ST. LOUIS — Mike Shildt had talked before Wednesday’s Cardinals game with the Philadelphia Phillies that his young righthander, Johan Oviedo, making his first start of the season, would “embrace the moment.”
In reality, Oviedo crushed it for the first four innings, striking out seven, walking one and giving up just two hits. But, one out away from a possible win in his final inning, the fifth, Oviedo threw a bad slider to former Cardinal Brad Miler, who hammered it over the right-field wall for a two-run homer that tied the score.
For the most part, Oviedo had been in control. Cardinals lefthanded reliever Genesis Cabrera was quite the opposite. His first pitch in the sixth, at 97 mph, hit Bryce Harper in the cheekbone, knocking Harper's helmet from his head and forcing the Phillies’ star out of the game, Cabrera’s next pitch at 95 mph nailed Didi Gregorius in the ribs.
James Hoye’s umpiring crew gathered and issued warnings to both benches, starting with the Phillies, which did not make Phils manager Joe Girardi, who already was on the field, any too happy and Girardi was ejected.
However, Andrew McCutchen then singled home Harper’s pinch runner and the Phillies ran it out for a 5-3 win at Busch Stadium over the Cardinals, whose reputation hasn’t been helped in the past few days by two opposing hitters being hit in the head (also Cincinnati’s Jonathan India) and another in the ribs.
There was no immediate word on the condition of Harper, who walked off the field with an athletic trainer almost immediately upon regaining his feet and went to a local hospital for evaluation.
The Phillies nicked Oviedo for a run in the second on a double by Gregorius and a single by Andrew Knapp.
But the Cardinals’ Paul DeJong worked a full-count walk from Phils starter Vince Velasquez to open the home second and Tyler O’Neill rifled a Velasquez slider 420 feet to left and the lead had changed hands. Half of O’Neill’s eight hits at that point had been home runs including three of his past four.
Oviedo, displaying a good curveball to go with his 96 mph fastball, fanned Harper in a perfect third inning, a frame highlighted by a sliding catch from right fielder Justin Williams on Rhys Hoskins. Oviedo had five strikeouts through three.
Then, Paul Goldschmidt unloaded another tape-measure homer, cranking a Velasquez four-seamer 431 feet to almost dead center with two out in the Cardinals’ third. Goldschmidt’s third homer made the score 3-1.
Oviedo had his third perfect inning out of four in the fourth piling up two more strikeouts, getting Gregorius on a curveball and McCutchen on a slider.
But Oviedo walked leadoff hitter Knapp in the fifth. After Nick Maton flied out, Velasquez sacrificed and Oviedo fell behind Miller at 2-0 with the second pitch seemingly crossing up catcher Andrew Knizner, who visited Oviedo near the mound to check signals.
Knizner never caught the next pitch, which was Miller’s second homer of the season.
Tommy Edman singled in the Cardinals’ fifth and Goldschmidt drew a walk from reliever Brandon Kintzler with one out. But Kintzler got Nolan Arenado to fish for an outside slider and induced DeJong to bounce into a forceout.
After going ahead in the sixth, Philadelphia tacked on a run in the seventh against Tyler Webb, who did well to get out of the sixth-inning jam left him by Cabrera, who was yanked after McCutchen’s hit. Pinch hitter Alec Bohm doubled as a pinch hitter and came around on a sacrifice fly by Gregorius off reliever Ryan Helsley, who inherited a bases-loaded, one-out spot from Webb.
Cabrera hit four batters in 22 1/3 innings in 2020, including Pittburgh’s Kevin Newman, who suffered a crushed nerve in his left knee when hit by a 97 mph pitch.
Cardinals lefthander Andrew Miller, who hadn’t appeared in a game in 10 days, relieved for a perfect eighth, getting help from second baseman Edman, who made a lunging, sliding grab on Knapp’s blooper headed for grass in short right field.
