Tuesday, March 9, 2010
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Cardinals fell to 1-5 on the spring with a 7-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. It was the third time in six games that the Cardinals have lost in the opponent’s final at-bat. Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate...
Colby Rasmus had an interesting day, striking out three times but also hitting a long two-run homer, his second of the spring, in the fifth.....Skip Schumaker entered the game 0-for-10 in his first three spring games, but he quickly changed that with singles in the first and second innings. His RBI hit in the second gave the Cardinals a brief 3-2 lead.....Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick had RBIs in the first inning, Holliday’s coming on a double to left and Ludwick on a sacrifice fly to center.....Daniel Descalso, in the traveling roster for the games in Fort Myers despite the fact he was reassigned to the minor league camp on Sunday, started as the designated hitter and slammed an RBI double off the right field wall in the fifth. He also singled in the seventh. One of the reasons Descalso was in the lineup was because his parents had traveled a long way to see Tuesday's game.....David Freese also had two hits to raise his spring average to .235......Nick Stavinoha entered as a pinch-runner for Holliday and went 1-for-2 with a run scored......Holliday is hitting .400 this spring.
On the mound...
Adam Wainwright struggled in his spring debut, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks in two innings of work. He also failed to strike out a batter. He threw 49 pitches, 30 for strikes.....Fernando Salas relieved in the third and worked two perfect innings, striking out three and not letting a ball out of the infield.....Adam Ottavino failed to protect a 6-4 lead in the sixth, giving up a triple to Delmon Young, a slow infield roller which scored a run, and another RBI single by Ben Revere.....Oneli Perez was credited with the loss, going 1 2/3 innings and giving up one run and two hits.
In the field...
David Freese was charged with a throwing error in the sixth when he fielded a slow roller and his throw to first pulled Joe Mather off the bag. The Cardinals have committed at least one error in five of their six games this spring.
On the bases...
Nick Stavinoha was thrown out trying to steal second in the seventh.....Freese was picked off first in the ninth to end the game.
Of note...
Manager Tony La Russa had a chance to spend a few minutes conversing with two long-time friends, former Twins manager Tom Kelly and longtime Kansas City groundskeeper George Toma, who works for the Twins each spring.....After playing to a sellout crowd Monday against the Red Sox, the Cardinals and Twins drew the largest crowd ever in the 20-year history of Hammond Stadium, 8,220, the Twins’ third sellout this spring......Albert Pujols missed Tuesday's game with lower back pain but is expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday.
From the manager...
"If you go about your work right and thats your record, then that's how good you are and right now, that's how good we are. It does give us some room for improvement, which is what I take for it. Obviously there better be improvement or we're going to be...I think we'll continue to improve. I mean I don't like the record. We've have four close games that could have gone either way and we're 0-4 in those games. That's not good, but that's what it is."
- Tony La Russa on the Cardinals' 1-5 record
Looking ahead....
The Cardinals return to Jupiter on Wednesday to host the Washington Nationals, who are 0-7 so far this spring. Brad Penny will make his second start of the spring and will be opposed by Garrett Mock. It will be the first of four consecutive games at Roger Dean Stadium for the Cardinals.
Contact Globe-Democrat.com sports editor Rob Rains at rrains@globe-democrat.com. You can also follow him on twitter at twitter.com/robrains.
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