ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals first series loss of the season came at the hands of the Atlanta Braves on a night when they collected 10 hits, but only scratched out just one run against a rookie pitcher and Illinois native in Dylan Dodd.
Willson Contreras’ fourth-inning RBI single provided all the scoring for the Cardinals in a 4-1 loss to the Braves in front of an announced crowd of 36,501 at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night. They’ll try to avoid a sweep in the three-game set when the teams wrap up the series and the Cardinals wrap up their season-opening home stand on Wednesday afternoon.
The Cardinals logged their fifth consecutive game with 10 or more hits to open a season, the fourth time in franchise history with five or more games of at least 10 hits. It’s the first time since 1966.
The Cardinals got the tying run to the plate in the seventh and eighth innings, but weren’t able to convert.
Riley gets it started … again
For the second straight night, Braves third baseman Austin Riley began the scoring with a first-inning home run. Monday night, he blasted a 473-foot solo homer off of Jake Woodford to left-center field.
Riley followed that up with a two-run 410-foot smash to left-center field in the first inning off of Steven Matz on Tuesday night. Riley took advantage of a 3-2 changeup left over the heart of the plate and elevated.
Riley, who earned his first All-Star selection last season, set career highs for home runs (38) and doubles (39) last season. He also registered 93 RBIs and 90 runs scored.
Similarly to Monday night, Riley’s home run was the first but not the last allowed by the Cardinals’ starter. Against Woodford, Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna Jr. hit homers in the second inning.
Tuesday night, Matz gave up a second-inning home run to Orlando Arcia on a sinker that stayed up and over the middle of the plate.
The two home runs off of Matz gave the Braves a 3-0 lead by the end of the second inning.
An old battery mate haunts Matz
The Braves scored in each of the first three innings. Designated hitter Travis d’Arnaud started the third inning with a double into the right field corner. He then advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out RBI single by Sean Murphy, the first RBI for Murphy as a Brave.
Matz and d’Arnaud were both members of the New York Mets organization from 2013-2019 and teammates in the majors from 2015-19. When Matz made his lone World Series start in 2015 for the Mets against the Kansas City Royals, d’Arnaud started at catcher.
Matz hadn’t faced his former teammate in a regular-season game until Tuesday. Whether the familiarity played a role or not, d’Arnaud went 3 for 3 against Matz, including singles in the first and fifth innings to go with the lead off double in the third.
Rookie hurler stifles Cardinals
Dodd, who pitched at Southeast Missouri State University, made his major-league debut roughly 4 ½ hours from his birthplace in Elk Grove, Illinois.
Dodd held the Cardinals without a run through the first three innings, one full time through the batting order, and recorded his first career strikeout against perennial All-Star Nolan Arenado in the second inning.
Dodd, 24, is a former Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year (2021). He got swings and misses on all three of his pitch types — four-seam fastball, slider and changeup. His fastball reached as high as 94.9 mph, and he threw a high volume of strikes. He finished his outing having thrown 73 pitches (52 strikes).
Dodd held the Cardinals to one run on six hits in five innings. He didn’t walk a batter and he struck out three.
The Cardinals’ only run against Dodd came in the fourth inning when Dylan Carlson hit a one-out single, moved to second on an infield single by Paul Goldschmidt that deflected off of Dodd’s glove. Carlson scored on an RBI single by Willson Contreras with two outs. Contreras got thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.
Dodd escaped a situation with two men on in the fifth inning. He gave up back-to-back two out hits to Juan Yepez (single) and Taylor Motter (double), but he got Tommy Edman to fly out on a 3-2 pitch after Edman had fouled off consecutive pitches.
Acuna’s arm stops momentum
Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. cut down Tyler O’Neill attempting to score from second base on a single by pinch hitter Brendan Donovan to end the seventh inning.
The Cardinals put two men on against Braves reliever Joe Jimenez courtesy of singles by O’Neill and rookie Jordan Walker. After Juan Yepez hit a fly ball to left field that Eddie Rosario made a sliding catch to haul in, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol called upon the left-handed hitting Donovan with two outs and two men on with the score 4-1.
Braves manager Brian Snitker countered by going to left-handed reliever Dylan Lee. Donovan delivered with a line drive over the infield into right field.
O’Neill, who ranked among the 97th percentile of all major leaguers in sprint speed last season, did not seem to get up to full speed as he rounded third and got thrown out decidedly at the plate. That brought the inning to an end with the top of the Cardinals lineup due up.
