The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of MLB's hottest teams lately and have pulled to within just 2.0 games of the first place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central entering Monday's action, but with a series against a Detroit Tigers team with the best record in the majors, the odds of them cutting into their division deficit felt slim. Sonny Gray took that doubt personally with how he pitched.
Gray held the Tigers off the board through six innings. He allowed just three hits and fanned 10 batters. Offensively, the Cardinals have played a lot of small ball, but have scored five runs. They appeared poised to score a sixth when Brendan Donovan led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double, but then, the game entered a rain delay.
Cardinals fans will have to wait and see if their team can defeat the Tigers longer than they expected to.
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Cardinals vs. Tigers rain delay: Restart time announced
Monday's game is set to restart at 9:15 p.m. CT, weather permitting. Hopefully, Mother Nature cooperates enough to get another two innings in.
What's Monday's forecast in St. Louis?
Conditions are playable right now, but Weather.com's hourly forecast is not pretty. Strong storms are expected throughout the night, and a Tornado Watch is even in effect.
The teams are trying to push through, but ultimately, the weather is extremely unpredictable. Mother Nature can strike at any moment, and delays can be forced as a result. Fortunately, with the Cardinals holding a sizable lead and five innings completed, even if they can't finish nine innings, they probably won't have to sit through a long delay. They'd simply elect to suspend the game.