Cards Avoid Sweep, Hold Off Marlins 2-1

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Avoid Sweep, Hold Off Marlins 2-1
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals did not fix everything Sunday afternoon.

They did not suddenly break loose offensively.

They did not erase the frustration of the past week.

But they did avoid the sweep.

After dropping the first two games of the series to the Miami Marlins, the Cardinals leaned on one early swing from Bryan Torres, five steady innings from Kyle Leahy, and a strong bullpen finish to beat Miami 2-1 at Busch Stadium.

It was not flashy.

It was necessary.

The Cardinals entered the finale needing something positive after being shut out Friday and held to one run Saturday. The offense still did not exactly explode Sunday, but this time, one swing was enough because the pitching staff made it stand.

Torres delivered that swing in the second inning.

Masyn Winn opened the inning with a single to left field against Miami right-hander Tyler Phillips. Torres followed by turning on a pitch and driving it over the wall in right field for a two-run homer, his third of the season.

Just like that, the Cardinals had a 2-0 lead.

For a team that had spent most of the weekend searching for any kind of offensive pulse, the Torres homer felt bigger than two runs. It gave the Cardinals something they did not have much of in the first two games of the series — an early lead and a little breathing room.

They would need every bit of it.

Leahy did not have a stress-free afternoon, but he competed through five innings and limited the damage. He allowed one run on two hits, walked three and struck out five. He threw 87 pitches and worked through traffic early before settling in.

Miami put two runners aboard in the first inning after Jakob Marsee and Xavier Edwards both walked, but Leahy escaped by getting Heriberto Hernández to fly out to center.

That mattered.

The Marlins had taken control early in the first two games of the series. On Sunday, Leahy kept them from landing the first punch.

After the Cardinals took the lead in the second, Leahy answered with one of his best innings of the day. He struck out Griffin Conine, worked around a walk to Owen Caissie, and got Graham Pauley to pop out before Brian Navarreto grounded out to end the inning.

Then came the third, where Leahy found another gear.

He struck out Marsee looking, got Otto Lopez to pop out in foul territory, and then struck out Kyle Stowers swinging. Against a Miami club that had been swinging the bats well all weekend, that was an important response.

Leahy kept the Marlins off the board again in the fourth, retiring Edwards, Hernández and Conine in order.

The only Miami run came in the fifth.

Caissie opened the inning with a double to center, and Pauley followed with a ground-rule double down the right-field line, scoring Caissie and cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 2-1.

That was the danger point.

Miami had a runner in scoring position with nobody out, and the Cardinals’ two-run cushion had been sliced in half. Navarreto sacrificed Pauley to third, putting the tying run 90 feet away. But Leahy got Marsee to line out softly to JJ Wetherholt at second, then struck out Lopez swinging to end the inning.

That was the ballgame right there.

Leahy did not just protect the lead. He protected the afternoon.

The Cardinals’ offense did not add on, which kept the game uncomfortable the rest of the way. But the bullpen took it from there.

JoJo Romero replaced Leahy in the sixth and worked around a one-out single and stolen base by Edwards. Hernández lined out sharply to center, and Romero struck out Javier Sanoja to end the threat.

Ryne Stanek came on in the seventh after Leo Jiménez singled, and he got Joe Mack to ground into a double play. That erased the runner and kept Miami from building anything.

George Soriano handled the eighth with authority, retiring Marsee, Lopez and Stowers in order. He struck out Lopez and Stowers to finish the inning, giving the Cardinals a clean path to the ninth.

That left the ball for Riley O’Brien.

O’Brien closed it out with a clean ninth inning, retiring Edwards, Hernández and Sanoja to earn his 20th save of the season. In a one-run game, after the Cardinals had dropped two straight to Miami and four straight overall, there was no margin for drama.

O’Brien did not create any.

That was a welcome change.

The Cardinals finished with six hits. Wetherholt went 2-for-4 and stole his ninth base of the season. Winn singled and scored ahead of Torres’ homer. Torres drove in both St. Louis runs. Nathan Church and Pedro Pagés added singles in the eighth, though the Cardinals could not turn that late traffic into insurance.

That was the one offensive frustration still hanging over the win.

St. Louis had a chance to add on in the eighth when Church singled and Pagés followed with another single, putting runners at the corners with one out. But after Miami went to the bullpen, Church was picked off third after a review upheld the call. Wetherholt then struck out to end the inning.

In a 2-1 game, missing a chance like that can hurt.

This time, it did not.

Miami managed just four hits. Edwards had one hit and a walk. Caissie doubled and scored the Marlins’ only run. Pauley doubled home that run. Jiménez added a pinch-hit single in the seventh. That was the extent of the Marlins’ offense.

For a team that had scored nine runs over the first two games of the series and came into Sunday playing some of the best baseball in the league during June, Miami never fully broke through.

That was the difference.

The Cardinals’ pitching staff held the line.

Leahy gave them five innings. Romero bridged the sixth and part of the seventh. Stanek got the double play. Soriano dominated the eighth. O’Brien finished the ninth.

That is how a club wins when the offense only gives it two runs.

The final line told the story clearly enough: Cardinals 2 runs, 6 hits, no errors; Marlins 1 run, 4 hits, no errors.

It was not the kind of offensive performance that makes anyone think the lineup is suddenly right again. The Cardinals still need more consistent production. They still need to create bigger innings. They still need to stop living on one swing and a bullpen tightrope.

But Sunday was not about solving every problem.

It was about stopping the bleeding.

After a rough homestand stretch and two frustrating losses to open the weekend, the Cardinals needed to walk out of Busch Stadium with a win. Torres gave them the lead. Leahy protected it. The bullpen carried it home.

That is not a bad Sunday.

It was hot, tight and uncomfortable.

But it was a win.

And after the way the first two games of the series went, the Cardinals were in no position to complain about how it looked.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Bryan Torres, St. Louis Cardinals |  MLB