ST. LOUIS _ Because of injury (Miles Mikolas) and coronavirus (Carlos Martinez), the Cardinals have had to make a couple of changes to their rotation this season. Now, apparently, there is need for another course correction.
Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, who has had trouble throwing enough strikes lately, also had trouble keeping the ball in the park in the first inning _ which he didn't finish Friday night as the Indians walloped the Cardinals in a one-sided interleague fray at Busch Stadium, 14-2.
Ponce de Leon walked four in the first inning, which also was marked by a sizzler to the left of second baseman Kolten Wong, who has made that play before, and a second throwing error in two days by catcher Yadier Molina.
But mostly it was marked by all those walks and a 428-foot opposite-field homer to right center by Franmil Reyes, who drove in two teammates ahead of him and had five RBIs for the night. Ponce de Leon, who had affected a shaved-head look for the game, was gone after eight hitters with the protesters outside the stadium chanting, "No Justice. No Baseball."
Ponce de Leon had little of either Friday. Of a whopping 41 pitches Ponce de Leon threw in the inning, only 17 were strikes.
In four starts covering 12 1/3 innings this season, Ponce de Leon has walked 14 and given up 11 runs.
There are seven more doubleheaders ahead for the Cardinals in the last four-plus weeks and Ponce de Leon may yet resurface as a starter but his next outing would seem more likely out of the bullpen as a long reliever as the Cardinals have won just one of his four starts.
At least there was history, of a sort, for the Cardinals on defense.
The Indians threatened to tack on more in the second off reliever Jake Woodford, who gave up back-to-back singles to Cesar Hernandez and Jose Ramirez. But then Molina choreographed a highly unusual double play, with the second out being recorded by alert center fielder Dylan Carlson.
With runners at first and third, Francisco Lindor bounced to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who threw home. Hernandez stopped running once Molina got the ball and then backtracked toward third where Molina ran him down for the first out. The nine-time Gold Glover turned his attention to second where Ramirez had rounded the bag but not that far.
Ramirez, not worried about himself, waved Lindor, who was approaching second, back toward first, but forgot to reckon with Carlson covering second. Molina fired to Carlson, who tagged out Ramirez and the novel 3-2-8 (if you're scoring) was in the books.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that was the first such twin killing since the expansion era began in 1961. But from that high, came another low. Carlos Santana launched a two-run homer over the right-field wall and it was 6-0.
The Cardinals were getting their first look at 23-year-old right-hander Triston McKenzie, who was making his second big league start after missing the 2019 season with rotator cuff surgery. In that first start, he had fanned 10 Detroit Tigers and allowed only two hits in six innings.
The Cardinals had that many hits in the first inning as Paul DeJong and Brad Miller both singled although the Cardinals didn't score. Then they had their third hit in the second inning, a two-run homer to right by Dexter Fowler, who had called it an "honor" to be playing on Jackie Robinson Day.
Fowler now has homered against every other major league team, although he already had Cleveland on his list with two homers against the Indians in the 2016 World Series while he was playing for the Chicago Cubs.
That home run was one of the last highlights for the Cardinals.
Indians center fielder Tyler Naquin canceled those two runs delivered by Fowler when he homered off the right-field foul pole against reliever Junior Fernandez in the fifth after Reyes had opened the inning with a double.
Fernandez, just restored to the roster, didn't record an out in the sixth, allowing the first four hitters to reach base, including Reyes, who singled in two more runs. Left-hander Ricardo Sanchez relieved and allowed both inherited runners to score, leaving Fernandez with a line of one inning pitched with six runs on six hits allowed as the score mounted to 12-2.
Sanchez allowed two more of his own in the seventh.
The Cardinals have lost four of their past five games _ and were fortunate to win the one they did _ on this season-long 12-game home stand after winning four of the first five games on the stand
They again dipped under .500 at 11-12 and their pitching staff is likely to take on a different look in the bullpen, too, after Fernandez and Sanchez were extended and ineffective and Woodford logged 3 1/3 innings.
The Indians ran their winning streak on the road to nine as coach Sandy Alomar Jr., has replaced Terry Francona as manager as Francona recuperates from blood clot surgery.
Reyes had a double, single and home run but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, a triple shy of the cycle. Reyes never has had a triple anyway in 869 major-league at-bats.
