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THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE Diamondbacks Bury Cardinals Late, Win Makeup Game 10-6 St. Louis, MO By Ray MileurThe St. Louis Cardinals got the first swing.The Arizona Diamondbacks landed the heavier ones.In a makeup game squeezed into what had originally been a mutual off day, the Cardinals jumped ahead early Thursday evening at Busch Stadium, but could not hold the lead and could not slow Arizona’s offense late in a 10-6 loss to the Diamondbacks.This one started with promise.It ended with another reminder of how quickly a game can get away when a pitching staff cannot stop traffic.The Cardinals scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and had a chance to do more. JJ Wetherholt opened the inning with an infield single, and Jordan Walker followed with a double to deep center field, bringing Wetherholt home and giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead.Alec Burleson kept the inning moving with an infield single, putting runners on the corners. Lars Nootbaar then reached on an infield single of his own, scoring Walker and pushing the Cardinals ahead 2-0.At that point, Busch Stadium had life.The Cardinals had four hits before Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt recorded two outs. Masyn Winn flied out to deep center, moving the runners up, and José Fermín walked to load the bases. St. Louis had a chance to turn the first inning into something much bigger.That chance slipped away.Nathan Church struck out swinging, and Blaze Jordan flied out to right to end the inning.The Cardinals had the lead.They also left the door open.That mattered.Michael McGreevy worked around trouble in the first inning, helped by a slick double play after Geraldo Perdomo walked and Gabriel Moreno singled. Max Kepler grounded into the pitcher-to-shortstop-to-first double play, ending the inning and keeping Arizona off the board.For a couple of innings, it looked like McGreevy might settle in and make the early lead stand.He worked a clean second and escaped the third after Tyler Locklear doubled and Perdomo walked. McGreevy struck out Ryan Waldschmidt and Corbin Carroll, then got Moreno to ground out to second.The fourth inning changed the game.Kepler opened the inning with a walk. Adrian Del Castillo followed with a double to deep right, putting runners at second and third. Tim Tawa lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Kepler and cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 2-1.McGreevy got Ildemaro Vargas to ground out, and he was one out away from escaping with the lead.Then Locklear turned the game around.Locklear drove a two-run home run to left field, scoring Del Castillo and putting Arizona ahead 3-2. It was the swing that flipped the game from a Cardinals lead into a Diamondbacks advantage, and St. Louis never got back in front.Arizona added another run in the fifth when Carroll tripled to deep right-center and Moreno brought him home with a sacrifice fly to left. Just like that, the Cardinals’ 2-0 lead had become a 4-2 deficit.The troubling part for St. Louis was that the offense went quiet after the first.After opening the game with four hits and two runs, the Cardinals did not build on it. Burleson doubled in the third and Winn walked, but Fermín flied out and Church fouled out. Jimmy Crooks singled in the fourth, but Wetherholt grounded into a double play. Fermín singled in the sixth and moved to second on Church’s groundout, but Jordan flied out to center.There was traffic.There was no finish.That was the theme.Pfaadt settled in after the rough first inning and gave Arizona six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out one. He was not overpowering, but he stopped the Cardinals from turning the early pressure into a full-blown offensive night.That was enough because Arizona’s lineup kept grinding.McGreevy’s final line was not the kind of line the Cardinals needed in this spot. He worked 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out three. The start had competitive stretches, but the walks and the two big extra-base hits changed the tone.The Cardinals had been leaning on McGreevy for stability.Thursday, he kept them in the game for a while, but not in control of it.The bullpen did not hold it there.Justin Bruihl entered in the seventh and finished that inning cleanly, but the eighth became the inning that broke the game open.Moreno opened the eighth with a double to left-center. Kepler grounded out, but Del Castillo singled to shallow left-center, scoring Moreno and making it 5-2. Matt Svanson replaced Bruihl and immediately walked Tawa after Del Castillo stole second.Vargas singled to left, loading the bases.Locklear singled to center, scoring Del Castillo and pushing the lead to 6-2. Nolan Arenado, facing his former club again, came off the bench and singled to right, scoring Tawa and making it 7-2.The inning kept rolling.Carroll lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Vargas. Perdomo walked to reload the bases, and Moreno singled to right, scoring Locklear and stretching Arizona’s lead to 9-2.That was the knockout inning.Five runs. Six hits. Too much traffic. Too many pitches. Too many Cardinals relievers trying to survive instead of shutting the inning down.Against Arizona, that is dangerous.Against any club in the Wild Card race, that is unacceptable.The Diamondbacks added one more in the ninth, again with Arenado in the middle of it. Del Castillo singled, Vargas singled, and Arenado delivered another RBI single, scoring Del Castillo and pushing Arizona’s lead to 10-2.The Cardinals made a late push in the bottom of the ninth, scoring four times to make the final score more respectable, but the shape of the game had already been decided. The late rally changed the margin. It did not change the story.The game was lost long before the final out.It was lost when the Cardinals could not add on after a promising first inning.It was lost when Locklear turned a 2-1 Cardinals lead into a 3-2 Arizona advantage with one swing in the fourth.It was lost when the Diamondbacks buried the game under a five-run eighth.Arizona finished with 10 runs and 16 hits. Locklear was a problem all night, doubling, homering and driving in three. Moreno had multiple hits and drove in two. Del Castillo reached and scored. Vargas had key traffic-setting hits. Carroll tripled, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and helped keep pressure on the Cardinals. Arenado came off the bench and drove in two runs against his former club.That last part will sting a little extra.It usually does.For St. Louis, the early offense was encouraging, but only briefly. Wetherholt started the first-inning rally. Walker drove in the first run with a double. Burleson had multiple hard-contact moments, including a double. Nootbaar drove in a run with an infield single. Fermín reached and singled. Crooks added a hit.But after the first inning, there was not enough.The Cardinals had chances and failed to cash them in. They put runners in scoring position and left them there. They had a chance to make Pfaadt uncomfortable early and let him off the hook. Once Arizona took control, the Cardinals could not answer until the game had already tilted too far.That has become a familiar frustration.The Cardinals have shown they can still fight. They have shown they can still score late. They have shown flashes of the offense that looked dangerous in Atlanta and Chicago earlier this month.But flashes are not enough.Not in late July.Not in games against teams they are battling in the National League postseason picture.Not when every missed chance can show up later in the standings.This was not just another loss. It was a standalone makeup game against a direct Wild Card competitor. The Diamondbacks came into St. Louis for one game, took control late and left with the win. The Cardinals had a chance to protect their home field, build off Wednesday’s 1-0 win in Anaheim, and create a little momentum heading into the weekend series with Cincinnati.Instead, they gave the momentum right back.The pitching remains the larger concern.The Cardinals allowed 10 runs on 16 hits. They walked five. The bullpen gave up six runs over the final few innings. Svanson was hit hard in the eighth. Graceffo gave up the ninth-inning run. Bruihl could not stop the first wave of the rally. Once Arizona started stacking at-bats, the Cardinals did not have an answer.That is the part that has to concern the front office.The Cardinals can talk about competing. They can talk about staying in the race. They can talk about the Wild Card path being open enough to keep pushing.But games like this show the problem.They need more pitching.They need cleaner innings.They need a bullpen that can stop a rally before it turns into a crooked number.They need starters to give them not just innings, but winning innings.McGreevy has been one of the more stable pieces of the rotation, but Thursday was not his sharpest night. He fought, he battled, and he got into the seventh. But Arizona made him pay for the walks and punished the mistakes. Then the bullpen turned a manageable deficit into a lopsided game.The Cardinals made the final score closer in the ninth.That cannot become the takeaway.The takeaway is that St. Louis scored twice in the first inning, did not keep going, and then watched Arizona score 10 of the next 14 runs.The Diamondbacks won the middle innings.They won the late innings.They won the game.For the Cardinals, the road does not get easier. Cincinnati comes to town next, and the schedule keeps moving. There is no time to sit around and complain about a makeup-game loss, but there is also no way to pretend this one did not matter.It did.Arizona came into Busch Stadium and took a game the Cardinals badly needed.St. Louis had the early lead.The Diamondbacks took it back.And by the time the Cardinals tried to answer late, the game had already gotten away. The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &amp; MiLB Today Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary: www.cardinalchronicle.comPhoto Credit - Tyler Locklear, Arizona Diamondbacks | MLB

Diamondbacks Bury Cardinals Late, Win Makeup Game 10-6

The Cardinal Chronicle Dobbins, Wetherholt Help Cardinals Salvage Finale in Anaheim St. Louis, MO By Ray MileurThe St. Louis Cardinals needed a win.They did not need style points.After two frustrating losses to open the series in Anaheim, the Cardinals finally found a way to stop the slide Wednesday afternoon, beating the Los Angeles Angels, 1-0, at Angel Stadium.It was not an offensive revival.It was not a clean, comfortable afternoon.It was not the kind of game that suddenly answers every question following a rough stretch out of the All-Star break.But it was a win.And after the way the first two games of the series went, that was enough.JJ Wetherholt provided the only run of the day with a solo home run in the sixth inning. Hunter Dobbins, called upon for a spot start, gave the Cardinals six scoreless innings. Luis Gastelum, George Soriano and Riley O’Brien finished off the shutout, with O’Brien working through a tense ninth inning to secure the save.The Cardinals avoided the sweep.That matters.It does not erase the walk-off hit-by-pitch loss Monday night. It does not erase Tuesday’s five-run first inning. It does not erase the concerns about an offense that produced only three hits Wednesday and continued to look far too quiet for long stretches.But it kept the road trip from getting worse.That matters too.Dobbins was the story of the game.The Cardinals needed someone to stabilize things, and the right-hander did exactly that. He worked six scoreless innings, allowing six hits, walking none and striking out five. He threw 86 pitches, 58 for strikes, and gave St. Louis the kind of calm, strike-throwing outing that had been missing far too often during this recent stretch.This was not overpowering dominance.It was execution.Dobbins filled the zone, avoided free passes, worked through traffic and did not let the Angels turn singles into a big inning. That was the difference. Los Angeles had chances. The Angels had seven hits in the game. But Dobbins kept forcing them to earn everything, and when the inning called for a pitch, he made one.The Cardinals had been burned by one bad inning Tuesday night. Matthew Liberatore gave up five in the first, and the game was essentially gone before St. Louis had a chance to settle in.Dobbins made sure that did not happen Wednesday.He gave the Cardinals a chance to play from even ground.For a team struggling to score, that was important.Reid Detmers matched him for most of the afternoon. The Angels left-hander gave Los Angeles 5 1/3 strong innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking two and striking out six. He had the Cardinals off balance early, and for the first five innings, St. Louis looked like a team still searching for the swing that could change the trip.The Cardinals did not have much going.Masyn Winn singled. Blaze Jordan singled. There were a couple of walks. But St. Louis never put together sustained pressure. The Cardinals were 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and left only four men on base because, frankly, there was not enough traffic to leave many more.That has been the problem.The offense has had explosive games in recent weeks, but those nights have been followed too often by long stretches of silence. Wednesday afternoon was another reminder that the Cardinals are living on a thin offensive margin. One swing was enough this time, but that is a dangerous way to survive.Fortunately for St. Louis, Wetherholt supplied that swing.With one out in the sixth inning, Wetherholt got a pitch from Detmers and drove it out for a solo home run, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. It was the only run of the game and the only real mistake Detmers made that St. Louis fully punished.That is why Wetherholt continues to matter so much.He can change a game from the top of the lineup. He can create a run without needing three hits behind him. On a day when the Cardinals’ offense was doing very little, he gave them the one swing they had to have.It was not a long rally.It was not a crooked number.It was one rookie delivering one swing in a game where one run turned out to be enough.That was the offense.Everything else belonged to the pitching staff.Dobbins cruised through the early innings without giving in. The Angels scattered hits, but never turned them into runs. Zach Neto doubled. Mike Trout singled. Wade Meckler had two hits. Josh Lowe had two hits. Oswald Peraza added another. There was contact, and there was pressure, but there was not damage.That is where Dobbins earned the game.He did not let the Angels stack mistakes. He did not walk hitters ahead of trouble. He did not give Los Angeles the free base that often turns a small rally into a game-changing inning. The Angels finished 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and that number tells the story.The Angels had chances.The Cardinals made the pitches.After Dobbins completed six scoreless innings, St. Louis turned the game over to the bullpen with no margin at all.Luis Gastelum handled the seventh inning and continued to show why his Triple-A production deserved a look. He allowed one hit, struck out one and kept the shutout intact. For a bullpen that has been under heavy scrutiny, that was an important inning.Gastelum was not asked to ease into the big-league picture in a soft spot.He was handed a one-run game on the road.He protected it.George Soriano followed in the eighth and delivered another clean inning. He retired the Angels without allowing a hit and struck out one, giving the Cardinals exactly what they needed before handing the ball to O’Brien.That brought the game to the ninth.And because this is the Cardinals, it was not going to be easy.O’Brien had already been at the center of Monday night’s painful walk-off loss, when the Angels won on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. Two days later, he was back on the mound in Anaheim trying to close out a one-run game and prevent the Cardinals from being swept.That is not an easy assignment.It got tense.O’Brien walked two and made the inning more uncomfortable than anyone in the Cardinals dugout wanted. But he also struck out the side, worked through the traffic and finished the shutout. It was not a stress-free save, but it was a save.At that point, the Cardinals were not asking for pretty.They were asking for the final out.O’Brien got it.For St. Louis, the win snapped a four-game losing streak and moved the Cardinals back to three games over .500. That is not where they wanted to be after the All-Star break, but it is better than heading home after being swept by an Angels club buried near the bottom of the American League West.The series still stings.It should.The Cardinals had Monday night in their hands before the ninth inning collapsed. They never recovered from the first inning Tuesday. Even Wednesday, they needed a shutout to win a game in which they produced three hits.That is not sustainable baseball.But it is winning baseball for one afternoon.Sometimes that is all a club can take.The Cardinals finished with one run on three hits. Wetherholt homered and drove in the only run. Winn and Jordan had the other hits. Iván Herrera, Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Nelson Velázquez, José Fermín and Jimmy Crooks were held hitless. The lineup struck out 10 times.That part cannot be ignored.The Cardinals won, but the offensive questions remain. They scored three runs total over the final two games of the series. They had four hits Monday, seven hits Tuesday and three hits Wednesday. That is not enough production for a club trying to stay in the National League postseason race.The pitching bailed them out in the finale.Dobbins gave them the start.Gastelum and Soriano gave them the bridge.O’Brien survived the ninth.Wetherholt gave them the swing.That was enough to win 1-0.But it also showed how thin the margin has become.The Cardinals will now head home with a little bit of relief, but not a lot of comfort. They avoided the sweep. They stopped the losing streak. They got a strong spot start from Dobbins and a useful bullpen response. Those are positives.Still, the bigger picture remains.They need more offense.They need more consistent starting pitching.They need fewer games where one mistake feels like it might decide everything.Wednesday afternoon was a good win because any road shutout is a good win. It was also a necessary win because the Cardinals could not afford to let this series end without some kind of response.They got one.It came from Dobbins.It came from Wetherholt.It came from a bullpen that held the line.The Cardinals salvaged the finale, beat the Angels 1-0, and got out of Anaheim with at least one win.After the first two games of the series, they will take it. The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &amp; MiLB Today Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary: www.cardinalchronicle.comPhoto Credit: Hunter Dobbins, St. Louis Cardinals | Mark Terrell /AP

Dobbins, Wetherholt Help Cardinals Salvage Finale in Anaheim

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE Rebuilding vs. Winning: Why Must One Preclude the Other? St. Louis, MO By Ray MileurIn the modern era of professional sports, rebuilding and competing are often presented as two entirely different paths.A team is either building for tomorrow or trying to win today. It is developing players or chasing the postseason. It is evaluating the future or competing in the present.But why must one preclude the other?I understand calling it a rebuild, a retool, a transition, or whatever phrase fits best. Organizations use those terms to explain a shift in direction, whether that involves player development, roster turnover, payroll flexibility, or long-term planning.There is nothing wrong with building for the future. Every successful organization must occasionally step back, evaluate where it stands, and make difficult decisions.But rebuilding should never become an excuse for accepting losing.Think about what it takes for a minor league player to grind his way to the major leagues.It means long bus rides, modest accommodations, small towns, low salaries, injuries, uncertainty, and years spent away from family. It means sacrificing comfort, security, and personal time for a chance that may never come.For years, these players chase one opportunity in a professional career that is often painfully short. The journey demands perseverance, resilience, discipline, and an unwavering belief that all the sacrifice will eventually be worth it.Then, after all that work, a player finally reaches the major leagues.He walks into a big-league clubhouse expecting to compete at the highest level, only to hear some version of, “We are not really trying to win right now.”That should never be the message.It does not make sense from a player’s perspective. Every player who reaches the major leagues wants to win. Competition is what carried him through the minor leagues in the first place.Telling players that winning is not the priority undermines the very spirit that got them there.It does not make sense from a fan’s perspective, either.Fans invest emotionally, financially, and generationally in their teams. They buy tickets, jerseys, subscriptions, and concessions. They travel to games, rearrange family schedules, and stay up far too late watching extra innings.They show up year after year with hope.Asking those fans to accept losing as part of a long-term plan risks alienating the very people who make professional sports possible.A ballplayer’s career window is too short for any organization to treat seasons as disposable.Most players have only a handful of prime years. Some get only a few months. Others receive one brief opportunity before the game moves on without them.Wasting those seasons because the organization has decided the present does not matter is a disservice to the players, the fans, and the game itself.The truth is, a team can develop young players and still chase a Wild Card spot.It can evaluate prospects while still demanding accountability at the major-league level.It can provide opportunities to younger players without surrounding them with a culture that accepts losing.Building for the future does not require abandoning the present.In fact, meaningful baseball can be an important part of player development. Young players learn more when the games matter, when every at-bat carries weight and when every defensive mistake or missed pitch has consequences.Pressure is part of development.Winning baseball teaches preparation, discipline, accountability, and attention to detail. Those lessons are difficult to replicate when the standings are treated as irrelevant.Smart organizations find ways to honor both timelines.They develop young players while maintaining competitive standards. They make long-term decisions without surrendering short-term opportunities. They protect the future without telling the current roster that today does not matter.Those goals should not be mutually exclusive.Rebuilding does not have to mean losing.Developing players does not have to mean lowering expectations.Planning for tomorrow does not require surrendering today.The St. Louis Cardinals may be building toward the future, but that should never mean walking away from an opportunity to compete in the present.If a Wild Card spot is within reach, chase it.If young players are ready, play them.If veterans can help the next core learn how to win, keep them engaged.The challenge is not choosing between rebuilding and winning.The challenge is doing both.That may be more difficult than simply writing off a season, but professional sports were never supposed to be easy.Players deserve the chance to compete.Fans deserve a reason to believe.And every season should matter. The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &amp; MiLB Today Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary: <a href="http://www.cardinalchronicle.com" data-mce-href="http://www.cardinalchronicle.com">www.cardinalchronicle.com</a>Photo Credit: Chaim Bloom, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB

Rebuilding vs. Winning: Why Must One Preclude the Other

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE Game Day Preview: McGreevy Faces Arizona in One-Game Wild Card Showdown St. Louis, MO By Ray MileurThe St. Louis Cardinals return to Busch Stadium this afternoon for one game against the Arizona Diamondbacks — a brief but important stop before opening a weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night.Today’s game is the makeup of the June 25 contest that was postponed by rain at Busch Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. CT, with the game televised on Cardinals.TV and carried on KMOX. (MLB.com)Right-hander Michael McGreevy will start for St. Louis against Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt.McGreevy enters with a 4-7 record, a 2.92 ERA and 71 strikeouts. Pfaadt is 4-1 with a 4.58 ERA and 44 strikeouts. (MLB.com)McGreevy was originally scheduled to pitch Wednesday’s series finale in Anaheim, but the Cardinals inserted Hunter Dobbins for a spot start and pushed the remainder of the rotation back one day.That decision worked about as well as the Cardinals could have hoped.Dobbins threw six scoreless innings, and JJ Wetherholt’s 15th home run of the season supplied the only offense in a 1-0 victory over the Angels. The win snapped the Cardinals’ four-game losing streak and allowed them to return home with at least a small measure of momentum. (MLB.com)Now the ball goes to McGreevy, who will face the Diamondbacks for the second time in less than a week.His previous start came Friday night at Chase Field, when he allowed two runs — only one earned — on six hits over 6⅓ innings. He struck out five, walked one and gave the Cardinals another quality start in their 5-4 victory. (Reuters)McGreevy has quietly become one of the most dependable pitchers in the St. Louis rotation.He does not overpower hitters with triple-digit velocity, but he changes speeds, commands the strike zone and consistently gives his team an opportunity to win. His 4-7 record says more about the run support and circumstances surrounding his starts than it does about how well he has pitched.This afternoon’s assignment will not be easy.Arizona enters the game at 53-49 and currently occupies the third and final National League Wild Card position. The Cardinals are 52-49, only one-half game behind the Diamondbacks. Pittsburgh is also one-half game back, making this a direct head-to-head contest between clubs separated by almost nothing in the standings. (MLB.com)For all the talk about games in April and May counting the same as games in July, this one carries more weight.A Cardinals win would move them ahead of Arizona by winning percentage and strengthen their position in an increasingly crowded Wild Card race. A loss would allow the Diamondbacks to create a little more separation before St. Louis begins a three-game divisional series against Cincinnati.These teams know each other well.The Cardinals and Diamondbacks played three games in Phoenix immediately after the All-Star break. St. Louis won the opener behind McGreevy, but Arizona answered with a 5-3 victory Saturday and then delivered one of the most painful losses of the Cardinals’ season Sunday.St. Louis built a 7-0 lead in the series finale before Arizona came all the way back to win 8-7 in 10 innings. The Diamondbacks scored eight unanswered runs, handing the Cardinals a loss that carried over into the first two games of their series in Anaheim. (MLB.com)Wednesday’s victory over the Angels finally stopped the slide.Today gives the Cardinals an immediate opportunity to answer Arizona’s comeback with a response of their own.Pfaadt will also be seeing the Cardinals for the second time in less than a week. He held St. Louis to two runs over 5⅓ innings Saturday, allowing six hits while striking out three in Arizona’s 5-3 victory. (MLB.com)The 27-year-old right-hander has experienced an unusual season.Pfaadt opened the year in Arizona’s rotation, moved to the bullpen and was eventually optioned to Triple-A Reno. Since returning to the rotation, he has looked like a different pitcher.He simplified his delivery, changed his position on the pitching rubber and entered last weekend’s start having gone 4-0 with a 2.14 ERA in four outings since returning from Reno. (MLB.com)The Cardinals saw the improved version Saturday.Pfaadt mixed his pitches effectively and kept St. Louis from putting together a sustained rally until late in the game. The Cardinals eventually brought the tying run to the plate, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome.Today, the offense needs to make adjustments.St. Louis scored only four runs during the three-game series in Anaheim and won Wednesday despite collecting just one run. Dobbins and the bullpen made that stand up, but consistently asking the pitching staff to win games without offensive support is not a sustainable plan.The Cardinals need more than scattered singles.They need extra-base hits, productive at-bats with runners in scoring position and better production from the middle of the order. Wetherholt continues to provide impact at the top of the lineup, but one rookie should not be expected to carry the offense every afternoon.Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson and Iván Herrera must help create traffic and damage against Pfaadt. Masyn Winn and the bottom of the order also need to do a better job of extending innings and turning the lineup over.The Diamondbacks present plenty of problems for McGreevy.Corbin Carroll’s speed and power can change a game quickly. Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo are difficult outs near the top of the order, while former Cardinal Nolan Arenado gives Arizona another experienced run producer in the middle of the lineup.Arenado played an important role in Arizona’s win Saturday, collecting two hits and driving in two runs. His presence adds another familiar face to a matchup already carrying plenty of history and postseason significance. (MLB.com)McGreevy’s task will be to control the running game, limit free passes and keep Arizona from creating the kind of extended innings that fueled Sunday’s comeback.He has already shown that he can handle this lineup.Now he must do it again.There is also the question of fatigue.The Cardinals played Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, traveled home and now must play an afternoon game in St. Louis on what had originally been scheduled as an off day. Arizona arrives after scoring a season-high 15 runs Wednesday and has won eight of its last 10 games. The Cardinals are 4-6 during the same stretch. (MLB.com)Nobody will be interested in excuses.Both teams knew this makeup game was on the schedule, and both are facing the same basic challenge: show up, compete and find a way to win an important baseball game in the middle of a demanding stretch.The Cardinals’ decision to use Dobbins in Anaheim gave every regular starter an additional day of rest. That could prove valuable as the club begins a stretch of home games and continues trying to stabilize a rotation that has been carrying a heavy workload.It also places McGreevy exactly where the Cardinals want him today.On the mound in an important game.This may be listed as a one-game makeup, but it has the feel of something larger.Two clubs are separated by one-half game in the Wild Card standings. They played an emotional series less than a week ago. One side left Phoenix believing it had pulled off a season-changing comeback. The other spent the next several days trying to recover from it.Wednesday’s win in Anaheim gave the Cardinals a chance to breathe.A victory today would give them something more valuable — a chance to move back into postseason position before the Reds arrive at Busch Stadium.The schedule says this is one isolated afternoon game.The standings say otherwise. The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &amp; MiLB Today Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary: www.cardinalchronicle.comPhoto Credit: Michael McGreevy, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB.com

McGreevy Faces Arizona in One-Game Wild Card Showdown

The Cardinal Chronicle Cardinal Chronicle Pitcher of the Day: Jacob Odle Misses Bats in Peoria Win St. Louis, MO By Ray MileurJacob Odle gave Peoria the kind of outing that jumps off a box score.Odle is the Cardinal Chronicle Pitcher of the Day after striking out nine over 4.2 innings in the Chiefs’ 7-2 win over West Michigan on Wednesday afternoon at Dozer Park.His final line:4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 KThat is a lot of swing-and-miss packed into a short start.Odle did not quite get through the fifth inning, and the three walks kept the outing from being spotless, but the stuff was loud. He allowed only two hits, kept the ball in the yard, and struck out nearly half the batters he faced. He threw 80 pitches, 49 for strikes, and gave Peoria the tone-setting performance it needed.The 6-foot-5 right-hander has been one of the more interesting developmental arms in the Cardinals’ system this season. After missing time following Tommy John surgery, Odle has worked his way back into form and continues to show the kind of raw ingredients that make him worth tracking closely.The fastball has real life. The breaking ball can miss bats. And when he is around the zone, hitters have a hard time getting comfortable.Wednesday was another example.West Michigan scratched across a run in the first and another in the fifth, but Odle never let the game get away from him. He worked through traffic, leaned on his swing-and-miss stuff, and kept the Chiefs in position to take control.Peoria’s bullpen finished the job from there. Dylan Driessen, José Davila and Patrick Galle combined for 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while striking out five. As a staff, the Chiefs struck out 14 West Michigan hitters.That is how you close out a win.The offense gave Odle plenty of support, too. Jalin Flores went 3-for-3 with a double, home run, RBI, two runs scored and a walk. Jack Gurevitch homered for the second straight day, his 13th of the season, and drove in two. Sammy Hernandez also homered, while Ian Petrutz stayed hot with two hits, a triple and an RBI.But the pitching headline belongs to Odle.Nine strikeouts in 4.2 innings tells you the stuff was working. The next step is efficiency. If he trims the walks and gets deeper into games, outings like this start turning from flashes into something more meaningful.That is the development path.The tools are there. The swing-and-miss is there. The arm is healthy and building.On Wednesday, Jacob Odle reminded everyone why he remains one of the more intriguing arms on the farm.Cardinal Chronicle Pitcher of the Day: Jacob Odle, RHP, Peoria Chiefs Final Line: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &amp; MiLB Today Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary: www.cardinalchronicle.comPhoto Credit: Jacob Odle, Peoria Chiefs | MiLB

Chronicle MiLB Pitcher of the Day: Jacob Odle

The Cardinal Chronicle Cardinal Chronicle Player of the Day: Won-Bin Cho Provides the Spark for Springfield St. Louis, MO By Ray MileurSpringfield did not get the result it wanted Wednesday night, but Won-Bin Cho gave the Cardinals a bright spot worth pulling out of an otherwise frustrating loss.Cho is the Cardinal Chronicle Player of the Day after going 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs, one run scored, one walk and one stolen base in Springfield’s 9-4 loss to Northwest Arkansas.His final line:2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB, SBThat is a complete offensive night.Cho reached base three times, drove in three runs, showed power, showed patience and added value with his legs. On a night when Springfield trailed 8-0 before finally breaking through in the eighth inning, Cho delivered the swing that gave the Cardinals some life.His home run was his 10th of the season, and it pushed his RBI total to 21. He also stole his first base with Springfield, adding another layer to a performance that stood above the rest of the system.The Cardinals did most of their damage in the eighth inning, scoring four runs after being held scoreless through the first seven frames. Cho was right in the middle of that push. Deniel Ortiz also drove in a run, while Jesús Báez doubled and scored. Jon Jon Gazdar added two hits, and Dakota Harris chipped in a hit.But Cho’s night had the most impact.The left-handed hitting outfielder has been an intriguing piece since his promotion to Springfield, and his numbers continue to draw attention. After Wednesday’s game, Cho is hitting .266 with a 1.147 OPS at Double-A. That OPS jumps off the page, and while the sample still needs time, the production has been loud.That is the key word with Cho right now: loud.When he gets into one, the ball carries. When he is controlling the zone, he gives the lineup a different kind of threat. Wednesday showed both sides of that profile. He did not just homer. He also walked, reached base three times and stole a bag.That matters.For Springfield, the loss hurt. The Cardinals have now dropped three straight and slipped one game behind Tulsa in the Texas League North second-half race. The club is still very much in the hunt, but this is a stretch where it needs to stop the skid quickly.Cho’s performance was one of the few things Springfield could feel good about.Two hits. A home run. Three RBIs. A walk. A stolen base.That is a full night’s work.And on Wednesday, it earned him the spotlight.Cardinal Chronicle Player of the Day: Won-Bin Cho, RF, Springfield Cardinals Final Line: 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB, SB The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &amp; MiLB Today Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary: www.cardinalchronicle.comPhoto Credit:Won-Bin Cho, Springfield Cardinals | MiLB

The Chronicle MiLB Player of the Day: Won-Bin Cho

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The St. Louis Cardinal Chronicle is dedicated to preserving Cardinals history, covering today’s game, and following the next generation through the minor leagues. Written in the tradition of the old beat writers, it’s baseball with perspective — steady, faithful, and rooted in a lifelong love for the game.