Red Sox Wrap: Cardinals Best Boston In Early Pitchers’ Duel

The Boston Red Sox dropped another contest, 7-2, to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night at Busch Stadium.

Boston moved to 22-24 with the loss while St. Louis improved to 20-25.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Boston and St. Louis combined for 16 runs Friday night. Saturday brought the tune of a pitchers’ duel for the Red Sox and Cardinals.

Home runs from Nolan Gorman and Rafael Devers, both doing so for the second-straight day, marked the only scoring into the seventh inning. Boston’s defense behind standout plays from Ceddanne Rafaela and Connor Wong helped keep runs off the board in the first and sixth innings.

The Cardinals responded with a sacrifice groundout to take the lead in the seventh inning. Rob Refsnyder provided the answer for the Red Sox, doing more damage against left-handed pitching in the eighth inning to tie the score.

Ultimately, four straight hits against Boston’s Justin Slaten led to a massive inning for the Cardinals that made the final difference, tallying five runs in the eighth.

Kutter Crawford responded well from his last outing, allowing just one earned run in 5 2/3 innings in a bounce-back start.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Cardinals wrap up their three-game series on Sunday afternoon in St. Louis. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. ET.

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3 early-season trades Padres must make

The Padres should seriously consider acquiring one of these players.

If you ever think you know what A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres are going to do next, seek immediate psychiatric help. This organization has zigged when all expected them to zag for two years running, with the trade for Luis Arraez at the start of May only furthering that pattern.

Yet what is very clear, from acquiring both Arraez and Dylan Cease, which they did just as they were leaving for South Korea to begin their season, is that the Padres are in no mood to throw in the towel in 2024. Despite constantly dancing around the .500 mark, this is a team with playoff ambitions, meaning there’s likely more work to be done for Preller and his staff.

With that knowledge in mind, today’s task is to make three realistic trades that could get the Padres out of limbo and firmly into the postseason. In addition to their high-priced talent performing better, they need lots of help on the pitching staff and could use an outfield bat as well. Here are three moves to address those shortcomings: