Dateline: Browns Chapel
On a pleasant fall morning, the Cardinals took the field after a week of rain. The Yanks jumped on Cardinals starter Curtis for three quick runs. A couple of errors and a throw home with two outs didn’t help matters for the Cards fans. Bottom of the first and Willie drove a shot to left. Curtis grounded into the a fielders choice, but that ended the threat.
Top of the second and Curtis settled down and got the first batter to ground back to the mound where Curtis made a nice play and threw to Matthew for out one. He then struck out two batters to end the Yankees threat. Bottom of the second and the Cards went down in order. After two it was 3-0 Yankees.
In the top of the third Michael went to the mound and the leadoff hitter doubled to right. The next batter struck out and after that the next batter hit a pop up to short where Curtis made a nice catch for out two. The runner moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a grounder back to the mound, where unfortunately the Cards tried to make the play at the plate instead of opting for the easy out at first. In the bottom of the third, the Cards mounted a threat as Isaac was hit by a pitch and Kian hit a hard single to center, but the next three batters struck out. After three it was 4-0 Yankees.
In the fourth the Yankees picked up some insurance runs. After a strikeout, the next batter was hit by a pitch. Then a single left put runners on first and second and a wild pitch moved them to third and second. A strikeout put the Cards one out from ending the inning. Unfortunately, a ground ball back to the mound ended up in deep right field and two runs scored. Michael settled down to strikeout the last batter. Matthew led off the bottom of the fourth with a ground ball back to the mound. The Yankees ended up throwing it into right field and Matthew scored on the play. It was to be the Cards only highlight on the morning.
In the top of the fifth the leadoff hitter singled, Willie struck out two batters and hit the next. The next batter hit a hard shot to Curtis at second who tossed to Troy for out three. Bottom of the fifth and the Cards mounted a threat. Michael led off with a single. Jack blasted a long shot to right to put runners on a first and third. Unfortunately, Cards bats were silent after that and the game ended. Yankees 7 Cardinals 1.
Coach Grossman was available briefly, “Well, we certainly had a tough day at the plate. I’d talk to you guys more, but I want to get ready for our game on Tuesday. We’ll put this one behind us and we’ll be ready to go on Tuesday.”
