KANSAS CITY — The spot the Cardinals found themselves in during the top of the sixth inning on Friday against the Royals was one Willson Contreras said his club had to “capitalize on.”
With the Cardinals up 3-2 on Kansas City while Masyn Winn was on second base and Brendan Donovan was on first base with one out in the frame, Contreras grounded a ball to second baseman Jonathan India that had the makings of a potential inning-ending double play. But India’s mishandling of Contreras’s grounder allowed a hard-running Donovan to beat India’s flip to second base and allowed Contreras to reach first base to load the bases with Ivan Herrera, the Cardinals’ designated hitter in the series opener, due up.
On the fifth pitch of his at-bat against Royals reliever John Schreiber, Herrera cleared the bases with a double to center field. Catcher Pedro Pages added another run in the inning with a single to right field in the at-bat that followed to complete a four-run inning that helped lift the Cardinals to a 10-3 series opening win against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
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“That’s why you play hard and you play taking care of the little details of the game. … I was just trying to get to first base,” Contreras said. “Great job by (Donovan) running hard to second base. Those are little details that make a team win.”
The miscue provided a run-scoring window that Pages said Herrera and his club were “ready” to take advantage of.
“(Herrera) had a big hit there, and then I was able to get another one… and bring him in too,” Pages said. “Just staying ready, sticking to the plan, and just trusting the plan. I know when teams make mistakes and we capitalize on them, it’s going to go a long way. The season is long, but those little things like that are going to carry us to a lot of wins.”
The win improved the Cardinals to 25-20 on the season and to 6-1 through the first seven games of their nine-game road trip that began in Washington, D.C. last weekend. Friday’s win in Kansas City moved the Cardinals to a 10-14 record when playing away from Busch Stadium. Before their road trip began, the Cardinals were 4-13 when playing away from home.
“We’re in a really good stretch,” Herrera said. “We didn’t start the right way on the road. … But none of that matters right now. What matters is that we came back from that and we embraced that moment, and we are better right now. That’s all that matters.”
The four-run frame provided a cushion for starter Andre Pallante to complete his final two innings of work as he spun seven innings and allowed two runs to Kansas City. Pallante kept the Royals to seven hits and no walks. He struck out four and induced 13 groundouts in the start.
Pallante (4-2) allowed a run in the fourth inning on a 448-foot solo homer by Vinnie Pasquantino. A second run scored against Pallante in the fifth inning when he was called for a balk, which allowed Kyle Isbel to score from third base after he tripled earlier in the inning.
A balk was called on Pallante because he didn’t declare he was going to work from the windup instead of the stretch while working with just Isbel on base, Marmol said.
“He did a nice job,” Marmol said of Pallante’s effort. “A lot of defensive swings. Not a whole lot of hard contact. The lefty (Pasquantino) got him, but outside of that, he just got a lot of soft contact. Stayed on the ground. One of his better games of just getting ahead of guys. … That’s a key for him. No walks and kept them soft on the ground.”
While Pallante logged his second consecutive start of at least seven innings, Cardinals hitters combined for 13 hits. Herrera (3 for 4), Contreras (2 for 5), Donovan (3 for 5), and Lars Nootbaar (2 for 5) each notched multi-hit games. Contreras’s and Herrera’s multi-hit efforts included two doubles apiece.
Along with RBIs from Herrera and Pages, the Cardinals received run production from Contreras, Donovan, Jordan Walker, who singled home a run, and Nolan Arenado, who produced a run on a sacrifice fly.
The Cardinals’ offensive outburst began with a double down the right field line from Contreras in the second inning that extended his on-base streak to a career-high 27 consecutive games. Contreras’s double was one of three extra-base hits between him and Herrera that were hit to the opposite field and accounted for four of five hits the Cardinals had that registered exit velocities above 100 mph, per Statcast.
“You have different ways of thumping, too, right? Some backside doubles. Herrera being able to drive the ball to left center. Willson taking his double down the… right field line there,” Marmol said. “It was good to see Walker drive in a run. A lot of different ways. But the guys just — you look at the at-bats, there’s a high level of competition on every single pitch. Every inning, they’re trying to put pressure on the opposition. That’s what’s been the key.”
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