Arenad-NO!: Cardinals 7, Phillies 6

You just knew that today was going to be eventful. In case there was any doubt, Kyle Gibson erased that in the first inning when, with two outs and a runner on first, he gave up a home run.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

As Gibson got the third out and trudged off the mound, the Cardinals had a five run lead and hope and belief in the Phillies was low. Meekly going down in the first inning of their own, that hope led to people more or less bailing on the team and looking for other ways to start their evening.

Then a funny thing happened. The Phillies started to come back.

While Gibson remained in the game and got through three more innings unscathed, the chipping away at the Cardinals’ lead began. It started in the second inning when Alec Bohm tripled, then trotted home on a sacrifice fly from Matt Vierling. Odubel Herrera singled and went to third on a Yairo Munoz double, bringing up Bryson Stott. Stott would single and the score was cut to 5-2.

In the third, still facing Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore, J.T. Realmuto hit a one out single, scampered to third on a single by Bohm, then scored on another sacrifice fly from Vierling. Herrera would single again, sending Bohm to third for Munoz yet again. And yet again, Munoz would come through, doubling off of reliever Zack Thompson and scoring both runners, tying the game up at five.

It stayed that way until the fifth when the Cardinals would re-take the lead. Gibson was still in, but gave up a double to Paul Goldschmidt, hit Arenado with a pitch, then walked Nolan Gorman to load the bases. That would summon Rob Thomson from the dugout to bring in Corey Knebel to get out of the jam. Knebel got the first two outs to ratchet up the tension, but then walked Lars Nootbaar with two outs and made the score 6-5.

In the sixth inning, Stott led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, then to third when Rhys Hoskins had an infield single. Nick Castellanos would follow with a single that drove home Stott and tied the game at six.

The Phillies’ bullpen would actually do a respectable job at keeping the game that way through the next few innings. Over the past week or two, the bullpen has been more than good, several of them experiencing some of the best stretches of their career. In the eighth, Brad Hand got the first two hitters out before walking Brenden Donovan to bring up Paul Goldschmidt. That meant it was time for Seranthony Dominguez. Dominguez promptly struck Goldschmidt out, but a decision had to be made.

Would Dominguez come back out for the ninth or would Thomson go with someone else, the options down to really only Jeurys Familia?

Dominguez it would be.

Against Nolan Arenado, who did this.

Facing Ryan Helsley in the ninth, he also trying to complete a multi-inning appearance, the Phillies were unable to muster anything else against his elite combination of high octane fastballs and slow curveballs and the game went to St. Louis.

It was a grinder for the Cardinals, a game that seemed to drag for much of the middle innings, but one that the Phillies really should have won. They’ll go back at it tomorrow night on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.