Cardinals' Erick Fedde notches increasingly rare achievement on the mound

The complete game is nearly extinct in baseball. What was once expected of major league starting pitchers has become an accomplishment that modern starters reach only once in a blue moon. St. Louis Cardinals right-handed pitcher Erick Fedde delivered a game for the ages on May 9, as he started — and finished — the major leagues' fourth complete game, and third shutout, of 2025.

Erick Fedde was brilliant while pitching the Cardinals' first complete game since 2022.

Fedde blanked one of his former teams, the Washington Nationals, fanning eight batters and allowing six hits and no walks or runs over nine frames in a 10-0 drubbing by the Cardinals. He threw 109 pitches, 68 of which were strikes. The outing lowered his ERA on the year from 4.78 to 3.86.

The game marked Fedde's first complete game of his major league career and his first at any level since he pitched one in 2016 for Double-A Harrisburg. That includes his 2023 stint in the KBO League in South Korea, where he pitched for the NC Dinos. While overseas, Fedde unlocked another level to his game that allowed him to post a career-best 3.30 ERA upon his return in to the major leagues in 2024, when he split time between the Chicago White Sox and the Cardinals.

On the Cardinals' end, Fedde's complete game is the team's first since Jordan Montgomery's one-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 22, 2022. The Cardinals have won six consecutive games and are now 20-19 on the year as well as over .500 for the first time since April 4. The bullpen should be plenty fresh after the team enjoyed a day off on Thursday and the relievers weren't needed during Fedde's masterpiece.

Fedde hasn't replicated his 2024 season to this point, and it's fair to say that he may not hold the trade value that he did during the 2024-2025 offseason. But if he can cobble together a few more strong performances, the Cardinals might have, at worst, another valuable trade deadline asset on their hands. But if the team is able to continue its sizzling streak and soon finds itself atop the division, the Cardinals might opt to go for glory one more time in the John Mozeliak era and hang on to Fedde for the stretch run. Regardless of what happens, continued performances like this will portend good things for the Cardinals.