Over the past two nights in Miami, the Cardinals have enjoyed their first stretch of scoring touchdowns (plus the extra point) in back-to-back games since June.
Not since plating nine runs against the Guardians on June 28 and following it up with a seven-run output the next night in Cleveland has the St. Louis offense found this level of rhythm in consecutive contests.
Your inclination might be to dismiss it as a product of playing a lesser opponent in the Marlins, but Miami sent two quality arms to the mound for these games—and the Cardinals managed to cut through for explosive outings on both occasions.
Eury Perez (3.48 ERA) and Edward Cabrera (3.52 ERA) have put together solid campaigns in the Marlins rotation, but the Cardinals found success against both—and that success didn’t look the same in both games.
Perez mostly sailed through the first four innings of his outing against the Cardinals, pitching around some early traffic before setting the St. Louis lineup down in order for the third and fourth innings. But when an error by the Miami defense opened the door for the Cardinals, they didn’t waste their chance to burst through it.
A walk, an error and a wild pitch put Perez squarely on the ropes for the first time in the game. The 22-year-old pitcher was showing signs of wear, and the Cardinals pounced.
Lars Nootbaar stayed on a pitch deep into the zone to rifle it the other way for an RBI hit. Ivan Herrera didn’t give in to Perez picking around the strike zone, drawing his walk to knock Perez from the game.
After four innings on cruise control, Perez spiraled in the fifth—and the Cardinals took advantage of the blood in the water, like any good offense should. Alec Burleson’s infield hit and a sac fly by Willson Contreras against a bullpen arm ensured the Cardinals would capitalize on Perez’s misfortune to the fullest extent.
Tuesday, the Cardinals didn’t have to lie in wait for their chance to deliver a knockout blow to the starter—the onslaught against Cabrera began with the game’s first batter.
The Cardinals peppered Cabrera with 11 hits across five different innings, scratching runs across in four of those five frames. St. Louis exhausted Cabrera with constant traffic until he tapped out after recording only 13 outs.
Their ability to compile runs in different ways across the first two games of the Miami series was refreshing. Even after adding 15 runs to their ledger over the past two nights, the Cardinals lineup sits among only seven MLB teams to score fewer than 100 runs over the past 30 days.
Continuing to pass the baton in various ways as they have in the early days of this Florida road trip could be a key to finishing the season with a respectable record, as the Cards sit a game below .500 (63-64) heading into the finale in Miami.