By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Boston Red Sox as former Redbird Willson Contreras drove in three runs against his former team at Busch Stadium.
The three-time All-Star, Contreras was acquired by Boston from St. Louis in a December trade. He put the Red Sox ahead 2-0 with a two-run double in the fourth inning off Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy. St. Louis did cut the lead in half in the eighth inning, as Jordan Walker hit his NL-leading sixth home run. But Boston broke open the game with a five-run ninth inning.
Ceddanne Rafaela started the scoring in the ninth, driving in Trevor Story with an RBI single. Caleb Durbin continued the scoring barrage with a two-run single that brought home Rafaela and Carlos Narvaez, before Durbin scored later in the inning on an RBI single from Contreras. Jarren Duran also drove in Roman Anthony in the inning with a single, just before Contreras's hit.
In the seventh inning, José Fermin reached on a double video review. Plate umpire Brian Walsh ruled Fermin was hit by a Greg Weissert pitch, and a challenge by Boston resulted in Walsh telling Fermin to return to the plate with an 0-2 count. But, St. Louis then challenged, and the second review resulted in a catcher’s interference call on Narváez. Fermin went to first after a four minute delay.
Leahy took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season, pitching four innings and giving up two runs on three hits, while walking three and striking out two. At the plate, Walker was 1-for-3 with the home run and an RBI, also walking once. Four other Cardinals had one hit each, including JJ Wetherholt, Ramon Urias, Fermin, and Thomas Saggese, as St. Louis managed just five hits overall.
St. Louis and Boston wrap up their series tomorrow. Andre Pallante (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 5K's) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.00 ERA, 7K's) for the Red Sox. First pitch is at 1:15pm, pregame will begin near the start at 1:05 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.