Oli Marmol's animated ejection may have fired up the Cardinals' offense

It's no secret that the St. Louis Cardinals have been atrocious on the road. Coming into Wednesday's doubleheader, the Cardinals were just 2-12 away from Busch Stadium, and game 1 looked dangerously close to getting out of hand as well.

Though the Cardinals led the game 1-0 for the majority, led by a great Miles Mikolas start and a Masyn Winn home run, a one-run lead at Great American Ballpark would be difficult to hold, especially for a Cardinals bullpen that has been shaky at best to start the season.

Though the Cardinals have had a much better season offensively so far, they have slowed down a bit after a torrid start. The game 1 effort, however, was not helped by home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman, who had missed several calls that went against Cardinals hitters. After a questionable strike call on a 3-0 count to Masyn Winn, manager Oli Marmol stood up for his young hitters and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Admittedly, the pitch from Scott Barlow did clip the top right corner of the strike zone, but Marmol's actions reflected a frustrating zone from the umpiring crew all series and a need to fire up his team for the doubleheader. Though the Cardinals failed to score in the 8th inning, when Marmol was ejected, the bats came alive after a scoreless inning from JoJo Romero.

The Cardinals earned two baserunners in the top of the 9th inning, but with 2 outs, it came down to Victor Scott II to break the game open and save Ryan Helsley for game 2. Scott ambushed a center-cut slider from Alexis Diaz to give the Cardinals a four-run lead, followed by two more homers from Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn. With a six-run lead in the 9th inning, the Cardinals were able to cruise to a much-needed road win behind the newly called-up Matt Svanson.

Though Oli had already been ejected earlier in the week, it's clear the Cardinals needed another wake-up call on the road, and Marmol delivered just that. Though it's unlikely the team will go on as dominant a run as they did following Marmol's Mother's Day ejection in 2024, they should certainly have more optimism for winning on the road following their cleanest victory yet.