Cardinals Highlight Reel Defense Backs Rebound Outings For Starting Pitching

The St. Louis Cardinals' pitching was fantastic in the series against the San Diego Padres, with 55 of 81 outs coming with help from their defense. Dustin May was fantastic on Monday night with his second no-hit bid of the season and his first career complete game and shutout. Andre Pallante followed that up with seven strong innings of his own, and with the weathered bullpen coming back to Busch after the road series in Minnesota, the starters gave them a break and allowed them to hit the reset button.

Kyle Leahy continued the trend on Wednesday, producing a quality start for the Cardinals on 81 pitches. When asked about his potential to return to the mound for the seventh after Leahy had an efficient sixth inning, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said, “No, because you’re also looking at an innings limit at the end of this year, so you want to pick your spots as to when you do that.”

Leahy tagged his second quality start and notched seven strikeouts in the game on Wednesday, but received some help at the hot corner as Blaze Jordan made a pair of outstanding plays in the early going. 

“We walk in yesterday, and Blaze is already sitting with Stubby in front of the Hawkeye, going through every play,” Marmol said. “His first step, his timing, inning by inning. When he was relaxed, when he was on time.” Jordan has taken that accountability to become the defender that is needed at the major league level, and it showed. 110 mph off the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr. to him at third for the first play of Wednesday’s game, and he makes a reactionary play that results in the game's first out.

Masyn Winn also had a phenomenal series, making highlight reel plays almost every day, from saving May's no-hitter bid with a sliding play in the hole to turning a double play to preserve the shutout just two hitters later. "Absolute showcase" were the words Marmol said about the Cardinals' shortstop's series before Wednesday's finale, and he was right. Winn made nearly every play that was hit in his general direction over the three games with San Diego.

The Cardinals' infield has turned 162 double plays this season, second in the majors at doing so, and they also lead the league in Double Play Runs Saved this season. Michael McGreevy spoke pregame about how the defense behind them allows the staff to attack hitters differently. 

“It gives you the trust that you can throw stuff in the zone, and you kind of want them to put it in play,” the Cardinals starter said. “ It shows the last two nights being super efficient, going deep in the game, going seven innings like Pallante, going the whole game like DMay.” Efficiency was the key there for the Cardinals, who have struggled getting their starting pitching deep into the game with consistency this year. McGreevy would go on to say that they can “still get your strikeouts when you need to, but if you’re able to pitch to contact, you get quick outs to stay in the ball game longer, save the bullpen for a more important game.”

Defense is a staple in St. Louis; the franchise has the most Gold Glove awards won by any other franchise in MLB history, and that is a piece of the Cardinals' identity, and why they are sitting at eight games over .500 during the third week of June, in what was perceived as a rebuilding year.