BSJ Game Report: Cardinals 9, Red Sox 1 - Boston drops fifth game in last six with sweep at the hands of St. Louis

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Cardinals, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Cardinals clobber Kluber: Corey Kluber managed to go at least five innings for the fifth start in a row, but it wasn’t pretty. His pitch count ballooned early, and he finished with 105 pitches, his highest in a game since 2019. Couldn’t hold the Cardinals at bay as the offense sputtered.  

Bullpen can’t stop the bleeding: Brennan Bernardino and Ryan Brazier struggled in relief of Kluber. Bernardino lasted just 0.2 innings, giving up two hits and two earned runs. Brazier inherited a jam after Bernardino walked the bases loaded. Got out of the top of the sixth, but not before giving up another run. Collapsed in the eighth, missing his spots.

Offense goes down with a whimper: Boston’s offense started well with an Alex Verdugo double and an RBI single from Rafael Devers (who should have later had a double) in the first. From there, though, Boston managed just three hits the rest of the way, going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. It took until the top of the seventh for the Cardinals to generate a strikeout, but Miles Mikolas (0 K) never seemed to be in all that match trouble throughout his six-inning start.

TURNING POINT

Bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth: Finally felt like the Sox had something going at the plate, down 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh with a chance to at least keep things interesting. After Triston Casas worked a walk to begin the inning, Enmanuel Valdez came oh-so-close to a two-run homer to slash the deficit. It was barely foul, and he promptly went on to strike out. A single for Pablo Reyes and a walk for Verdugo loaded the bases, but Masataka Yoshida ended it with a routine flyout. In the eighth, Brazier had his blowup, giving up a pair of doubles before Nolan Arenado hit another bomb to put the game away.

“I think overall, pitching-wise, we were off,” Alex Cora said. “[Brazier] didn’t execute … the homer, it was supposed to be a fastball up, and it was down. [Arenado] hit it hard.”

ONE 'MEH'

Pablo Reyes: Another O.K. day at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. Tough strikeout looking at the end, though. Watched two pitches right down the middle, appearing to not like the calls, before getting rung up on a pitch that caught the zone high and inside. Still, was good defensively, coming up with a pair of tough plays up the middle.

FOUR DOWN

Corey Kluber: Didn’t have it from the start. Got knocked around the park, particularly by the bottom of the order – felt like Paul DeJong was all over him with the homer in the second and a loud flyout to the wall in the fifth.

Masataka Yoshida: After a solid night at the plate on Friday, has gone pretty silent. Went 0-for-4 today, following 1-for-3 on Saturday. Flew out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh when he could have at least kept things interesting with the game at 6-1. 

Alex Cora: Should have challenged the Devers would-be double in the fourth. Devers was safe and wanted the challenge. We frequently say that the players always know, and he certainly did. 

Bullpen: Just couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding. Felt like Brazier found a groove after inheriting a tough spot from Bernardino, but the former fell apart in the eighth as the game quickly went further out of reach. A number of “D-F-A” chants rained down on Brazier. The fans got their wish shortly after the game. 

QUOTE OF NOTE

“We played two good games and lost in the ninth, and today they kicked our butt,” Cora said of his assessment of the sweep. “I don’t think we played bad baseball. We got swept, but I think in two out of three of the games, we were right there. It just didn’t happen.

UP NEXT

The Sox have a chance to reset when they kick off a three-game set with the Mariners on Monday at Fenway. RHP Tanner Houck (3-2, 5.26 ERA) will face RHP George Kirby (4-2, 2.62 ERA).