Cardinals Lose Another In Extras—Still Can't Quite Solve Kyle Hendricks

ST. LOUIS — While the Blues celebrated an improbable come-from-behind win to extend their remarkable streak, those in attendance at Busch Stadium slowly realized they were at the wrong game in downtown St. Louis on Tuesday night.

Though he’s on a new team in a new league compared to when he used to torment the St. Louis Cardinals wearing Cubbie Blue, Kyle Hendricks was up to his old tricks again.

Hendricks has been the perfect Cardinal kryptonite over the years. He kept it up Tuesday, breezing through six innings while allowing only two runs and getting the better of Matthew Liberatore, whose quality start included a three-run third inning for the Angels.

But it didn’t end up being the starters who would decide this matchup, as the Cards and Halos went to extra innings for the second straight day, ultimately seeing Los Angeles emerge 9-7 after compiling consecutive three-run innings in the extra frames.

The Standouts

• Jordan Walker (STL): 2-for-5, HR, 2 RBIs 

• Matthew Liberatore (STL): 6.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 K 

• Kyle Hendricks (LAA): 6.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 4 K

The Moments That Mattered

The Lumber: On the ninth pitch of his fourth-inning at-bat, Jordan Walker took a Kyle Hendricks full-count pitch on a one-way trip to Freese’s Lawn. The 419-foot solo blast cut the Cardinals’ deficit to 3-2.

The Delivery: Matthew Liberatore started strong but faded from a velocity standpoint in the third inning as four straight Angels pinballed the Cardinals left-hander for base hits to produce a three-run inning for the Halos. 

The Leather: As Liberatore’s velocity kept its downward direction into the fourth inning, Brendan Donovan kicked off a much-needed 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The twin-killing helped stabilize the trajectory of the outing for the Cardinal starter, who found some additional oomph back into the 94 mph range on several pitches when he needed it in the sixth inning.

On The Move: Nolan Arenado busted it down the line on a right-side chopper and it paid off when the first baseman sailed the throw, allowing the Cardinals to tie the game, 3-3 in the 8th.

The Fulcrum

Paris Beats Roycroft: Kyren Paris sees a pitch he can do something with against Chris Roycroft in the 11th inning. After Roycroft busted Paris inside at 95 mph on the previous pitch, 91 mph away was a favor that the Cardinal righty didn’t need to provide. Paris served it into right field to give the Angels a 7-6 lead.

Around The Horn

Libby Levels: Liberatore battled a familiar tale of declining velocity across the first three innings of his start. After sitting 95-96 mph with his fastball in the first inning, Liberatore dipped to 94-95 mph in the second and lived predominantly around 93 mph in the troublesome third inning that saw the Angels take the lead in a sequence that went single, single, double, double against him.

The topic of Liberatore sustaining his fastball velocity deeper into outings has been central to his struggles in a starting role over the years, but for him to have held enough back in the tank to be able to ramp back up to regularly hitting 94 mph in his sixth inning of work was a welcomed sign for his viability in the rotation moving forward.

“It dipped a little bit in that third inning and then I was able to reset and refocus and find some more velo for the last three,” Liberatore said. “Obviously, I don’t want it to dip like that, but it is what it is and I was able to regather, regroup and go back after guys.”

When Should Hels Bells Toll? Ryan Helsley entered in the ninth inning of a tie game for the second night in a row and for the second straight night, he did his job. Helsley disposed of 2-3-4 in the Los Angeles batting order, including a strikeout of Mike Trout.

The problem was that for the second straight night, the game saw a 10th inning. And for a second straight night, that put another reliever in charge of the automatic runner at second base that goes along with that scenario. Ryan Fernandez didn’t get the job done and then Chris Roycroft had similar struggles in the 11th.

With Phil Maton deemed unavailable as the Cardinals ease him into action after he missed most of the spring before signing late with St. Louis, Helsley, Fernandez and Roycroft were the righties available to cover those innings (shoutout Kyle Leahy for a scoreless pair of innings behind Liberatore before that point).

Though some would argue for saving Helsley for the 10th inning given his prowess with swing-and-miss could help strand the automatic runner, my stance is this: the 10th inning is not a guarantee to happen if you don’t get through the 9th, and Helsley is your best chance to get through the 9th with Mike Trout due up, so you pitch him there. Come what may.

Send Donnie? For as much as some fans wanted to point to Brendan Donovan’s decision not to test Mike Trout’s arm in the bottom of the 10th as a mistake in the loss, Trout’s reputation combined with such a shallow fly ball would have made it a real gamble to dash for the plate in that situation.

Granted, the throw was up the line and high, but players and coaches don’t have the benefit of hindsight before a moment unfolds—while seeing an errant throw and believing Donovan could have made it safely is frustrating, I’m genuinely not convinced from the vantage point that I had in the press box that Donovan would have 100% been safe, even with the bad throw by Trout.

Taking the bat out of Herrera’s hands with the bases loaded would have been ridiculed, too, if it had played out that way.

Extra Bases

In The Crowd: For the second consecutive weeknight, the Busch Stadium crowd was a sparse one. Tuesday’s announced attendance narrowly beat Monday’s, which was the lowest paid attendance in Busch Stadium III history (aside from the COVID-impacted crowds of 2020 and 2021).

The smarter STL sports fans were at the Blues game, though, so I can’t really blame them. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn off Tucker Blvd., and ended up at Busch.

The Perch: Despite the loss, the Cardinals still lead the NL Central by a half game over the Cubs.

On Deck: The Cardinals look to avoid a sweep to the Angels on Wednesday afternoon as Sonny Gray battles Yusei Kikuchi. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. CT, but with rain in the forecast, we’ll see…