St. Louis Cardinals Tommy Pham can’t handle a flyball off the bat of Boston Red Sox’s Jackie Bradley. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The inability to get outs turned against the Cardinals, who made three errors as they couldn’t hold a one-run lead and ended up losing 6-3 to the Boston Red Sox in the first of two interleague matchups at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night.
After Lance Lynn gave up solo homers to Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr in the first two innings, the Cardinals took a 3-2 lead in the third. That’s when the defense gave Boston extra outs.
Following a leadoff walk in the fifth, Jedd Gyorko’s error gave Boston runners on first and second with no outs. Lynn induced two grounders that tied the game, but then a two-out single by Dustin Pedoria gave the Sox a 4-3 lead.
In the eighth, with Xander Bogaerts on first, Brett Cecil executed a perfect pickoff, but Bogaerts’ nifty move at second avoided a tag. Cecil’s struggles continued as he walked the only two batters he faced. A sacrifice fly scored one run, then Tommy Pham dropped what should have been the third out in left field allowing another run to score. Pham threw out Mitch Moreland who tried to score from first, but by then the damage was done.
