Let’s do this again boys! Royals and Cardinals put on quite a show in what could be an early preview of October baseball

St. Louis Cardinals Randall Grichuk swings, hitting a two run home run in the second inning against the Kansas City Royals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 23, 2015. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Randal Grichuk and Matt Carpenter each hit two-run homers early off Royals starter Chris Young and Trevor Rosenthal worked out of a ninth inning jam as the Cardinals hung on for a 4-3 win in a make-up game from June 14th at Busch Stadium, Thursday night.

The win improves the Cardinals to 61-34, while the Royals drop to 57-37.

Since the 16th of June, Young has gone 2-4 and has given up seven home runs in his last four starts.

The Royals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning off John Lackey on RBI singles from Salvador Perez and Alex Rios.  After the shakey first, Lackey settled down allowing just three more hits after the first inning while going seven innings.

Young was finished after three innings, when Ned Yost used Kendrys Morales as a pinch hitter with two on and two outs in the fourth, but he lined out ending the inning against Lackey.

Some will question if Yost used Morales too quickly in a pinch hitting role.  I think it was a good time.

Play for the moment and don’t waste an opportunity.  Down 4-2, Yost has confidence in the bullpen that they could shut down the Cardinals, which they did and it provided the Royals an opportunity to produce runs early.  The calculated move didn’t pay off.

The ninth inning provided what fans of both teams are used to seeing.  The Royals mounting a furious late-inning rally and Trevor Rosenthal barely hanging on for a save.

The Royals scored once and twice had runners on second and third, but Dusty Coleman, Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas failed to drive in the tying run from third.  Rosenthal picked up his 30th save of the season.