Well, now. Look at the Cardinals, muscling up on the road. Getting all pushy and intimidating and menacing. Doing a Mark McGwire tribute. Blasting – not sweeping – the Reds during Wednesday’s doubleheader.
Out-homering the besieged home team 9-0 in 18 innings of longball. Going into the hitter’s utopia at Great American Ball Park – an ERA-destroying funhouse where pop flies become home runs – the Cardinals pounded the Cincinnatians 15-1 in runs scored.
Did the suddenly ruthless gang from St. Louis drink extra protein shakes? No, it had to be something more hefty than that to transform the road weaklings into powerful bullies. Did the Cardinals use Tuesday’s rainout to book reservations at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse in downtown Cincy and load up on piles of 22-ounce bone-in ribeyes known as the Cowboy cut? That’s a $99 slab of splendor.
Or maybe the majority of Reds’ pitchers who went to work Wednesday reeked of mediocrity? Did the Cardinals take great at-bats. Or was it just a matter of beating up on the generous batting-practice offerings of Reds reliever Alexis Diaz in the 9th inning of the first game, and leveling a rookie (Chase Petty) making his big-league debut as Cincinnati’s starter in Game 2?
From late in the ninth inning in the opener, through one out in the second inning in the next game, the Cardinals sent 18 batters to the plate and five of ‘em homered.
During the noon hour on Tuesday, I was part of the weekly conversation with manager Oli Marmol on KMOX – and I told him I didn’t think his team’s offense had an identity.
“I disagree,” Marmol said.
Well, at least for one day in Cincinnati, the Cardinals’ hitters had an identity. Powerball bruisers. Can it last for more than one day? I don’t know.
But I do know a few things after Wednesday’s long-drive contest among the Cardinals:
1. Their 4-12 road record is still bad, but it’s better than 2-12. Unless the Cardinals swept, their road record would be 3-12 or 2-14.
2. For most Cardinals fans, it was lots of fun to watch something different. Two wins in the same day, a plentiful supply of runs, and watching home runs fly like Albert Pujols hit them.
3. Well, not all Cardinals fans were happy. I think some are still sore in the hindquarters after new favorite-son rookie Thomas Saggese (aka the next Rogers Hornsby) was sent to Triple A Memphis. Others are still furious to see Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman still wearing Cardinals uniforms. Others are still demanding that Bill DeWitt Jr. sell the team … and of course Oli Marmol must be fired immediately. And I have to think there are at least a few people out there, whining about Randy Arozarena or Adolis Garcia. And of course there is a retroactive protest over the team’s decision to trade Tommy Edman to the Dodgers last July, even though (A) he hadn’t played all season while recovering from wrist surgery, and (B) Edman would have positively, absolutely walked away from the Cardinals as a free agent after the 2025 season. I don’t recall widespread caterwauling among the BFIB after the Edman trade, but everyone is entitled to change their minds. And can you believe John Mozeliak traded Lane Thomas? Personally, I still carry a load of grievance over Mo’s preposterous decision to trade outfielder Richie Palacios to Tampa Bay for reliever Andrew Kittredge on Jan. 5, 2024. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that one.
4. After peeping for one little run and losing the series opener on Monday night, the Cardinals are surprisingly in position to win their first road series of the season. A win in Thursday’s day game would give them a 3-1 series – and they better take advantage of the opportunity.
5. Miles Mikolas … whaaat? I’m not complaining, of course. He’s turned his season around. And STL’s starting pitching continues to perform above expectations. Yes, this is true, even with the occasional clunker mixed in. But here’s the deal my friends: you can have tantrums over a poor Erick Fedde start on Sunday against the Brewers. But stinky starts will happen. This isn’t 1968, and the Cardinals don’t have five Bob Gibson clones. But the overall starting-pitching trend is positive. More on Mikolas and the rotation later.
HOME-RUN DERBY: The riotous Redbirds tried to tear Cincinnati’s miniature-scale ballpark into tiny pieces on Wednesday. This explosion came out of nowhere. Through Monday of this week, the Cardinals had homered only 5 times in their previous 13 games – only to unload for six La Bomba’s during yesterday’s doubleheader trouncing. After hitting a home run every 85 at-bats in their previous 13 games, the Cardinals walloped a homer every 11.6 at-bats on Thursday.
Other Home Run Derby Notes:
+ The Birds had cudgeled only eight home runs in 497 at-bats during their first 14 road games this season. That was one road homer every 62 at-bats. They launched six homers in 67 at-bats in sweeping the Reds – that’s one HR every 11.6 at-bats.
+ The Cardinals got a three-run homer from Victor Scott II in the first game of the doubleheader, and then another three-run shot from Willson Contreras in the second game.
+ Through the first 31 games, the Cardinals have eight three-run homers. Last season the Cards didn’t put up their eighth three-homer game until their 103rd game on July 26.
+ St. Louis had only 10 three-homer games all season in 2024, and they’re almost there this season as the calendar flips to May. This year the three-run homers have been cranked by Scott (2), Ivan Herrera (2), Lars Nootbaar (1), Pedro Pages (1), Thomas Saggese (1) and Contreras (1).
+ STL’s eight three-run homers this season are the most by a National League team. And in the majors only Boston, with 12, have delivered more three-run shots than the Redbirds.
+ Here’s a note from Rob Rains, the dean of St. Louis baseball writers: the three consecutive home runs from Scott Nootbaar and Masyn Winn in the 9th inning of Game 1 was only the 10th time that’s happened in franchise history. And it was the first time the Cardinals ever did it in the ninth inning of a game. You should read Rains’ Postgame Report that he writes after Cards game at his STLSportsPage.com
NOW BATTING 2ND, MASYN WINN: Before Marmol decided to move Winn into the second line on his lineup card, the Cardinals were getting meager production from the No. 2 spot. Most of that was attributable to a poor start by Willson Contreras, but still. Before Winn took over in the second slot Wednesday in Cincinnati, the No. 2 spot in the St. Louis lineup had posted a .185 average, .252 onbase percentage and .274 slugging percentage (ugh!) and one homer. No MLB team was getting less out of the No. 2 two spot than the Cardinals.
Marmol was probably a little late in moving Contreras out of there … but then again, Contreras was warming. Including Wednesday, the Cards first baseman has batted .309 with a .390 onbase percentage and .485 slug in his last 18 games. And it’s also true that Winn had been heating up, even before Wednesday’s two-homer day. Over his final 16 games in April, Winn batted .345 with a .413 OBP and .564 slug.
So it made sense to try Winn as the No. 2 hitter. I didn’t like Winn as the leadoff man last season because he doesn’t draw many walks and he has a terrible .290 OBP as the No. 1 hitter. But Winn has power, he’s good at hitting the ball to the opposite field, and he’s a fast runner. Those things will play in the No. 2 spot. And I do think we’ll see him hit for more power there.
On the first day of his new assignment, Winn attacked the Reds by going 4 for 8 with two homers, a double, two RBIs, and four runs scored. So I’m anxious to see if this move will work over an extended period of time.
ST. LOUIS STARTING PITCHING: Through the team’s first 31 games, the Cardinals’ starters rank 8th in the majors with a 3.63 Fielding Independent ERA, and are 14th in the traditional ERA at 3.88. They’re also tied for first in the majors – with six other teams – in quality starts (14.)
Since April 7, a span of 22 games, STL starters have a 3.00 ERA (5th) and a 3.27 FIP (7th), and are tied for first with 12 quality starts. They also have one of the highest ground-ball rates (43.6%) among MLB rotations since then, ranking sixth.
I have a hundred stats on this but will limit the distribution to stick to a few of the most important numbers.
– St. Louis starters are terrific at preventing home runs, ranking 4th overall this season with an average yield of 0.8 HRs per nine innings. They’ve been even better lately, giving up 0.57 homers per nine, ranking 2nd, since April 17.
– Cardinal starting pitchers are near the bottom (26th) this season with a 18.2 percent strikeout rate, but are doing a swell job of reducing walks. The rotation walk rate for the season (6.6%) is third best in MLB.
– For the season, opponents are batting .236 against STL starters with a low .290 onbase percentage and .366 slug.
The starting pitching isn’t overpowering, but it’s effective. A strong defense benefits them, and when the weather warms up the starters might see a rise in their HR/FLY rate, which currently is the fourth lowest in the majors at 8.4%.
INDIVIDUAL STARTER ERA SINCE APRIL 7: Steven Matz 1.00 in two starts. Miles Mikolas 2.14 in four starts. Sonny Gray 2.63 in four starts. Matthew Liberatore 2.88 in four starts. Erick Fedde 3.80 in four starts. And Andre Pallante 4.24 in four starts.
THE MARVELOUS MILES MIKOLAS: Yeah, I really used the word “marvelous” there. And why not? Minus his disastrous outing in Boston on April 6, Mikolas has a 2.39 ERA in his other five starts so far in 2025. He doesn’t strike out many, and his current swing-miss rate would be the lowest of his STL career, and his fastball velo is still down. But Mikolas is getting better results on two-strike counts, and he’s faced 127 batters this season without getting beat for a home run. Since April 7, Mikolas ranks 7th among NL starting pitchers and 14th overall with a 2.14 ERA.
Because Mikolas has been hit for the second-highest contact rate among MLB starting pitchers this season, his good fortune on batted-ball luck could change and get worse. But he deserves credit for his recent performances, and while I’m not going to start comparing him to the 2005 Chris Carpenter or anything stupid like that – well, I see no reason to be petty at a time he’s been pitching effectively.
Over his last two starts, in the tough pitching environments in Atlanta and Cincinnati, Mikolas pitched 11 and ⅓ scoreless innings, allowing nine hits without walking any batters. And in those two starts, opponents went 4 for 18 (.222) with six strikeouts on two-strike counts. And all four hits were singles.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting. You can access all of his columns and videos here on SportsHubSTL, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX (1120-AM, 104.1-FM), and he is a regular guest of “Cardinal Territory” video show hosted by the great Katie Woo of The Athletic.