The St. Louis Cardinals had plenty of baserunners Thursday. They also hit several balls to the warning track.
But the Cardinals didn’t have much to show for it, falling 3-2 to the Colorado Rockies in the opener of their seven-game homestand.
St. Louis went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
The Cardinals, who have lost five of their last seven games, will try to get back on track Friday night in the second contest of a four-game series with the Rockies.
St. Louis hit 16 homers on its recent nine-game trip, but its lineup came up short Thursday.
“You look at this, and we only scored two, and it feels like we should have done a much better job against them,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.
Paul Goldschmidt launched a fly ball to the wall in center field, Nolan Gorman hit one to the wall in left-center field, Ivan Herrera hit a deep fly to left, and Matt Carpenter saw his bid for a homer denied by outfielder Michael Toglia.
“It’s a different game when those four opportunities didn’t go our way,” Marmol said.
The Cardinals on Friday will turn to right-hander Lance Lynn (2-3, 3.23 ERA), who has been plagued by poor fielding by teammates in his last three starts. He has allowed eight runs, but only one earned, on 10 hits and five walks in 16 innings.
He struck out 14 in that span while subtracting nearly a full run off his ERA. Lynn is 5-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 10 career starts against Colorado.
The Rockies, who snapped a five-game losing streak Thursday, will start former Cardinal Austin Gomber (1-3, 3.06 ERA) on Friday.
The left-hander allowed three runs on five hits, including two homers, in three innings while losing 4-0 Sunday to the Los Angeles Dodgers in his most recent outing.
Gomber posted an 0.68 ERA in four May starts. He skipped a start to regain strength, then struggled to find his former form against the Dodgers.
“Obviously, not as good of a rhythm as I was in with the longer layoff, but I felt good,” Gomber said Sunday. “I felt like I had the ability to make good pitches, and I didn’t make them today. For whatever reason — it may be the layoff, the lineup — whatever it was, they just beat me today. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing.”
Gomber is 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA in four career appearances against the Cardinals, including two starts. Lynn, in turn, is 5-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 10 career starts vs. the Rockies.
Colorado put slugger Kris Bryant on the 10-day injured list with a left rib contusion ahead of this series. The Rockies recalled Toglia, who drove in a run and made the run-saving catch on Thursday.
“It’s been Kris’ hope to stay healthy and play — stay on the field,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It’s been interrupted often. And there’s frustration because Kris wants to play. These different types of injuries have cropped up.
“I don’t have a crystal ball. But hopefully, this will resolve itself relatively quickly and get him back on the field, get him back on the active roster and, hopefully, get some momentum performance-wise, where we see the real Kris Bryant.”
Bryant is batting only .186 this season, with two homers and 10 RBIs.
