4 standouts in St. Louis Cardinals series win over Reds

Pitching woes and struggles at the plate kept the St. Louis Cardinals from sweeping the Cincinnati Reds.

The St. Louis Cardinals had a string of bad luck that featured many of the team’s lingering issues as the Cincinnati Reds were able to avoid getting swept.

Making good on some errors by the Reds and some effective pitching helped the Cardinals win on Friday.

In the first inning, Nolan Arenado singled to right field, allowing Paul Goldschmidt to score. Arenado got to second base thanks to a throwing error by Aristides Aquino. Tyler O’Neill singled to third base. Arenado scored and O’Neill ended up at second base thanks to a throwing error from Brandon Drury.

Thankfully that was all the offense the Cardinals needed Friday. The team’s pitching effort Friday will be discussed in a slide to follow.

Tyler O’Neill had a good game at the plate Saturday, going 1-for-2 with three RBI and a walk. In the sixth inning, O’Neill hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Tommy Edman. In the eighth inning, O’Neill doubled to centerfield, scoring Nolan Gorman and Nolan Arenado. It’s nice to see him improving at the plate. He isn’t where we saw him in 2021, but he’s working to build up to that level.

On Sunday, the Cardinals got a huge home run off the bat of Nolan Arenado, scoring Tyler O’Neill. It was Arenado’s 11th home run of the year.

In the eighth inning, Albert Pujols helped things get a little closer as he knocked a ground-rule double to right-center field.

While Tyler O’Neill scored, Brendan Donovan had to retreat to third base, rather than scoring. This ultimately held the team back as they were unable to score again this inning.

The Cardinals’ offense was 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. Not moving those runners around to score ultimately proved detrimental to the Cardinals and exacerbated an issue the team has had in not getting timely hits to get those runs across the plate.

The Cardinals were able to get seven innings of work out of starter Dakota Hudson. He gave up nine hits, two walks, and six earned runs though as he earned his third loss of the season, bringing him to 4-3.

Johan Oviedo pitched the eighth inning. He ended up giving up the game-winning run, a home run to Tommy Pham. T.J. McFarland worked the ninth inning, giving up a hit and bringing down his ERA to 7.83.  Really makes you wonder how much longer we will be seeing these two pitchers.

The Cardinals have a four-game series over the next three days with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With temperatures expected to be in the range of miserable, the Cardinals will need to keep cool and hydrated to be successful. Here’s hoping the Cardinals are successful.

Andre Pallante

At 23, rookie pitcher Andre Pallante has understandably become a favorite of the Cardinals’ coaching staff. After Pallante’s first win as a starter, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was very complimentary.

“One of the most impressive things is his ability to slow everything down, and he continues to do that regardless of whatever situation we put him in, regardless of whether he’s coming out of the ‘pen or starting,” Marmol said in a post-game interview with the press. “It doesn’t matter.”

And it really doesn’t. Pallante looks cool, calm, and collected no matter the situation. He just pitches. And it is awesome to see!

Now 2-0 on the season, Pallante pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four hits and two walks. He did strike out four batters and induced nine swings and misses.

Genesis Cabrera earned his eighth hold of the season in 1.2 innings of relief. He struck out one batter and induced four swings and misses. Giovanny Gallegos earned his second hold of the season in one inning of relief. He gave up three walks but struck out one.

Ryan Helsley earned his fourth save of the season pitching the ninth and striking out two. He induced four swings and misses, and his velocity topped out at 99.8 mph.

Adam Wainwright

In their 316th start together as a batter, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina made some history.

According to MLB.com’s John Denton, the pair moved into a tie for second in MLB history with their 316th start. This ties the mark set by Warren Spahn and Del Crandall. Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan are 1st at 324.

What an amazing accomplishment.

Wainwright, however, didn’t have the best of outings. He threw seven innings, giving up eight hits, one walk, and three earned runs. He did strike out seven batters and induced eight swings and misses.

Nick Wittgren got the win for the Cardinals on Saturday as he pitched the ninth inning, only giving up a hit. It was his first win of the season. Drew VerHagen relieved Wainwright in the eighth inning, giving up three hits and one earned run while striking out one and inducing three swings and misses.

Juan Yepez

On Saturday, he came into the game late to play right field. He got one hit and was walked once.

In the ninth inning of Sunday’s game, Yepez attempted to make things interesting as he hit his sixth home run of the season on a fly-to-left field, scoring Brendan Donovan. The home run traveled 390 feet at 104.4 mph.

The home run got things closer for the Cardinals on Sunday, but the team fell short of the victory.

Yepez is quite the athlete as he performs on defense where ever Oli Marmol puts him on the field. And no matter where he hits in the line-up, he produces. Much has been said of him benefiting greatly from being around Cardinals legend Albert Pujols.

Yepez was performing through the minors and ultimately showed off this Spring Training prior to Pujols’ arrival. While there was talk of him making the club out of spring, he didn’t because of Pujols’ arrival. Since his arrival with the big club, though, Yepez has grabbed all the opportunities he has been presented and has benefited from getting to soak up all the knowledge he can from Pujols.

Yepez was already really good on his own, but it’s obvious Pujols has helped him blossom into a superstar in the making, giving him tips and being a sounding board for the youngsters. It’s a great thing to see and exactly why Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and the Cardinals brass brought the legend of Pujols back to St. Louis to close out an epic career.