BOSTON — Whatever the result on the scoreboard that followed a disastrous ninth inning at the end of the first game in Sunday’s doubleheader at Fenway Park, it stung the Cardinals immediately.
The bigger loss for the Cardinals within the game will take longer to measure.
Ivan Herrera, less than a week removed from authoring the first three-homer game ever by a Cardinals catcher, needed help leaving the field in the third inning because of a left knee injury. He had difficulty putting any weight on it. Initial diagnosis at the ballpark was inflammation in the joint, according to a team official. The cause of the swelling and severity of the injury was still to be determined Sunday night as Herrera left the ballpark for additional, more precise scans of the knee.
The Cardinals were still awaiting a result of those tests at the start of Sunday’s second game.
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The immediate ramifications left the Cardinals without their leading slugger over the past week, their No. 2 hitter in Sunday’s lineup and one of their catchers — all with another game to play Sunday night.
It also thrust Pedro Pages into the game, and he gave the Cardinals every chance to win it before the ninth inning blew it.
Boston turned four walks in the ninth into two runs and a tie game after trailing by two runs to begin the inning, and the Red Sox cinched their 5-4 victory on Wilyer Abreu’s single in the 10th inning off the Green Monster for his first career walk-off hit.
Off the bench, back behind the mask and into a prominent spot in the lineup, Pages delivered two doubles to give the Cardinals lead going into the ninth. His first lifted the Cardinals into a tie game, and his second ripped the tie apart and drove the Cardinals to a 4-2 lead. The lead vanished in the ninth.
Closer Ryan Helsley invited trouble by walking the first two batters he faced and throwing 10 balls before he landed his second strike of the inning. He had a pitch clock violation later in the inning with the bases loaded, and all of that brought Rafael Devers to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.
Devers earned a full-count walk to bring home the tying run and send Game 1 into extra innings.
Helsley walked four and threw 37 pitches in the blown save.
Pages had a key block on a breaking ball in the dirt that kept the tying run at third base.
After Herrera’s injury, Pages found himself in the middle of the Cardinals’ offensive opportunities. When Masyn Winn tied the game in the fourth inning with a single, Pages came up two batters later with two on and a chance to break the tie. He popped up. In the sixth, Pages was in a similar spot — with two on and two out. He laced a double down the right-field line that skipped into the stands past Pesky’s Pole to bring home the tying run and hold the go-ahead run at third.
In his next at-bat, Pages drilled a ball to one of the deeper nooks of Fenway to make sure it could only bounce away from fielders not into the laps of fans.
Hits make history
Only Cleveland’s stacked lineup of late 1990s rockers started a season by cranking out more hits than this year’s Cardinals.
Pages’ two-run double in the eighth inning not only snapped a tie game, but it also ended a tie in the record books. Pages’ double was the Cardinals’ 10th hit of the game, giving them at least 10 in eight consecutive games to open the season. That breaks the franchise record of seven consecutive games, set in 1901 and tied in 1956.
With at least 10 hits in eight consecutive games, the Cardinals are tied with the 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates for the National League record.
Led by such hitters as Hall of Famers Jim Thome and Roberto Alomar along with Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez and David Justice, the 1999 Cleveland club set the MLB record with at least 10 hits in the first 10 games of their season.
Herrera in obvious discomfort
The Cardinals’ leader with four home runs, Herrera reached base in the third inning with a walk. He ran first to third on a single by Nolan Arenado.
When he retraced his steps to retrieve his batting helmet, Herrera appeared in discomfort as he applied any weight to his left leg. The inning ended with him at third, and it became quickly clear that he needed help getting from the third base line to the Cardinals dugout on the third base side. Manager Oliver Marmol and head trainer Adam Olson looped Herrera’s arms over their shoulders so he could leave the field without putting any pressure on his left leg.
Pages replaced Herrera for the bottom of the third inning.
Herrera was diagnosed at the ballpark during the latter half of the first game, and he’ll have additional exams as the irritation in the knee calms to determine the root cause.
Deep counts define Pallante’s day
Three lengthy duels between Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante and a Red Sox batter captured the right-hander’s day and both the success he had getting into deep counts — and the cost of them.
In the first inning, Alex Bregman worked the starter through a 10-pitch plate appearance. Bregman earned a walk before Pallante ended the inning with a brisk strikeout. But throughout the game, Pallante had pitches that came a few feet shy of the plate, and while he could get ahead of hitters, he also lost his hold on advantage counts several times.
The game hinged twice on such prolonged at-bats.
In the fourth, Boston scored on David Hamilton’s RBI single with a 0-2 count. He stole second to get in scoring position. Red Sox catcher Connor Wong, the No. 9 hitter, then pushed through a 10-pitch at-bat against Pallante. Wong fouled off four consecutive full-count pitches, and then Pallante dropped a sinister, biting slider on him. Wong swung over the 85.3 mph breaking ball to end the at-bat, the inning and the scoring threat.
Able to escape that inning without allowing another run but slowing his pitch count, Pallante plunged into another long at-bat in the fifth.
Rafael Devers entered the game with a .167 average and a mighty struggle to begin the season. The All-Star and $300 million man has told the Red Sox and media that he’s not thrilled with being relocated from third base and planted into the designated hitter spot, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of hitting from their designated hitter. On opening day at Fenway, Devers was greeted by chants and warm cheers from the faithful, and he rewarded those Sunday.
But not before challenging Pallante throughout a seven-pitch at-bat.
Devers tagged the seventh pitch he faced in the fifth inning for a high, soaring fly ball that cleared the edge of the Green Monster and broke the 1-1 tie.
Devers was likely Pallante’s final hitter with Bregman on deck, Kyle Leahy warmed up, and that pitch coaching climbing. Devers’ homer cinched it. Pallante yielded the mound having lost the tie game on his 92nd pitch. Leahy entered and promptly struck out four of the five batters he faced.
Pallante allowed two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. The 10-pitch strikeout of Wong gave him six in the start.
Arenado extends streak
With a single in the third inning, Arenado extended his hitting streak to 14 games. It stretches back to the final six games of the 2024 season, and it is the longest active hitting streak in the majors.
When his single zipped into left field during Sunday’s first game, Arenado elevated his average during the streak to .364 (20 for 55). He was hitless in his four other at-bats, leaving him at .333.
