The Cardinals got solo homers from JJ Wetherholt and Nathan Church and a solid start by Michael McGreevy, but they fell 3-2 to the Mariners when JoJo Romero surrendered a pinch-hit homer to Rob Refsnyder in the ninth inning.
ST. LOUIS – The 85.9 mph changeup from Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero was called a strike three by home plate umpire John Bacon – usually a cause for celebration in a tied game in the ninth inning – but it was instead met with resignation from knowing catcher Iván Herrera, who simply flipped the ball back to the pitcher instead of firing it around the horn.
“That one was way off and it was a bad pitch, and umpires are humans and we’re all going to make mistakes,” said Herrera of the pitch that was ultimately overturned from strike three to ball one on an ABS challenge by Mariners’ pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder.
That moment proved big in that instead of Refsnyder becoming the second out of the ninth inning he drilled a sweeper from Romero for the game-deciding homer four pitches after the overturned call. Refsnyder’s 412-foot smash allowed the Mariners to win 3-2 and finish off a three-game sweep of the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
For Herrera, who had been 4 for 4 on successful ABS challenges before the Refsnyder homer – including two of them resulting in strikeouts for his pitchers – it was a difficult ending to a lost weekend for St. Louis. The Cards blew leads of 7-4 and 9-7 in an 11-9 loss on Saturday and they lost two other one-run games as result of late solo homers.
“That’s just part of the game,” Herrera said of the emotional letdown of seeing a called strike three overturned in the ninth inning. “Those things can go both ways at any time. We just have to continue to play the game and stay focused every pitch.”
The only person who had a rougher day that the Cardinals was Bacon, who was proven to be incorrect on the first eight times his calls were challenges – four by Herrera and four by Seattle hitters – on Sunday. Cardinals’ rookie JJ Wetherholt, who homered for a second straight game earlier in the day, challenged a strike call in the heart of the plate in the ninth inning, but only because the Cards were down to their final out.
On a day when the Cardinals needed length out of their starting pitcher, Michael McGreevy was brilliant over six innings and left with the lead before getting saddled with a no decision. McGreevy allowed just five hits and one earned run over six innings, while striking out six – none of them bigger than the sweeper he threw with two on in the sixth to fan Randy Arozarena.
“We had runners on first and second and I knew that I was kind of at the end (of his outing) with a lefty on deck, so I really wanted to get Randy out,” McGreevy said. “After the first foul ball, I knew we didn’t want to get beat by the sinker – something hard. We took our shot with that (sweeper). I think it started maybe on the black (edges of the plate) and tailed off. Thankfully, it was my best sweeper of the day. Big situation and I was happy to choose the right pitches.”
A third straight rough outing for Romero
Romero, one of the Cards’ most reliable relievers for a third straight season, didn’t fare quite as well in a big situation. Romero didn’t allow an earned run over his first 10 outings of the season, but he was hit hard for a third straight appearance. He allowed three earned runs against the Astros on April 19, two runs in Saturday’s loss to the Mariners and one run on Refsnyder’s solo shot on Sunday.
“It’s part of being a reliever and he’s mentally tough and he’ll get over this,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s been a guy who has been really good for us. Those (relievers) are going to have their ups and downs and have outings like that. (Refsnyder) was off the bench and he’s in the league for one reason – because he hits lefties – and he did exactly that.”
The Cards got homers from Nathan Church and Wetherholt to put themselves in position to end their losing streak at four games. Wetherholt, a native of tiny Mars, Pa., who is headed to face the Pirates for the first time over the next four days, hit a 1-1 fastball 375 feet for his fifth big league homer.
Church, who homered twice and robbed a homer on Saturday, struck again on Sunday by lacing a low-and-in changeup for a 407-foot shot that gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.
“It definitely sucks to get swept, but it feels like the script could have been swept completely and we could have won all three of these ball games,” said Church, whose 110.1 mph shot off the bat was the hardest-hit ball of his MLB career. “We’ll just take it into tomorrow and try to win a game.”
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