Tuesday’s Game Report: Diamondbacks 4, Cardinals 3

By Rob Rains

The Cardinals had held the Diamondbacks hitless in 17 at-bats with a runner in scoring position through the first 17 innings of this series at Busch Stadium.

The streak ended at the worst possible time for the Cardinals.

A double by Nolan Arenado broke up a scoreless game in the top of the ninth inning on Tuesday night, igniting a four-run inning that gave the Diamondbacks just enough runs to hold off a Cardinals’ rally in the bottom of the ninth.

The three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth included an RBI double by Alec Burleson, a sacrifice fly from Blaze Jordan and a run-scoring single by Jimmy Crooks, but with the potential tying run on first base, JJ Wetherholt struck out to end the game.

The loss spoiled the best start of Kyle Leahy’s career as he worked a career-high 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits.

Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:

At the plate: The Cardinals’ only scoring chance in the first eight innings was when they loaded the bases with one out in the sixth. Nelson Velazquez popped out, but when two Diamondbacks ran into each other, Ivan Herrera tried to score but was thrown out at the plate … They only had three hits before Lars Nootbaar led off the ninth with a double. After a single by Jose Fermin, Nootbaar scored on Burleson’s double. Jordan’s sacrifice fly scored Fermin and Burleson scored on the single by Crooks.

On the mound: The three hits off Leahy were all doubles, but he was able to strand two of the runners on third base and the other on second. He walked two and struck out three … Leahy was pulled after a one-out walk in the seventh and Max Rajcic stranded the runner and pitched around a leadoff walk in the eighth to keep the game scoreless going to the ninth … The rally in the ninth came against Matt Svanson, who allowed a single and walked a batter in front of Arenado’s double, then gave up a two-run single. The final run scored on a passed ball.

Key stat: The Cardinals played their fifth consecutive game at Busch Stadium without hitting a home run, a span that covers their last 150 at-bats.

Worth noting: The Cardinals scheduled a press conference for 1 p.m. on Wednesday to announce “important news related to ownership and organization leadership.” … Masyn Winn was out of the lineup on Tuesday night because of left thumb irritation. His status was said to be day-to-day … The Cardinals will receive either a player to be named later or cash from Tampa Bay in compensation for the trade that sent reliever Chris Roycroft to the Rays on Tuesday. He was assigned to Triple A Durham … Nolan Gorman was in the lineup for Memphis for the first time since he was sent to the Triple A club last week. He struck out in his first four at-bats in the Redbirds’ game at Jacksonville but then delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the 10^th.

Up next: Matthew Liberatore will get the start on Wednesday night in the third game of the four-game series.

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