The St. Louis Cardinals played about 500 hours of baseball this year, give or take. So it was more than a little frustrating to think the whole thing could be decided by an umpire’s split-second decision to grant time to David Ross.
Cards take 3-2 lead after Chipper error, Craig double
With two strikes and Ross at the plate, umpire Jeff Kellogg called time. Ross swung through the pitch:
After getting Ross to swing through one change-up, Lohse figured he’d try another, and that one went over the left-field fence. Oops. And you figured the Cardinals could have had a chance to get away with it if it weren’t for that Medlen kid. The Braves’ starter was looking lights out.
But a Carlos Beltran single was followed by a Chipper Jones error, putting runners on first and third with no outs. Allen Craig -- suddenly one of the more feared hitters in baseball -- drove a double to left to score a run.
With runners on second and third, the Cards tied the game on an RBI ground out from Yadier Molina, which was followed by a David Freese sac fly to give the Cardinals the lead.
If Medlen kept doing his thing, the Kellogg time-out call could have been the story of the game. Now? The story is Medlen giving up three times for just the second time out of 13 starts so far this season. And the only other time he gave up three runs? A seven-inning, three-run game with eight strikeouts and no walks. With the Chipper error, though, only one of the runs for this game is earned.
Kris Medlen is good, but the Cardinals offense, at least for today, has been a little better.
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