The St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up their road trip with an off day for most of the key pieces on Wednesday against the Miami Marlins, and while the series finale did not break the Cardinals' way, they did come out on top during the trip. After the Birds on the Bat swept the Houston Astros, they would lose two of three to the Marlins, but all in all, a successful trip for the Cardinals, who come back to St. Louis four games above .500.
Jordan Walker cooled off on the road, but is still hitting .292 on the year with an OPS of .964. The Cardinals' right fielder was a victim of the strikeout away from home, striking out in 43.5% of his plate appearances. Walker was one of the three Cardinals regulars given the day off on Wednesday, with Alec Burleson and Masyn Winn being the other two.
Speaking of Winn, he was on fire at the plate, especially during the stop in Houston. The Cardinals' shortstop hit for a .409 batting average and a .727 slugging percentage over his last five games. Before the flight to Houston, Winn was hitting just .188 on the season with just three extra base hits on the year. He would have four over the last week with two doubles, a triple, and a home run. After undergoing surgery to repair his knee in the offseason, Winn wants to improve on the offensive side of the baseball following his Gold Glove-winning campaign. Winn must continue to roll offensively as the team comes home to see the Seattle Mariners, because when the Cardinals can get clutch hitting out of their shortstop if makes the middle of the order another notch better.
The offense is top ten in baseball in runs scored, which is masking the real issue underneath. The pitching staff, as a group, headed to Houston, was in the bottom five in baseball in terms of ERA. While the rotation and bullpen were not as bad during the most recent road trip, they weren’t improving to the levels that they will need to continue winning if the offense does not score in bunches on a nightly basis.
The Cardinals staff posted a 4.25 ERA over the last six games, which is ranked 18 in baseball during that span. The starters were ranked 14 among all rotations during the last week, but the bullpen, which has continued to be the issue, is making games closer than they need to be late or turning over the lead in the back third of the game after a strong outing by the starter. The bullpen is in the bottom 10 in ERA on the season, and though their spot in the standings over the last week has gone up, they still held a 4.71 ERA during the weekend.
The Cardinals pitchers are in the bottom third of the league for both K/9 and BB/9, which, with the defense the Cardinals have played behind them, has gotten them by, but they are consistently bitten by no-out or one-out walks that come around to score.
The Cardinals begin a 17-game stretch with no days off in between Friday night against Seattle. This will be a real test for the bullpen, which, even with days off in between, has only shown a couple of trustworthy arms in leverage situations.