth also proved suspenseful even with Cardinals All-Star closer Alex Reyes on the mound. Opening the frame with a walk to Wilmer Flores, Reyes proceeded to give up back-to-back singles to Darin Ruf and Donovan Solano to score a run. An out later a Steven Duggar ground out scored Ruf to close the gap to 5-3, but Reyes settled down to strike out LaMonte Wade to end the game.
With the Dodgers nine-game winning streak coming to an end in Miami, the Giants were able to maintain their slim 1/2 game lead over Los Angeles atop the NL West. The second game of the three-game series is slated for Tuesday, with Johnny Cueto (6-4, 4.00) facing Adam Wainwright (6-5, 3.49) at 6:45PM.
GAME NOTES:
In spite of the loss, San Francisco’s 26-12 record this season at Oracle Park remains the best home winning percentage in the Majors.
Opposing batters entered Monday batting only .098 against Gausman. Despite the loss, his 1.74 ERA thru 17 starts is the lowest by any Giant since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958.
