Game 76: Pujols shows power in 5-3 win
June 27, 2009
Minnesota @ St. Louis (Game 2 of 3)
Kevin Slowey took to the mound on a hot afternoon in St. Louis to try for a league leading 11th win. Slowey wouldn’t make it past three innings, however, after giving up a pair of 2-run home runs to Albert Pujols in a 5-3 loss to the Cardinals.
Slowey had problems right from the start by giving a lead off double to Skip Schumaker before hanging a slider up for Pujols to send into left field. The Twins answered back in the second inning when Brendan Harris hit a two-out bases loaded blooper to left field that Chris Duncan couldn’t quite catch. The hit cleared the bases and gave the Twins a 3-2 lead.
With the lead, Slowey seemed to regain his composure on the mound and retired six batters in a row before giving up a single to Schumaker. Slowey would retire the next batter before Pujols hit another 2-run shot to left field. Slowey would load the bases and then hit Tyler Greene with a pitch in the helmet to allow another run to come in. Slowey would strike out the next batter but the damage was done with the Cardinals on top with a 5-3 lead.
Slowey wasn’t the only pitcher that was having issues either, as the Cardinals starter was removed from the game after 2 1/3 innings of work. Todd Wellemeyer labored slowly on the mound and threw 68 pitches to the 15 batters he faced before Tony LaRussa had seen enough and pulled him out of the game.
Bobby Keppel, a native of the St. Louis area, got to make his Twins debut and pitched four quality innings of relief and pitched out of a fourth inning jam after giving up a lead of triple to Joe Thurston. Keppel even picked off Thurston in the sixth after hitting him with a pitch. Keppel would give up a pair of hits with three walks and strike outs.
Even with Keppel keeping the game in check, the Twins were not able to score only reaching base three times on two singles and a walk. Ryan Franklin would close out the game for the Cardinals by retiring the side with three ground outs to the right side of the field.
Attendance: 42,986 (Busch Stadium)
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
