KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Although the Cardinals have had three injuries put starting right fielders on the disabled list during this road trip, they had already whacked away at their roster to create playing time for Harrison Bader and see how far the speedy center fielder could run with it.
Bader homered for the second time in as many games and reached base three times as the Cardinals positioned themselves for a sweep in Kansas City with an 8-3 victory Saturday evening against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Bader's two-run homer in the sixth inning helped widen the score early before the Cardinals pulled away late. That home run came a day after his two-out single unlocked a breakout inning in Friday night's rout, and it came three runs before Jose Martinez turned Saturday's game into a walk. Martinez's two-run shot in the ninth punctuated the win.
An early gust of runs and Bader's homer backed starter Jack Flaherty during his seven strong innings. The only two runs the Royals scored on Flaherty came on a homer, and papered over that with nine strikeouts.
The win was the Cardinals' sixth in seven games.
It assured the Cardinals a fifth consecutive series victory, meant that they would win all three series on this dog-day, three-city trip, and again gained ground on teams ahead of them in the playoff race. The Cubs' loss to Washington bumped the Cardinals a game closer in the National League Central and, with Milwaukee's win against Atlanta, moved the Cardinals up for a second consecutive day in the wild-card race. The Cardinals are within three games of the second wild-card.
This rush back into the race coincides with a tender spot in the Cardinals' schedule _ which includes six games against the Marlins and Royals, who are a combined 69 games worse than .500 _ and turning prominent spots in the lineup over to younger players.
The Cardinals dealt center fielder Tommy Pham to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline with the idea that Bader and Tyler O'Neill would see the largest share of playing time in Pham's position. O'Neill, one of those right fielders now on the DL, had the bat, and Bader had the superior glove. After his win Friday night, lefty Austin Gomber remarked how aggressive he could be with strikes because he had "an elite center fielder out there" in Bader to run liners down. Bader has done that as well as any outfielder in the game, and that success defensively gives his offense time to reveal itself.
With center fielder basically deeded to him now, Bader made his sixth start of the road trip Saturday and left with a homer, a walk, two hits, and two RBIs.
On the three-city swing, Bader has gone eight-for-25 (.320) with three extra-base hits.
He nearly outran a throw at the end of the Cardinals' four-run third inning to keep that inning alive and net a third hit in the game. It took Alcides Escobar's barehanded nab from third to beat Bader to first. In the bottom of the same inning, Escobar got the Royals' first hit against Flaherty (6-6) and then walked off the field when the inning ended on a double play. Flaherty walked a couple in the first inning, walked another in the fourth inning, and allowed a homer in the fifth inning, and yet never seemed to lose a grip on the game. He finished by retiring all eight batters he faced after the home run. Four of those eight struck out _ all in their third time seeing the rookie right-hander.
The home run by Bader enraged Royals starter Danny Duffy _ not because of the height of a chest-high breaking ball, or the distance Bader gave it but because he, arguably, shouldn't have had to make that pitch at all.
Bader had already fouled off consecutive pitches and faced a 1-2 count when Duffy teased the outfielder with a change-up. Bader checked his swing, or so first-base umpire Adam Hamari confirmed on appeal. That gave Bader continued life and the at-bat would go on for another three pitches. On the ninth pitch, a 3-2 marshmallow slider, Bader drilled his second home run in as many games at Kauffman Stadium. Almost as fast as Bader rounded the bases, Duffy started in on Hamari.
Former Cardinals reliever and special assistant Cal Eldred, now the Royals' pitching coach, had to come on the field to restrain Duffy.
Hamari ejected the lefty quickly.
That brought further anger from Duffy, who at one point slipped free from Eldred and tried to charge again at an umpire. He was calmed, collected, and removed from the field. Bader's home run had salted the game. Instead of holding onto a two-run deficit and buying time for the Royals' offense to rattle late, Duffy had fallen into a four-run hole, again, and was leaving the final 42/3 innings to the bullpen.
The Cardinals crafted their initial 4-0 lead on Duffy a lot like they built their lead the night before _ on a binge. And all of it came with two outs.
Eight Cardinals went to the plate against Duffy in the third inning, and three of them got two-out extra-base hits that flipped the game early on the lefty. After two infield outs, Yadier Molina doubled to ignite the rally. Martinez singled for the Cardinals' first run, and Marcell Ozuna broke the inning open with an RBI triple. The Cardinals' cleanup landed a ball deep in center, and he arrived at third base after the throw did but a sneaky slide kept him safe when he pulled an arm back and reached with his left hand to the bag. Ozuna scored on Paul DeJong's double, and DeJong scored when Jedd Gyorko skipped a single.
Duffy went from one pitch away from finishing the third inning to needing 37 pitches to survive the inning and leave with only a 4-0 deficit.
A common theme between the Cardinals' four-run bounce against Duffy and the five-run jamboree they had in the second inning Friday night was what manager Mike Shildt has referred to as "a habit" for hitters. It's the tenderizing at-bat. With two outs in the second inning Friday, Bader worked starter Burch Smith through a lengthy at-bat to prolong that inning, reach base, and then trot home after Matt Carpenter stung his NL-best 32nd home run of the season. On Saturday, Molina worked Duffy through a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with his 352nd career double.
Duffy had two outs on his first seven pitches of the inning. He didn't get another out until 30 pitches later. Ten of those Molina saw and that softened the starter for his teammates.
