Cardinals swept by Yankees after ninth inning collapse

Yahoo

11 hours ago

This game, and this series for that matter, had a little bit of everything in it. There were highs, there were lows, and everything in between. But the end result of was bitter disappointment. Miles Mikolas took the ball for the Cardinals and allowed three runs in the top of the fourth. He ended up getting through five innings, so he didn't do poorly.
After the Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Cardinals punched back with a two-run double by Thomas Saggese that just snuck out of Cody Bellinger's reach. Alec Burleson tied the game in the fifth with a double of his own, and Yohel Pozo, using his special Player's Weekend bat with his son Paul's handprints on it, hit a home run to put St. Louis up 4-3.
The Yankees threatened against Kyle Leahy, who was touched for three runs last night. Oli Marmol, just a half-inning prior to tying Aaron Boone for most manager ejections of the season, pulled Leahy and went to Riley O'Brien. He surrendered a sac fly to Bellinger to tie the game, but that was ultimately Leahy's run. O'Brien actually did a pretty good job.
In the ninth, all hell broke loose. JoJo Romero came in and was wild everywhere he threw, and the defense also let him down. Saggese made a throwing error trying to nab Jose Caballero, who reached second. Romero walked Giancarlo Stanton and gave the intentional pass to Aaron Judge, but the defense let the Cardinals down again. Two runs scored when Saggese made his second error of the inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded into a force out to add another run, and Paul Goldschmidt, who made himself right back at home in the finale, drove in the final run with a double. The Cardinals did nothing in the bottom half.
Defensive lapses, missed opportunities, bullpen woes cost Cards
I'm only going to get into one takeaway today because that was just a painful loss, and this is squarely on the Cardinals. I don't want to say the Yankees didn't earn it, because they did. They took advantage of the Cardinals mistakes and ultimately got the job done. The normally stout Cardinals defense really laid an egg.
The Cardinals simply shot themselves in the foot. Sooner or later, without Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz, the bullpen was going to have a hiccup. Leahy has certainly struggled the past two games, and Romero has as well. In my opinion, those guys have been a bit overused, and I don't blame that on Oli necessarily. He doesn't have much to work with, but you could tell that they were a little bit tired.
Once Romero threw a wild pitch to allow Caballero to advance to third base, the game was pretty much over, as he clearly didn't have it. But the way that unfolded was just so painful to watch. Even worse was that the Yankees defense gave the Cardinals plenty of chances, but they just didn't cash in, and so, New York came out on top and pulled off the sweep.
That may have been the worst loss of the year for the Cardinals. They head to Miami to take on the Marlins next.