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Rick Ankiel and a last, boozy hurrah as a winning starter

Posted in Games, Pitchers on March 10, 2014| 2 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 8, 2019)

The last win for Rick Ankiel as a big-league starter was an unexpected gem. Years later, he revealed he did it while drinking vodka before and during the game.

After an erratic spring training performance (19 walks, 12 strikeouts in 9.1 exhibition innings), Ankiel was paired in his first start of the 2001 season against Diamondbacks ace Randy Johnson on April 8 at Phoenix.

“Naturally, I have a little apprehension,” Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before the game.

In his 2017 book “The Phenom,” Ankiel said, “I was scared to death.”

Ankiel had a terrific rookie season (11 wins, 194 strikeouts in 175 innings) as a starter for the 2000 Cardinals followed by a meltdown (9 wild pitches, 11 walks in four innings) in the postseason against the Braves and Mets.

He entered the 2001 season with the same anxiety issues that plagued him in the 2000 postseason.

Missile launches

Duncan had a secret plan. Rather than have Ankiel warm up in the bullpen that day, he instructed the skittish left-hander to throw in an indoor hitting tunnel at Bank One Ballpark. “I wanted him to get ready in as secluded an atmosphere as possible,” Duncan told Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch.

An hour before Ankiel had to go onto the field, he asked teammate Darryl Kile to bring him a bottle of vodka, Ankiel said in his book.

According to Ankiel, Kile brought him the vodka and said, “Do what you got to do, kid. I understand.”

While his teammates were doing warmups on the field, Ankiel said he took “a few long pulls” from the vodka bottle while in the clubhouse. He said he poured the remainder of the booze into a water bottle and carried it into the dugout.

Ankiel warmed up on sloped carpeting rather than on a mound. “He was throwing missiles to me,” said Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny. “He was throwing 100 mph fastballs and hitting the target. You could tell he was locked in, ready to go.”

The game had the potential to be a mismatch. Johnson was the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner. The Diamondbacks had a potent lineup. St. Louis was without two of its top players, ailing Mark McGwire and Jim Edmonds, and had utilitymen Eli Marrero at first base and Craig Paquette in left field.

Resurrected Rick

The game began ominously for Ankiel and the Cardinals.

In the first inning, Matt Williams connected for a two-run home run off a low fastball from Ankiel. In the second, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with one out. Two of those runners reached on walks.

Ankiel escaped the jam when he struck out Tony Womack and Reggie Sanders.

“I was like a nervous father,” said Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty. “I was living and dying on every pitch.”

Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Mikalsz wrote, “Ankiel settled in and became the golden child again.”

When he got to the dugout, Ankiel said, he grabbed the water bottle and took “a few squirts of vodka, then a few more.”

“I laughed at the absurdity of it and, while locked in a battle for my nerves, managed to have a good time playing baseball,” Ankiel said in his book.

After the Cardinals scored four off Johnson in the third, Ankiel protected the lead by retiring the next nine batters in a row.

Pure poetry

When Ankiel walked Luis Gonzalez, the leadoff batter in the sixth, with his 100th pitch, manager Tony La Russa lifted him for Gene Stechschulte, with St. Louis ahead, 9-2. “Electric stuff,” La Russa said of Ankiel’s pitches.

The Cardinals cruised to a 9-4 victory. The line for Ankiel: 5 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, 0 wild pitches. Boxscore

Wrote Miklasz: “Ankiel defeated Johnson, but mostly conquered himself, rediscovering the form that had scouts writing sonnets about him.”

It was Ankiel’s last major-league win as a starter. He made five more starts for the 2001 Cardinals and mostly reverted to his wild and ineffective form of the 2000 postseason. Ankiel finished 1-2 with a 7.50 ERA for the 2001 Cardinals.

His last pitching performances were five relief appearances, with a win, for the 2004 Cardinals before he converted to outfielder.

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Pitching or hitting, Rick Ankiel was marvel and mystery

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on March 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

(Updated Jan. 9, 2019)

When Rick Ankiel confirmed on March 5, 2014, he had retired as a player at 34, it was his second retirement announcement.

Nine years earlier, in March 2005, Ankiel, 25, announced at the Cardinals’ spring training site in Jupiter, Fla., he was retiring as a pitcher and would seek to transform himself into an outfielder.

At the time, the idea seemed to be preposterous _ almost as preposterous as if someone would have suggested in 2000 that the rookie phenom of the Cardinals suddenly would lose his ability to throw strikes during the postseason, igniting his downfall as a pitcher.

After all, the last players to make their big-league debuts as pitchers before earning significant play in the majors as position players were Bobby Darwin (1962-77) and Willie Smith (1963-71), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Ankiel persevered, hit 32 home runs in the minor leagues in 2007, got promoted to the Cardinals in August that year and belted a three-run homer in his first game back in the big leagues as a position player. Boxscore

Feel-good story

In his first 23 games after being promoted to the 2007 Cardinals, Ankiel hit .358 with nine home runs and 29 RBI.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called Ankiel “the sport’s feel-good story of 2007.”

Within 24 hours, following an all-too-familiar-pattern, Ankiel went from being marvel to mystery.

On Thursday afternoon, Sept. 6, 2007, Ankiel capped his comeback with a remarkable performance against the Pirates at St. Louis. Batting second in the order, Ankiel was 3-for-4 with two home runs, a career-high seven RBI, four runs scored and a walk in a 16-4 Cardinals victory.

“Even his foul balls down the left-field line are deep,” Pirates pitcher Matt Morris, Ankiel’s friend and former Cardinals teammate, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There’s nothing lazy about his swing.”

Ankiel grounded into a double play in the first inning, though the Post-Gazette reported Ankiel hit the ball so hard he “would have had another hit but for a spectacular stop by second baseman Freddy Sanchez.”

In the second, Ankiel launched a three-run home run off Bryan Bullington, making his first big-league start. After drawing a walk and scoring in the fourth, Ankiel smoked a two-run homer off John Grabow in the fifth. He received curtain calls from the appreciative fans after both home runs.

Ankiel added a two-run double in the sixth against Dave Davidson, making his big-league debut. With St. Louis ahead 16-3, manager Tony La Russa removed Ankiel. Boxscore

In the seven-game homestand, Ankiel batted .440 with five home runs and 19 RBI.

“He’s been relentless every at-bat,” La Russa said.

Said Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan: “He’s been putting up Nintendo numbers.”

Right or wrong

Imagine the emotional swing the following morning, Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, when the New York Daily News reported Ankiel in 2004 had received eight shipments of human growth hormone from an Orlando-based pharmacy through a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., clinic.

Ankiel was attempting to recover from an arm injury in 2004. Major League Baseball didn’t ban the use of human growth hormone by players until 2005. Said Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty: “There was no violation of Major League Baseball rules. There was no violation of any laws.”

The report, though, led some to question whether performance-enhancing drugs were aiding Ankiel in his storybook success with the 2007 Cardinals. “I’m a little surprised at the unfairness of some people who are rushing to conclusions before getting all the information,” La Russa said. “I don’t think he did anything wrong.”

In his 2017 book “The Phenom, Ankiel admitted he used human growth hormone from January 2004 to December 2004 to help him recover from elbow surgery.

“I took human growth hormone because it was, by Major League Baseball standards, legal,” Ankiel said in his book. “I told no one. In 2005, when Major League Baseball banned human growth hormone, I stopped using.

“I felt I’d done nothing illegal … The fact that I was not in trouble legally or, ultimately, with the league seemed lost on everyone.”

In his first at-bat after news of the human growth hormone shipments, Ankiel singled. He went hitless in his next 19 at-bats. He hit just two home runs in his final 24 games of 2007, then returned in 2008 to hit 25.

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Battle of wills: Bob Gibson, Gene Mauch play hardball

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on March 5, 2014| 4 Comments »

(Updated May 4, 2020)

In 17 years with the Cardinals, Bob Gibson hit 102 batters with pitches. In 1,489 plate appearances, Gibson was hit by a pitch just eight times.

Three of those times, Gibson was hit by Phillies pitchers playing for manager Gene Mauch. Two of those incidents involved Dennis Bennett. The last one led to Gibson being ejected and Bennett calling the Cardinals ace a “chicken” and a “coward.”

Mauch and Gibson were intense competitors. In a June 1962 game, Gibson was hit by a pitch from Bennett, a Phillies rookie. Three months later, the Phillies’ Art Mahaffey plunked Gibson with a pitch. Mauch, in his third season as Phillies manager, was trying to instill toughness in a team that lost 107 of 154 games in 1961. Gibson, in his second full season in the Cardinals’ rotation in 1962, was establishing himself as a consistent winner.

By 1964, both the Cardinals and Phillies were contenders. On May 4, 1964, the Phillies went into St. Louis tied with the Giants for first place in the National League. The Cardinals were 2.5 games behind.

Bennett was matched against Gibson in the series opener. In the second inning, Curt Flood led off with a home run. “After Flood hit the homer, I made up my mind somebody was going down,” Bennett told the Philadelphia Daily News.

Bennett delivered a knockdown pitch to the next batter, Julian Javier.

“They were digging in on me and I had to protect myself,” Bennett said to The Sporting News. “… I missed Javier by just a couple of inches or they might have had to carry him out.”

Dispensing medicine

First up for the Phillies in the third was Bennett. Gibson’s first pitch to him was high and tight. Bennett didn’t move but glared at Gibson, according to United Press International. Gibson’s second delivery, another high fastball, backed Bennett away from the plate. Bennett moved toward the mound before he was intercepted by plate umpire Doug Harvey, who issued a warning to Gibson.

Bennett told the Philadelphia Daily News, “When Gibson threw those pitches five feet over my head, I yelled out at him, ‘If you can’t come any closer than that, come in and get me.’ If he was going to put me down, he should have put me down.”

“Sure, I dusted him off,” Gibson told the Associated Press, “but he threw right at Javier’s head. Bennett doesn’t have that bad control. I just wanted to let Bennett know I had to protect our batters.”

Gibson also told United Press International that Mauch “is always telling his pitchers to throw at the hitters. They deserve to get some of their own medicine once in a while.”

In the bottom half of the third, Ken Boyer hit a two-run triple off Bennett. Jack Baldschun relieved and yielded a RBI-single to Flood, increasing the Cardinals’ lead to 5-1.

An inning later, Gibson batted with one out and the bases empty. Baldschun’s first pitch nearly clipped Gibson’s ankle.

In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said Mauch “knew that I was at the boiling point. He had been agitating me all night from the bench, trying his best to get me angrier and angrier.”

Flipping out

Aiming higher, Baldschun hit Gibson in the thigh with the next pitch. Gibson flipped the bat underhanded toward the pitcher. Baldschun caught it with his glove hand. Harvey immediately ejected Gibson.

Said Harvey: “He had a lethal weapon out there. I’m happy to say Gibson did not throw the bat violently, but he did throw it to the mound.”

“I wasn’t trying to hit him with the bat, but I was mad, hurt and just plain disgusted with the whole business,” Gibson said. “I tossed the bat just the way hitters do when they’re disgusted after striking out.”

In his book, Gibson said, “Without thinking, I flung my bat in Baldschun’s direction … Naturally, I was ejected, which is exactly what Mauch was counting on.”

Said Mauch to the Philadelphia Daily News: “He lost his composure.”

Bennett told United Press International, “Gibson’s nothing but a chicken … If he wants to fight, he ought to put up his fists instead of throwing the bat … That’s a coward’s way out if I ever saw one.”

Said Baldschun of his pitch to Gibson: “I figure he had one brush coming.”

Mauch told The Sporting News, “I’ve been popping off all over the country about how great a competitor Gibson is, but he didn’t show me much this time.”

The Cardinals responded quickly and effectively.

On the first pitch Baldschun threw after Gibson was ejected, Carl Warwick homered, scoring Jerry Buchek, who ran for Gibson, and extending the St. Louis lead to 7-1.

Last laugh

The Cardinals cruised to a 9-2 victory. Roger Craig got the win, pitching five innings in relief of Gibson. The ejection was costly to Gibson _ and not for the $100 he was fined. He finished the regular season with 19 wins. If he hadn’t flipped the bat, he would have remained in the game and qualified for the win with another inning pitched. Adding that win would have given him his first 20-win season. Boxscore

“Six pitchers reached for their gloves in the dugout when Gibson was thrown out with that lead,” Cardinals pitcher Curt Simmons said.

Cardinals manager Johnny Keane was upset with Mauch. “Why throw at anybody?” Keane said to the Philadelphia Daily News. “He wouldn’t want to be up there with Gibson throwing at him. Gibson could kill somebody. They’d be sorry to see a man lying dead at home plate.”

Gibson and the Cardinals got their revenge against Mauch and the Phillies. In first place on Sept. 20, 1964, and leading the Cardinals and Reds by 6.5 games with 12 to play, the Phillies went into a 10-game losing streak. St. Louis clinched the pennant by beating the Mets on the last day of the season, with Gibson getting the win in relief. Gibson went on to win Games 5 and 7 of the 1964 World Series against the Yankees and was named winner of the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.

Mauch managed for 26 seasons in the big leagues, never winning a pennant.

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Why Cardinals thought they had an ace in Vic Raschi

Posted in Games, Pitchers, Trades on February 19, 2014| 4 Comments »

(Updated July 1, 2024)

Desperate for pitching, the 1954 Cardinals settled on a simple solution: Raid the Yankees, winners of five consecutive World Series titles.

The strategy backfired, but the Cardinals at least succeeded in electrifying the fan base and creating buzz throughout the major leagues.

On Feb. 23, 1954, the Cardinals made bids to pry two right-handed aces, Vic Raschi and Allie Reynolds, from the Yankees. They got Raschi but failed to land Reynolds.

The acquisition of Raschi, one of the top pitchers in the American League, was considered a bold move by the Cardinals. Though some were skeptical about why the Yankees were willing to part with Raschi, many believed the deal vaulted the Cardinals from also-rans to National League pennant contenders.

Raschi, 35, had a regular-season record of 120-50 in eight years with the Yankees. He was 5-3 with a 2.24 ERA in six World Series (1947 and 1949-53) for New York. Reynolds, 37, was 118-56 from 1947-53 with the Yankees. He was 7-2 with a 2.79 ERA in six World Series for them.

Big spenders

In 1954, the Cardinals and Yankees both trained in St. Petersburg, Fla. While there, Cardinals owner Gussie Busch saw Dan Topping, a co-owner of the Yankees, and asked whether the Yankees could spare “any kind of right-hander with a fair chance,” The Sporting News reported.

Busch had deep pockets and a desire to spend. Meanwhile, several Yankees were feuding with general manager George Weiss over contract offers for the 1954 season. The Yankees were willing to dump some of their aging, high-priced talent.

According to The Sporting News, Busch “was astonished” when he found the Yankees willing to deal. Busch offered $85,000 for Raschi and $100,000 for Reynolds, according to John Carmichael of the Chicago Tribune.

First, both pitchers needed to clear waivers through the American League in order for the transactions to be completed with the Cardinals. Raschi went unclaimed; Reynolds didn’t. When the Indians claimed him, the Yankees pulled Reynolds off the waiver list and kept him for the 1954 season.

Surprise shake-up

Raschi was at the beach when Bill Greene, a photographer for the New York World-Telegram and Sun, found him and informed him of the trade.

Greene: “You’ve been sold to the Cardinals.”

Raschi: “No, you’re kidding.”

Raschi, who was 13-6 for the 1953 Yankees, wanted a salary for the 1954 season of $40,000, the same amount he was paid in 1951 (when he won 21 for the third season in a row) and in 1952 (when he won 16). Weiss offered $34,000.

“This club is complacent … Raschi’s attitude was like so many other attitudes on this club,” Weiss said.

Almost no one saw the deal coming. Wrote The Sporting News: “Imagine the amazement of the writers when (it was) announced the New York club had sold Raschi to the Cardinals.”

Frank Lane, general manager of the White Sox, thought Raschi was in decline. “As short as the Yankees are on pitchers, don’t you think they would have kept him if he possibly could have helped them? Guys the Yankees get rid of usually are through,” Lane said.

Most, though, thought the Cardinals helped themselves. The 1953 Cardinals had finished at 83-71 _ 22 games behind the National League champion Dodgers.

_ Steve O’Neill, Phillies manager: “Before this deal, we figured we had only Brooklyn and Milwaukee to beat. But now we have the Cards as well.”

_ Leo Durocher, Giants manager: “This tightens up our race some more. I know Raschi is a great competitor.”

_ Casey Stengel, Yankees manager: “(Raschi) certainly wasn’t sold for anything he did on the field. They must have been awfully sore at him in the front office.”

_ Bob Broeg, St. Louis writer: “The acquisition of Vic Raschi was hailed from ballpark front office to tavern backroom … Raschi considerably strengthened the club’s pennant chances.”

_ The Sporting News: “If Raschi wins for the Cards, and the Bombers fail, there will be a storm over the Bronx which will rock (Yankee) Stadium to its very foundations.”

In his autobiography, “The Mick,” Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle said, “They called Raschi the Springfield Rifle. He was a battler, always pushing himself to the limit of his abilities and probably beyond, playing the bulk of his career on damaged knees.”

Ace folds

Raschi heightened expectations, saying, “I expect to have three or four more seasons of top-flight pitching … I’ll be disappointed if I don’t win 20 games.”

Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky said he’d be pleased if Raschi matched the 13 wins he had in 1953. “I’m sure he can do that, at least,” Stanky said.

Raschi won his first five decisions for the 1954 Cardinals, including a shutout of the Giants on May 19 at New York. Raschi held the Giants to five singles, two by Willie Mays, in a 3-0 Cardinals triumph. Boxscore The win gave Raschi a career mark of 125-50, a .714 winning percentage.

When Raschi shut out the Giants again, on a three-hitter on July 29 Boxscore, his record was 8-5, but an assortment of ailments, including back pain, plagued Raschi in the final two months. He lost his last four decisions and finished the 1954 season at 8-9 with a 4.73 ERA in 30 games.

Raschi ranked second on the 1954 Cardinals in starts (29), innings pitched (179) and strikeouts (73). He was 3-0 with 1.85 ERA against the Giants, who won the pennant that season, but Raschi didn’t deliver at the level he and the Cardinals expected. St. Louis led the league in batting (.281) but was seventh in pitching (4.50 ERA). The Cardinals slumped to 72-82 _ 25 games behind the Giants.

At Cardinals spring training in 1955, Raschi was limited to five innings pitched. He made one start in the regular season, got shelled by the Reds and was released the next day.

“I always admired Vic as a great competitor,” Stanky told The Sporting News, “and he proved himself a man, a real man, the way he took this unfortunate news, but we’ve got to stake our chances on younger pitchers who have shown promise.”

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Why Lonnie Smith was a nemesis of Nolan Ryan

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on February 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

(Updated March 30, 2026)

In a 27-year Hall of Fame pitching career in the majors, Nolan Ryan held opponents to a .204 batting average and a .307 on-base percentage. So what Lonnie Smith did against him is amazing.

A right-handed batter, Smith has the best career batting average and best career on-base percentage of any hitter with at least 30 plate appearances against Ryan.

Smith hit . 500 (12-for-24) with five walks versus Ryan. He also twice was hit by Ryan pitches. Smith’s on-base percentage against Ryan is .613.

Cardinals catalyst

In four seasons (1982-85) with the Cardinals, Smith hit .556 (10-for-18) against Ryan, who was with the Astros then. (Ryan spent more seasons with the Astros, nine, than he did with the Mets, Angels and Rangers.)

Smith had eight singles, a double, a home run, four walks and twice was hit by pitches in seven games with the Cardinals against Ryan. Smith is part of the reason Ryan posted a losing career record (10-13) versus the Cardinals.

The first and last games Smith played as a Cardinal versus Ryan may have been the most significant.

In his first regular-season game with the Cardinals, April 6, 1982, at Houston, Smith was hit by a Ryan pitch to lead off the game. He triggered a five-run inning against the Astros’ ace. Smith also had two singles before Ryan was lifted after three innings. The Cardinals opened with a 14-3 victory, foreshadowing a season that would yield their first World Series title in 15 years. Boxscore

“This is what you call getting your butt pounded,” Ryan told the Houston Post. “I guess that’s the worst game I ever pitched for the Astros.”

Houston manager Bill Virdon said to the Houston Chronicle, “Nolan didn’t have control of his curveball. He didn’t have command of his fastball either.”

Smith stunner

Two years later, Aug. 31, 1984, in his final appearance as a Cardinal against Ryan, Smith, batting fifth instead of his customary leadoff spot, hit a grand slam in the first inning, launching the Cardinals to a 7-5 victory over the Astros at St. Louis. Boxscore

“I got behind on the count to Lonnie Smith and had to throw a strike,” Ryan told the Houston Chronicle, “and I just threw him a fastball down the middle.”

The grand slam was Smith’s first home run in two months (since June 28 off Mark Thurmond of the Padres) and his first with a runner on base in two years (since Aug. 14, 1982, off John Candelaria of the Pirates).

It also was the second of three grand slams Smith would hit in his major-league career. (Smith’s first grand slam was against Rick Rhoden of the 1982 Pirates and his last was off Roger Mason of the 1992 Pirates.)

Ryan hadn’t given up a grand slam in seven years (to Pat Kelly of the 1977 Orioles) until Smith delivered his stunning shot.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Astros manager Bob Lillis said to the Associated Press. “They hit with men on base and that’s what it takes.”

Previously: Steve Carlton vs. Nolan Ryan: fateful 1971 finale of aces

Previously: How Lonnie Smith came clean with the Cardinals

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Bronson Arroyo: Colorful character in Cards-Reds rivalry

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on February 10, 2014| 3 Comments »

(Updated May 12, 2018)

Since 2000, when he broke into the big leagues with the Pirates, until 2017, when he finished his pitching career with the Reds, Bronson Arroyo was a frequent foe of the Cardinals.

Arroyo, who flipped breaking pitches like Frisbees in an ocean breeze, has a regular-season career record of 8-18 with a 4.94 ERA in 42 appearances against the Cardinals. Most of those appearances occurred while he pitched for the Reds.

A look at some of Arroyo’s best and worst performances against the Cardinals:

Good for Arroyo

_ May 1, 2006: Arroyo pitched a complete-game four-hitter in a 6-1 Reds victory at Cincinnati. Juan Encarnacion’s home run prevented a shutout.

“He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he’s smart,” Cardinals outfielder John Rodriguez said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He knows where his pitches are going.”

Said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa: “He got a lot of outs in a lot of different parts of the (strike) zone. That’s good pitching.” Boxscore

_ June 12, 2008: Arroyo pitched six shutout innings and hit a home run against Joel Pineiro in a 6-2 Reds victory at Cincinnati. Arroyo departed after experiencing cramps in his right forearm.

“He didn’t leave pitches over the middle,” Cardinals outfielder Skip Schumaker said. “He was effective pitching to the small part of the plate.” Boxscore

_ May 16, 2010: Arroyo tossed a complete-game seven-hitter and knocked in two runs in a 7-2 Reds victory at Cincinnati. Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus described Arroyo’s assortment of pitches as “doo-doo” and “slop.”

Said Arroyo: “I could care less what adjective you put next to my pitch selection. The name of the game is to put a zero on the board as many times as I can.” Boxscore

Good for Cardinals

_ Aug. 10, 2006: Arroyo braided his hair into cornrows in an effort to change his luck, but the Cardinals weren’t impressed. Arroyo yielded home runs to Jim Edmonds, Chris Duncan and Scott Spiezio in the Cardinals’ 6-1 victory at Cincinnati.

“I’m at the end of my rope with superstitions,” Arroyo told the Dayton Daily News. “Either I’m going to bring a live chicken in here, or just go out and pitch.” Boxscore

_ June 6, 2007: In the seventh inning, with the Reds ahead, 4-3, Ryan Ludwick tied the score with a pinch-hit home run off Arroyo. With two outs, Albert Pujols followed with a two-run home run, lifting the Cardinals to a 6-4 triumph at St. Louis.

“All the runs they scored were on mistakes,” Arroyo said. “With Pujols, I tried to freeze him with a heater in, but it wandered over the middle of the plate.” Boxscore

_ Sept. 26, 2008: Arroyo gave up a career-high 13 hits in seven innings but escaped with a no-decision in the Cardinals’ 7-6 victory at St. Louis. Arroyo reached 200 innings pitched for the fourth consecutive season. Boxscore

_ July 5, 2009: The Cardinals pounded Arroyo for 11 hits and eight runs in five innings and won, 10-1, at Cincinnati. Said Reds manager Dusty Baker: “Bronson got kicked around pretty good. He was a sacrificial lamb because my bullpen was in bad shape.” Boxscore

Previously: Cardinals, Reds stage star-studded brawl in 1967

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