Marco Gonzales sets Career High in Strikeouts

As he notched his third win of the season, St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher Marco Gonzales set a career high in strikeouts with nine.

“It helps when you’re pitching for a first-place team in a pennant race,” Gonzales said in an MLB.com article. “The goal was just to go out there and compete. My number was called and we came out on top today.”

Gonzales’ nine punchouts were the most for a Cardinals left-handed rookie since Rick Ankiel did so just over 14 years ago against the Pittsburgh Pirates. On September 13, 2000, Ankiel struck out eleven batters.

“He was good,” Mike Matheny said in an MLB.com article.. “He got himself into some trouble at times, but he was able to work out of it. You look up there and only a few hits, he did have some walks and just some near misses and that’s the kind of pitcher he is. He’s so fine with the location of his fastball. There’s times when we’re going to need him to get it over the plate and let our defense work behind hm. It’s just a terrific outing. We needed that big and he came up big.”

When Gonzales debuted for the Cardinals in June, his first start came against the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies had pounded him for five runs.