MIA 0, STL 9; Cardinals offense too hot to handle for Pablo López

The Miami Marlins started off their 7-game road trip in St. Louis on Monday night. The series opener featured a promising pitching matchup: Pablo López v. Adam Wainwright. But only one of them lived up to the hype.

Prior to the game, the Marlins brought Brian Anderson back from the 10-day IL and sent down Luke Williams in a corresponding roster move. Meanwhile, the Cardinals placed stud center fielder Harrison Bader on the 10-day IL.

The Marlins offense was handled with ease in the first inning by Wainwright. López was able to get Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan in the bottom half. Unfortunately for Pablo, NL MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt did what he does at his best: hit homers. Goldschmidt takes Pablo deep for a 402 ft. bomb to left field and gives the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.

Pablo was able to keep the Cardinals calm until the bottom of the fourth inning. Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman each singled. Then, rookie DH Juan Yepez hit a three-run shot to extend the Cardinals lead, 4-0.

The following inning featured more Cardinals offense. Tommy Edman singled, stole a base, and moved to third thanks to a Brendan Donovan groundout. Goldschmidt brought Edman home with a huge RBI double to right field.

After 5 innings of work, Pablo Lopez's night came to an end. Pablo stayed true to his pitch mix throughout the game, though his fastball velocity was a little lower than his season average. Pablo looked good command-wise and recorded 13 swings-and-misses on his 85 pitches. His issue may have been attacking the strike zone too much, giving the Cardinals too many opportunities to barrel the ball.

Marlins reliever Richard Bleier entered the game to replace Pablo. In quick words, it didn't go well. Lars Nootbaar hits a double off of Bleier followed by Juan Yepez's second homer of the game. The Cardinals extended their lead to 7-0. Bleier’s ERA rose to 5.59 (on pace for a career worst in that category).

The bottom of the seventh inning went to Tommy Nance. Appearing in a game for the first time in a full week, Nance was stretched into the eighth as well and eventually allowed the Cardinals to pad their lead. Nolan Gorman hit a double—Avisaíl García lost track of the ball in the stadium lights—and he was followed by a Dylan Carson RBI triple.

In the same inning, a wild pitch was thrown by Nance which allowed Carson to score from third base. The official scorer’s decision preserved Jacob Stallings’ multi-year streak of no passed balls allowed. Even so, Stallings would probably say this was a catchable ball for him.

Stallings got all 6 of his outs on strikeouts.

Adam Wainwright got way more help than he needed. Waino racked him up 9 K’s and no runs in his 7 phenomenal innings. He focused on attacking to his glove side, throwing lots of cutters away to Miami’s righties.

Could this be the final time that Wainwright faces the Marlins during his potential Hall of Fame career?

The Marlins are now 33-39 (4th in the NL East and 6th in the Wild Card race). The losing pitcher is Pablo López who is now 5-4 on the season. Adam Wainwright improved to 6-5 and earned himself his 190th major league win.

Don Mattingly Postgame Press Conference:

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The Marlins will go back at it on Tuesday with Braxton Garrett on the mound. The Cardinals will start Dakota Hudson. Gametime is at 7:45 pm EST.