Sonny Gray's return to Minnesota is marred by familiar problems with the Cardinals – Homeruns

MINNEAPOLIS – A game that began as a home opener against the Twins and showcased what Sonny Gray had demonstrated time and time again as a member of the Twins quickly became a reminder of what held him back as a Cardinal.

In his return to Target Field, where he posted a Cy Young Award-eligible season last year, Gray struck out the team in the first inning.

A duel with Pablo Lopez began with perfect innings from both right-handers.

It took them a total of 16 pitches to get those six outs.

It took the Twins two tries to prevent Gray from returning.

Trevor Larnach hit the 19th and 20th home runs of the season against Gray to lift Minnesota to a 6-0 victory Saturday night in bustling downtown Minneapolis. The Cardinals (64-65) sank below .500 as quickly as they rose. While Zach Bryan prepared for a show at the football stadium down the street and Caitlin Clark led the Indiana Fever in a sold-out WNBA game next door at Target Center, the Twins held on with a show of force in front of 35,183 spectators, including raucous Cardinals supporters. The Twins hit three home runs to even the three-game series with the Cardinals, and Lopez (12-8) pitched superbly, throwing seven shutout innings against a pitcher he considers a mentor.

Potential rallies by the Cardinals ended in an up and down of highs and lows.

Larnach's multiple home run game was the first of his career, and it was his 274th game. For Gray, the home runs – and multiple home run games – have been piling up in his first season as an anchor with the Cardinals. In 32 starts for the Twins in 2023, Gray allowed eight home runs total. At Target Field, he allowed four home runs in 97 2/3 innings all summer. Larnach managed just half that many in Gray's first five innings on Saturday alone.

For the eighth time in 24 starts this season, Gray (11-9) allowed at least five runs. Last year, that happened only twice in his 32 starts for the Twins.

The loss ended the Cardinals' remarkable three-game winning streak, but leaves them with a chance to win the series. The Cardinals are particularly concerned about the availability of their catcher and top hitter Contreras and whether their No. 1 starter can show the consistency they need to get back into contention.

A day after having to take a break during the game to allow a sharp pain in his catching hand to subside so he could return to receiving passes and play the next nine innings, Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras suffered another blow to the hand in the fourth inning on Saturday.

Lopez dropped the ball high and inside to Contreras, and the ball bounced off both of Contreras' hands, hitting his left hand – the catching hand – and then ricocheting to his right.

Contreras, who was the designated hitter that day, stayed in the game as the Cardinals' first runner. But as the inning was over and the Cardinals didn't move from first base, it became clear that he might not return to the game. Contreras was taken out of the game for the DH's at-bat in the sixth inning, and after the game it was revealed that he had broken a finger on his right hand.

He was replaced by Matt Carpenter, and that was a real challenge for the Cardinals.

With Contreras out as DH and Pedro Pages already behind the plate, they technically had no backup catcher available if something happened later in the game. And then something did. Pages caught a wild pitch off his unprotected neck in the bottom half of the sixth inning that left him hunched over, his jaw clenched as he caught his breath. Second baseman Brendan Donovan began moving closer to the dugout as the team's emergency catcher. But Pages stayed in the game and finished the inning — a welt had already formed on his neck.

In response to his friend and former teammate Lopez's perfect six-pitch first inning, Gray announced with authority his return to his old stomping ground.

He was just one pitch away from a flawless first inning.

The right-hander, who was the Cy Young Award runner-up last year and the Twins' ace, struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches. He struck out all three batters in the inning, and did so on 10 pitches. Only Larnach, fittingly, saw a fourth pitch from Gray in his first-inning at-bat. Those were also Gray's last strikeouts before the Twins slammed him for four runs in the third inning.

It was a microcosm of Gray's first season with the Cardinals. He had brilliant games and dominant innings.

He gave Sonny several insights.

He's looking for these Sonny routes.

“I like how he is mentally right now and he will put himself in the best position to throw,” manager Oliver Marmol said before Saturday's duel. “(This is) his best chance to get through this phase.”

One obstacle for Gray continues to be home runs. After allowing just eight total in 2023, the right-hander has allowed 20 in fewer innings this season. He won a game in Atlanta earlier this summer while allowing four home runs, noting that it was only possible because those home runs were solo hits. There was no such trivialization on Saturday. In the third inning, a one-out double by the No. 9 hitter to start the inning was followed by a walk to the leadoff bat.

This made Larnach's first home run a three-run bolt for the first runs of the game.

Two more hits and a groundout RBI helped the Twins to an early 4-0 lead, which Larnach extended with a solo home run in the fifth inning.

From there, the inning could have been even worse if center fielder Victor Scott II hadn't ended the inning with a lineout with a diving catch in deep center.

Before the Twins extended their four-run lead in the third inning, the Cardinals had two consecutive chances to score the game's first run. Both ended in strikeouts, but one of them failed on a pickoff.

In the third inning, rookie Scott hit a double to first. The Cardinals allowed one out to allow Masyn Winn to move the speedster into scoring position. The Cardinals allowed another out when Scott was caught drifting from third base and made a pickoff that suddenly left the bases empty. With left-hander Alec Burleson at bat, Twins catcher Christian Vazquez had a clear path to challenge Scott's lead from third base.

At one point, Vazquez was standing behind the plate when the infield was already in.

He created a high target for Lopez, and by the time the right-hander gave way, Vazquez was already in stride to reach third base and catch Scott running back. The pickoff meant the Cardinals had lost two outs in the inning because the same runner reached third base.

The inning ended when Lopez struck out Burleson, just as he had to end the previous inning. Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar hit a single and a double each, giving two teammates (at least) a chance with two runners in scoring position. Neither made contact. Lopez struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Pages, ending the inning and leaving two Cardinals on the road.

In five innings, the Cardinals went hitless in seven at-bats with at least one runner in scoring position, and in those seven chances they missed four times.