On historic day of work, Cardinals' rookie flashes potential for struggling bullpen

If I had a nickel for every time a reliever got a win and a save on the same day, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

In the case of Andre Granillo, I'm going to venture to say that he's the first player in MLB history to record his first career win, save, and strikeout all on the same day.

The St. Louis Cardinals secured a series sweep over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, playing in their sixth doubleheader of the year after yet another game of theirs was postponed on Wednesday. That opened the door for their rookie reliever to shine in a big way, and he did with that historic line.

While that is a really fun stat and fact for Granillo to have moving forward, the even more important thing for the Cardinals is how he has provided stability in the back of their bullpen since being called up last week, and they desperately need that kind of production moving forward.

Andre Granillo flashed the kind of dependability that the Cardinals desperately need in their bullpen

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Granillo has barely cut his teeth at the big league level. He's appeared in just four games with five total innings of work, and while he's been impactful in all of those outings, I'm not here to say he's some lockdown reliever for the club.

But what I do think is completely fair to say is that the Cardinals' bullpen is a wide-open competition right now, and they desperately need some arms, whether it is Granillo or other names, to step up and produce in big spots.

Granillo game into the first game of the doubleheader in a big spot after Steven Matz had allowed two runners to reach base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and after a wild pitch and stolen base moved both runners into scoring position, he got Lenyn Sosa to fly out to end the White Sox threat. That kept the Cardinals within two runs of the White Sox, and so a two-run home run from Willson Contreras and a RBI single from Yohel Pozo in the top of the eighth inning put the Cardinals on top and gave Granillo his first big league win.

During the second game of the day, the Cardinals blew a 6-2 lead over the Chicago White Sox after Kyle Leahy allowed a grand slam to outfielder Andrew Benintendi in the bottom of the seventh to tie up the game. The Cardinals burned through four relievers to get them to the tenth inning, while an RBI single from Nolan Arenado and a solo home run from Lars Nootbaar gave the Cardinals an 8-6 lead over the White Sox.

Short on options, Oliver Marmol tapped on Granillo's shoulder once again, giving him the ball in the bottom of the tenth inning, where he allowed a walk and struck out a batter on his way to his first career big league save.

Granillo has yet to allow a run in his five innings of work and has risen to the occasion each time he's been called upon. Again, that's not saying a ton at this point with the lack fo sample size, but at the very least, it should buy him more and more opportunities for the Cardinals in big spots.

With how erratic Ryan Helsley has been this year and recent regression from other bullpen arms, the Cardinals need someone like Granillo to stand out, and he has so far. In Memphis this year, Granillo boasted a 13.96 K/9, and while that hasn't translated beyond the one strikeout today, he does have the kind of swing and miss stuff the Cardinals' bullpen lacks as a whole right now.

Can he be that guy? Only time will tell. But for now, the Cardinals sure are thankful he's been able to come through for them in big spots.