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After another gut-punch loss where the Cardinals were seemingly cruising only to run into THAT BIG INNING again, I think it’s time to acknowledge there is a problem.
The Cardinals have allowed five or more runs in one inning fourteen times this season, including last night’s fifth inning from Chris Carpenter.
In terms of ranking such feats in MLB, that puts them in a dead heat with the Minnesota Twins (50-58) and only one behind the Chicago Cubs (43-65) who have allowed fifteen such innings. Ew.
The culprits? (Please note that the list below does not include Carpenter’s outing last night, and includes a double-dip by Jaime Garcia.)
| Rk | Player | Date | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | Pit | Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1&2 | Jaime Garcia | 2011-05-28 | COL | L 4-15 | GS-4 ,L | 3.1 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 107 | 63 |
| 3 | Jake Westbrook | 2011-04-02 | SDP | L 3-11 | GS-5 ,L | 4.1 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 89 | 52 |
| 4 | Jake Westbrook | 2011-07-06 | CIN | L 8-9 | GS-5 | 4.1 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 70 | 42 |
| 5 | Kyle McClellan | 2011-05-30 | SFG | L 3-7 | GS-4 ,L | 4.0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 75 | 45 |
| 6 | Jake Westbrook | 2011-04-20 (1) | WSN | L 6-8 | GS-3 ,L | 3.0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 68 | 40 |
| 7 | Kyle Lohse | 2011-07-30 | CHC | W 13-5 | GS-5 ,W | 5.0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 69 | 45 |
| 8 | Kyle Lohse | 2011-07-03 | TBR | L 3-8 | GS-6 ,L | 5.1 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 82 | 55 |
| 9 | Kyle McClellan | 2011-07-02 | TBR | L 1-5 | GS-6 ,L | 5.2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 85 | 54 |
| 10 | Jaime Garcia | 2011-06-25 | TOR | L 3-6 | GS-7 ,L | 7.0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 95 | 54 |
| 11 | Miguel Batista | 2011-06-14 | WSN | L 6-8 | 7-7 ,L | 0.2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 14 |
| 12 | Maikel Cleto | 2011-06-02 | SFG | L 7-12 | 7-8 | 2.0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 50 | 29 |
| 13 | Jake Westbrook | 2011-05-11 | CHC | L 4-11 | GS-3 ,L | 2.1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 57 | 31 |
—–
For those keeping score at home, the standings on the above list are:
- Westbrook, 4
- Garcia, 3
- McClellan, 2
- Lohse, 2
- Batista, 1
- Cleto, 1
- Carpenter, 1
So the usual suspects are there, including Westbrook, who has allowed a five-or-more run inning in almost one of five starts this season. Interesting to see Garcia on there three times, as good as he’s been, but to be fair at least he doubled up in that one atrocious start.
Some other points of note:
- There are instances of five-run innings on the list in which one only had one earned run, and another zero earned runs. Sure, official scorekeepers don’t have the integrity that they used to, but this is the Cardinals – chances are good that was just bad defense (or at least started that way).
- The Cardinals are 10-36 when allowing five or more runs in a GAME, much less one inning. They’re only 1-13 in those contests, and even then only because those lovable losers from the North Side allowed a bigger inning.
- The Cardinals’ largest comeback this season was from five runs down.
Yes, I know many teams would struggle to win if they allowed five runs in one inning, but we’re not talking about a team that is league average in supplying those innings right now. The way this team gives away runs while in the field then similarly giving them away with double plays while at the plate, it’s hard to get past numbers like this when you start looking at the underlying issues.
Anyone still think the Cards didn’t need starting pitching at the trade deadline?
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