Making the 100th start of his career, Jaime Garcia had an impressive sinker and sharp slider as he needed only 86 pitches to get through the 7th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night. Unfortunately for the St. Louis Cardinals, the one run he allowed early was the difference in the 1-0 loss.
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“Jaime was good,” said Mike Matheny. “Yeah, who would’ve thought that two singles in the first would decide the game against him. It’s a shame, it was a great outing.”
“I was able to keep the ball down and make some pitches but unfortunately, we didn’t come out with the win,” said Garcia. “Anytime you lose a game you’re not happy, so I don’t want to say I’m happy–but am I encouraged by the way I’m feeling and physically and competing, yeah.”
All three starts by Garcia have been quality starts by the left-hander this season.
“He’s given us a chance,” said Matheny of those outings. “Today, it’s just a shame to waste a start like that. He should’ve, could’ve gone a complete game–his stuff was that good today.”
As good as Garcia was, the Cardinals offense struggled at the plate–striking out six times in six innings against Mike Fiers.
“He’s another guy, just different stuff,” said Matheny. “We’ve got guys without great numbers against him. They’ve seen him a few times now–it’s no surprise. They know what they’re going to get. He has an elevated fastball that was effective today and he threw the breaking ball–got some called strikes with it, strike three calls with it.”
The Cardinals had their best chance in the 8th inning after Kolten Wong singled and then raced to third on a one-out single by Matt Holliday. Jhonny Peralta and Yadier Molina then struck out to end the inning without a run.
“We had a couple opportunities, but didn’t string a lot together,” added Matheny. “It’s just one of those offensively frustrating nights for our guys.”
–Besides the single, Holliday also walked in the 1st inning to extend his streak to 45 consecutive games to safely reach base to open the season.
–Despite the lapse in offense, a pair of defensive highlights were turned in–Jon Jay in the 1st inning charged in at centerfield to snag a shot from Jonathan Lucroy. Then in the 9th, Kolten Wong showed off his vertical at 2nd base to snare a ball that bounced high in the air off the bat of Jason Rogers.
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
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