Archives for July 2019

Waino Plays Stopper Again

The memory is surprisingly vivid even a month later. It is June 29. The Cardinals – on the road in San Diego – were getting hammered 12-2. After the game, the young Padres were cavorting on the field. They were careless, happy and hot. Although they weren’t expected to contend, at that moment they were 42-40 and just a game and a half out of the last wildcard spot.

In the other dugout, the Cardinals (who had vowed to make it back to the playoffs this year) wandered off the field like a team caught in a nightmare that they couldn’t wake up from. That loss was their fifth in a row. It dropped them to 40-41 on the season. They were 4 games behind the Cubs in the division, and a game and a half behind San Diego in the wildcard race – three games behind the last spot, with four teams in between them and the last playoff spot.

This was the statistical half-way point of the season, and this team was under .500. They were also at that point 20-20 in games after a loss. While – to the best of my knowledge – no one else tracks games after a loss, I consider it a fairly useful barometer of a team’s character and resourcefulness.

For some background, no Cardinal team this century has finished below .500 in games after a loss. The 2017 team finished a century-worst 39-39 in games after a loss. That team finished 83-79 and 9 games out.

Throughout the century, coming into this year, the Cards (including playoffs) were 809-596 – a .576 winning percentage – after they had lost the game before. Five times this century, this team won over 60% of their games after a loss. All of those teams made the playoffs.

The seven versions of the Cardinals that have failed to make the playoffs this century are a combined 294-246 (.544) after a loss, while all of this century’s playoff teams have gone 515-350 (.595) after a loss.

The concept is simple enough. Everybody loses games now and then. But the tough teams resist getting that second loss pinned on them. Stay out of losing streaks, and things will generally pan out well for the season.

Throughout the bulk of the season, the issue in games after a loss has been on the mound. St Louis has lacked that stopper’s mentality from the next day’s pitcher. Through the end of June, the next day’s starter carried a 4.86 ERA and a .281 batting average against.

On the last day of June, Miles Mikolas put his foot in the ground and began something of a turnaround. He contained the exuberant Padres for 6 innings, leaving the game trailing, but only by a 3-2 score. With a nearly impeccable bullpen (which has been a strong part of this story) holding the line, St Louis tied the contest thanks to an eighth-inning error, winning finally in the eleventh on Matt Wieters’ two-run home run (box score).

With the end of the season’s longest losing streak, came a reversal of fortunes for both teams. Gravity has since caught up with the Padres, who have floated out of playoff contention. For their part, the Cards used that emotional win to fashion the 16-8 July record that has surged them to the top of the division.

At the close of last weekend’s series against Houston, the Cardinal momentum looked like it may have stalled, as St Louis was defeated fairly soundly on Saturday and Sunday.

And so, yesterday they again needed a starter to take the mound and put an end to the losing streak. As it has been so often over the last decade plus, that starter was Adam Wainwright.

The Cubs gave as good as they got from Waino, but by the end of his 5.2 inning stint, he held the game at a 1-1 tie. The bullpen, again, threw airtight relief, and a late home run off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt sent the Cards into sole position of first place by a 2-1 score (box score).

This was now the 147^th time that Adam has taken the mound after a Cardinal loss in his storied career. The Cards are now 96-51 (.653) in those games.

Meanwhile, St Louis has gone 5-3 this month (including 4-1 over the last 5) in games after a loss – improving them to 26-23 for the season in this category. In the 8 games after a loss this month, the rotation has come up strong with a 3.40 ERA and a .245 batting average against. The bullpen has been even better in these games with a 1.88 ERA and a .152 batting average against.

Waino, by the way, has made the start in two of those games, throwing 5 solid innings against Seattle on July 3 setting up a 5-2 victory.

Last night’s game had a bit of a playoff feel to it. The birds haven’t won too many of those types of games over the last few years.

Who You Gonna Call?

After back-to-back walks in the sixth, the Cubs had their best opportunity to break the hearts of the home team fans. Bases were now loaded, two outs, and Kyle Schwarber – owner of more than one telling hit against the Cardinals in his career – was at the plate. At 95 pitches, and with the lefty up, manager Mike Shildt felt the prudent thing was to relieve Adam in an attempt to hold onto the 1-1 tie.

So, who do you call on? Giovanny Gallegos, of course. Five pitches later, Gallegos got Kyle to reach for that slider, lofting a harmless fly ball to medium deep left. And the threat was done. Giovanny has now stranded the last 8 runners that he has inherited – including the bases loaded twice. Gallegos – who has stranded 29 of the 32 batters he has inherited this season – has now come into bases loaded situations 7 times this season. He has stranded all of these gentlemen in 5 of those occasions, allowing just one of those runs in the other two occasions.

There just has not been an occasion that has been too large for the amazing Mr. Gallegos.

Gio is now unscored on in 8 straight games (11.2 innings). He has allowed 2 hits in those innings with 15 strikeouts against 3 walks. Over his last 24 games (29.2 innings), Gallegos holds an 0.61 ERA with a.131/.179/.212 batting line against. The 4 walks he has allowed in those innings more than swallowed up in his 39 strikeouts. In 12.2 innings this month Gio holds an 0.71 ERA, and has allowed just 3 hits against 18 strikeouts.

This just in. Gallegos is pretty good.

AndrewMiller

Andrew Miller – all things considered – has put together a very solid month of his own.

He also entered the game with a runner on base (first base) and two outs. Miller allowed an infield hit, but then retired slugger Kris Bryant on a fly ball to center.

For the month of July, Miller has a 1.80 ERA through 10 innings.

CarlosMartinez

In recent days, Carlos Martinez has had some scary innings. None of that was in play last night. Carlos wrapped up a four-out save in perfect fashion, featuring 3 strikeouts. One of the big questions surrounding any closer is how quickly he can turn the page if he has a couple of rugged outings. Here, in a big game against the Cubs (a team he has had struggles with) Carlos was as good as could be hoped.

Throughout his career, Carlos has always pitched very well on days after a Cardinal loss. He has pitched in 5 of the 8 such games this month, giving 1 run on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 8 in 5 innings. For the season, Martinez holds a 2.79 ERA with a .206/.280/.279 batting line in 19.1 innings after a loss.

Over the course of his career, Carlos has pitched in 107 games after a Cardinal loss – starting 47 of them. He is 24-14 with 10 saves and a 3.08 ERA over 362 innings.

TommyEdman

After a bit of a tailspin, Tommy Edman is beginning to re-emerge. He has had two hits in each of the last two games.

Tommy has had a good month in games after a loss. He has now played in 7 of them, hitting .320 (8 for 25).

JoseMartinez

Jose Martinez finished the game with two singles, stretching his hitting streak to seven games. He is hitting .333 (9 for 27) during the streak.

PaulGoldschmidt

Speaking of hitting streaks, Goldschmidt extended his to eight straight games. It hasn’t been a quiet hitting streak either, as Paul has hit .364 (12 for 33) in those games. The hits have been 5 singles and 7 home runs. Paul has driven home 14 runs over the last 8 games (3 of them game winners) while slugging a tidy 1.000.

DexterFowler

Dexter Fowler saw his six-game hitting streak come to an end last night. Dex was 7 for 23 (.304) with 2 doubles and 2 home runs (.652 slugging percentage) during the streak.

PaulDeJong

Paul DeJong will certainly be glad to see July end. After his 0 for 4, Paul is down to .214 for the month (18 for 84).

For the season, Paul has struggled considerably after a St Louis loss. Playing in 48 of the 49 games, DeJong is hitting .227 in those games (41 for 181). In July, after a loss, he was 3 for 30 (all singles) with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts – a .100/.156/.100 batting line.

NoteBook

Paul Goldschmidt’s home run accounted for his eighth game-winning RBI of the season. Only Marcell Ozuna (who has 9) has more.

The home run was Goldy’s twenty-fifth of the year. Paul has been a four-time thirty-home-run guy – including last year when he hit 33. His career high is 36, done twice. Behind his average home run pace for most of the year, Goldschmidt is now on pace to hit a career-high 38. Seven homers in eight games will do that.

Paul hasn’t started every game this season, but he has played in all of them – all 106. Goldschmidt has never played in every game in a season, but he has come close. He played in 160 with Arizona back in 2013. He has played in at least 155 games in each of the last 4 seasons – including 158 last year.

Paul is also up to 396 at bats, and is creeping up on the 593 he had last year – the second most of his career.

After getting hit by a pitch again last night, Kolten Wong has reached double figures in HBP for the third consecutive season, and the fourth time in his career. His career high is 15 set in 2015.

Kolten is also moving up on the games played list – last night was his 104th game of the season. He played just 127 last year. Kolten has never played more than the 150 games he played in 2015.

Wong is also up to 330 at bats for the season, just beneath the 353 he managed last year. Wong hasn’t been over 400 at bats in a season since that 2015 season.

His single was his eighty-sixth hit of the season – he finished last year with 88. Kolten, in his seven-year career – has exceeded 100 hits only three times. He has also nearly matched his total bases for all of last year (when he had 137). He already has 129 in 2019.

With Tuesday’s hard-fought win, St Louis has now won the opening game of five straight series.

The Cubs (coming off losing two-of-three in Milwaukee) are the fourth team in the Cards’ last five series that had lost its previous series.

St Louis fell behind again in the fourth inning. They have now surrendered the game’s first run in four straight games, and six of the last seven.

Baseball

Who Are These Guys?

Injuries and the other attrition that attends the course of the long major league baseball season has shaken the staid lineups that the Cardinals had trotted out through most of the early months of the season.

With the Cubs in town tonight to end the month of July, both teams sit tied atop the division with identical 56-49 records. The Cards have gotten here on the wings of a 15-8 July that has been a little remarkable for all the critical pieces that have been missing for all or most of the month.

The Cards July run has been accomplished without Matt Carpenter (4 games played this month), Jordan Hicks (0 games), Yadier Molina (2 games) or Marcell Ozuna (0 games). You would have thought that losing any of these players for any extended period of time would weaken this team, and that the loss of more than one of them would be crippling. But the stealth strength of this team all along has been its depth – at the major and minor league levels. All of these significant losses have been mitigated by more than capable play from the next men up.

There is that famous line in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The gang has tried everything they can think of to shake a pursuing posse – only to look back and see them following every step of the way. “Who are those guys?” Perhaps the Cubs have wondered the same thing.

Here are some random observations about the evolving Cardinal lineup:

Adam Wainwright opens the Chicago series tonight. Adam has had good and bad days, but for the month of July he has been something of a good luck charm – the Cards are 4-0 in his starts this month.

One of the most significant upgrades this off-season was Yadi’s backup. Since it was assumed that Molina would start about 140 games, there was little reason to think that the backup catcher would be a terribly important factor. But with Yadi on the shelf for a significant period of time, the addition of Matt Wieters has been huge.

St Louis is 9-6 this month with Wieters starting, and 18-12 (.600) this season.

But the impact here stretches beyond Wieters. The Molina injury also opened the door for Andrew Knizner to play an important role in the July surge. Andrew has started 6 games this month, with the Cards winning 5 of them. For the season, they are 6-2 when Knizner starts.

One of the most useful moving pieces has been Yairo Munoz. Between third base, shortstop, left and center field, Munoz has started 13 of the 23 July games so far. St Louis is 10-3 (.769) when he starts, and 5-5 when he doesn’t.

Ozuna’s absence has opened the door for Tyler O’Neill. Of all the players who have stepped up, O’Neill might be the one who has earned himself continued playing time – even when Ozuna returns.

Tyler has made 26 starts this year. The Cards are 16-10 (.615) and are scoring 5.00 runs per game when Tyler starts. They are 40-39 (.506) scoring 4.44 runs per game when O’Neill is not in the lineup.

Jose Martinez also seems to be a necessary lineup element. St Louis is 40-30 (.571), scoring 4.86 runs per game when Jose is in the lineup. They are 16-19 (.457) scoring 4.03 runs per game when Martinez begins the game on the bench.

Both of these outfielders have an ability to spark the team. Before his injury, the Cards were only 37-40 (.481) when Ozuna started – scoring 4.40 runs per game. In the 28 games they’ve played without Ozuna in the lineup, St Louis is 19-9 (.679) scoring 5.07 runs per game.

Matt Carpenter – poised to return soon to the lineup – has started only 74 games this year (62 against right-handed starters and 12 against lefties). The Cards are 6-6, scoring 4.67 runs per game when Carp is in the lineup against lefties. They have lost 6 of the 9 games against left-handers that Carpenter hasn’t started, scoring just 34 runs in those games.

Meanwhile, they are just 32-30 in the games the left-handed Carpenter has started against right-handers, scoring 4.50 runs per game in those contests. They have faced 22 right-handed starters without Matt in the lineup. St Louis is 15-7 in those games (.682) scoring 5.09.

Tommy Edman is another of those rookies who has made a splashy debut in the show. He has ended up making 17 starts this month. But St Louis is just 10-7 when Tommy starts (they are 5-1 this month when he doesn’t start). Much of the reason for this, I believe, is that Edman is mismatched as a leadoff hitter. Thirty-seven games into his major league career, Tommy has drawn all of 5 walks and his on base percentage is .299.

For the season, Carpenter has batted leadoff 67 times to Edman’s 21. St Louis is 37-30 (.552) scoring 4.69 runs per game with Matt leading off. They are 11-10 (.524) scoring 4.43 runs per game with Tommy in the leadoff spot.

As for Carpenter, he has made 7 starts in a lineup spot other than leadoff. St Louis has scored only 21 runs in those games, losing 6 of the 7.

For all the angst over Carpenter’s ragged season so far, Carp just doesn’t seem to be himself when he doesn’t hit leadoff, and the Cards don’t seem to be themselves when someone else is there.

In moving Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong down in the order, manager Mike Shildt has been searching for the right person to hit second. This month, more often than not, that person has been Martinez. It is, perhaps, not his best fit.

St Louis is only 8-6 in Jose’s 14 starts batting second this month, scoring 4.71 runs per game. They are 7-2 with someone else there, scoring 49 runs in those games.

Of those other players who have hit second this month, Shildt has turned to Dexter Fowler 5 times, with St Louis winning all 5, scoring 34 runs in those games.

For the season, Goldschmidt has still made the most starts in this lineup spot – he has batted second 55 times. St Louis is 26-29 in those games, although they’ve scored a healthy 4.85 runs per game. DeJong has the second most opportunities to hit second with 24. The record in those games is improved at 14-10, although the scoring is down to 3.67 runs per game.

While Goldschmidt has been hitting home runs in July, management’s question has been where to bat him. Paul has hit fourth 12 times and third 10. The numbers suggest that third might be the better fit in the new lineup. St Louis is 7-3 when Goldy hits third. They have scored 52 runs in those games. They are 7-5 when he hits fourth (.583) with the team scoring 5.00 runs per game.

For the season, Goldy has hit cleanup 14 times (8-6, 4.79) and third 32 times (20-12, 4.19 runs per game). DeJong has still made the most starts this season hitting third with 64. In spite of the fact that St Louis is averaging 4.78 runs per game when DeJong hits there, they are just 30-34 in those games.

If not Goldschmidt batting fourth, how about Tyler O’Neill. He has hit there 11 times this month (8-3). Fourth, of course, is where Ozuna hit when he was in the lineup (all 77 games).

After the fourth spot, all of the remaining lineup spots have been completely up for grabs. Twenty-three games into the month, and no one has made as many as ten starts in any of the last four spots in the batting order.

For the season, four different players have hit fifth at least ten times (Martinez 42, Molina 17, Fowler 14 and O’Neill 10). None of them has made even one start there this month.

Molina has made the most starts this season batting sixth. The team is 21-26 in his 47 starts, although they are scoring 4.51 runs in those games. In his absence, Fowler and Kolten Wong have been trading opportunities in this lineup spot – both with solid results.

Wong has hit sixth 9 times this month, with a 6-3 record. The team has scored 55 runs in those games. For the season, the Cardinals are 8-7 (.533) scoring 5.00 runs per game when Kolten hits here.

For his part, the team is 4-2 in Fowler’s 6 starts hitting sixth, with 29 runs scored. Dexter has batted here 22 times this season, with the team winning 14 of those (.636) while scoring 4.41 runs per game.

Fowler (33) and Wong (29) have also made the most starts this season batting seventh. While the offense has done better with Dexter hitting seventh (5.12 rpg vs 4.03), the record is better when Wong hits there (17-12 as opposed to 14-19).

Note for Tonight

This will be the tenth meeting this season between these ancient rivals. To this point, the home team has won all nine games.

Recent Scoring Changes

For those of you scoring at home:

On July 12 the Cards hosted Arizona. In the fifth inning, Nick Ahmed drilled a one-out shot into the left-centerfield gap, ending up at second. Originally scored a single and an error, Ahmed has since been credited with a double. So erase an error from Jose Martinez and add a double to Daniel Ponce de Leon’s pitching line (amended box score).

Baseball

Still Comes Back to Pitching

The way that the Cardinal’s hot streak came to a thudding halt against Houston at home this weekend should serve as a reminder of some fundamental principles. The first of these principles affirms that it is the depth of the lineup – not necessarily whatever impact bats might be in the middle of it – that determines your offensive performance.

Toward the end of the Cardinal hot streak (and most recently here), the mlb.com game accounts have connected the St Louis surge to Paul Goldschmidt’s recent heroics.

It is no surprise that sports’ journalists should – like the fans – gravitate towards the achievements of the game’s superstars. Sunday’s loss brought to an end a six-game home run streak from Goldschmidt (although not his hitting streak – more on that below). This is a significant achievement. There are precious few mortals anywhere on this planet who are capable of doing things like this.

But the structure of baseball minimizes the impact of any one player – even the superstars. Unlike football (where you can give the ball to your star running back as often as you like) or basketball (where you can funnel the ball to your top scorer every time down the court), in baseball, Goldschmidt has to wait until everyone else has had their at bat before he can hit again. Thus, the more production you get from the rest of the lineup, the more runs you will score over the course of the game (or season).

This was somewhat dramatically born out in the Cardinal losses in this last series. Paul homered in the Saturday game, and added a single on Sunday, but St Louis scored just two runs in each game because too few of the rest of the Cardinal hitters were able to contribute.

It feels a little obvious pointing this out, but there are times that I’m not sure that management understands that this is how offense works in baseball.

The other fundamental principle is that everything begins with pitching. Paul may well have hit two home runs in each of the last two games, and the birds would probably have lost them both anyway as the starting pitchers in those two contests never really gave the team a chance.

In the Friday game (a 5-3 win), starter Jack Flaherty crafted a quality start against this very accomplished Houston lineup – he allowed just 2 runs on 3 hits over 6 innings (he struck out 9).

In the other two games – Saturday’s 8-2 loss and Sunday’s 6-2 defeat – the two starters (Daniel Ponce de Leon and Dakota Hudson) made early exits, leaving with significant deficits.

Combined, Ponce de Leon and Hudson totaled 6.1 innings at the cost of 10 runs on 11 hits (that included a double and 3 home runs), 6 walks and 1 hit batter. They combined for a 14.21 ERA and a .407/.529/.778 batting line.

Most of the time, this kind of damage will get you into trouble. On Saturday and Sunday, it was more trouble than the offense could overcome.

Flaherty

While the Astro series represented a step backward for the rotation overall, Flaherty’s performance continued his strong rebound. After enduring some notable growing pains through much of the first half, Jack began turning things around with his last start before the All-Star break (a 1-0 loss).

Over his last four starts, now, Jack has 3 quality starts. In his 24.1 innings, he has given just 4 runs on 14 hits while striking out 30. He has a 1.48 ERA and a .165 batting average against, but still no wins as his offense has supported him with just 4 total runs over that span.

His ERA for the month of July is now down to 2.48 with a .198 batting average against.

The only runs off Jack came on a two-run home run off the bat of Michael Brantley. The runner (Alex Bregman) was on first with one out – a potential double play opportunity. This now makes 35 straight double play opportunities that Jack hasn’t gotten the double play on a ground ball. A fly ball pitcher, Jack has actually gotten 5 ground balls in those situations, but 3 of those grounders found their way through the infield for singles, and the other two resulted in force-outs only.

Flaherty did actually get one double play in all of those opportunities. Against the Pirates on July 16, Jack struck out Elias Diaz while Kevin Newman was running. Matt Wieters gunned Newman down to complete the DP.

With their 50 swings at Jack’s offerings, Houston was only able to put the ball in play with 12 of them (24%). Flaherty has been the most difficult of all Cardinal starters to put the ball in play against. For the season, only 32.5% of the swings against him end up in play.

Flaherty had – overall – great success against Houston. That success came at a price, though, as it took him 108 pitches to fight through his six innings (the ‘Stros fouled off 28 pitches against him). He averaged 4.91 pitches per batter faced.

As is common for strikeout pitchers, Jack throws a lot of pitches per batter. For the season, his 4.19 pitches per batter faced is the highest among all starters who have been in the rotation all year.

Ponce de Leon

Daniel pitched his way into the rotation with four very impressive spot starts. He has now relinquished that spot as he hasn’t pitched well since being named the fifth starter. In his last three starts he has totaled 9 innings pitched, giving 10 runs on 14 hits and 10 walks. Opponents have a .368 batting average and a .500 on base percentage against him in those outings.

After a strong start, Daniel now has a 4.87 ERA for the month with 11 walks in 20.1 innings.

Hudson

At one point earlier this season, Dakota Hudson had thrown 8 consecutive quality starts – a feat unapproached by anyone in the rotation this year.

But Dakota has been undergoing some growing pains of his own lately. His last 6 times out, Hudson has been saddled with a 5.46 ERA, a .301 batting average against, and a .593 slugging percentage against. He has been touched for 9 home runs in his last 28 innings.

Normally an extreme groundball pitcher, only 43 of the last 89 batters to put the ball in play against him have hit the ball on the ground (48%).

John Brebbia

John Brebbia tossed a scoreless inning on Friday and then threw two more on Sunday. While he has had some ups and downs this season, overall there have been a lot more ups.

In 10 games (14 innings) since his paternity leave, Brebbia has allowed 4 runs on 9 hits, walking 2 while striking out 19. His July ERA sits at 2.57, with a .180/.226/.240 batting line against.

Of the two hits John allowed, one was an infield hit. Through the end of June, John had allowed just one infield hit. He has been scratched for 4 this month.

Over the two games, John faced 3 double play opportunities, and didn’t get the ground ball for any of them. For the season, Brebbia has been in that double play situation 32 times and has gotten just 1 double play. He only got ground balls on two other occasions – one resulting in an infield hit, and the other a dribbler back to the mound that advanced the baserunners.

Of the two batters that John struck out on Sunday, one (Carlos Correa) was caught looking at strike three. Brebbia is getting more called third strikes than usual lately. Of his first 48 strikeouts this season, only five looked at strike three. Seven of his last 17 strikeouts have gone down looking.

No Cardinal pitcher who has faced more than 50 batters has had a higher percentage of his pitches swung at than John. Over the weekend, Houston offered at 21 of his 39 deliveries (53.8%). For the season, batters swing at his offerings 51.1% of the time.

John Gant

After a brilliant start to his season, John Gant has been regressing rapidly. He pitched in 2 of the Houston games, and allowed a run in both. He has been scored on in 5 of his last 12 games. In a total of 10 innings, the previously almost untouchable Mr Gant has given 9 runs on 16 hits a 9 walks – his 8.10 ERA in those outings accompanied by a .381 batting average and a .490 on base percentage.

Sunday was one of the few times recently that John was brought into a game the Cards were losing, and the four-run deficit they faced was the farthest behind the Cards have been when John has entered a game this season.

In the eighth inning Sunday, Brantley came to the plate with George Springer at third, Jose Altuve at first and no one out. The score was 5-1 Houston. Brantley drilled a double off the base of the wall in right-center driving in the runner from third. This was the eleventh time this season that Gant had that runner at third and less than two out. That runner has now scored 8 times.

Dexter Fowler

With his pinch home run in Sunday’s ninth inning, Dexter Fowler extended his recent hitting streak to six straight games. Dex is hitting .304 (7 for 23) during the streak, with 4 of the hits going for extra bases (2 doubles and 2 home runs) – a .652 slugging percentage.

Tyler O’Neill

Tyler O’Neill was also one of the bright spots of the Houston series. Extracting himself from a small slump, O’Neill was 4 for 10 in the 3 games, with 3 walks. Tyler is still having a very strong July, hitting .312 this month (24 for 77).

Goldschmidt

As mentioned above, Paul’s home run streak ended at six games. Goldschmidt did, though, get a single on Sunday to push his hitting streak to seven games. He is 10 for 29 during the streak (.345) with 4 singles to go with the 6 home runs – a .966 slugging percentage.

Kolten Wong

Kolten Wong had gotten a hit in 8 consecutive games in which he had had a plate appearance until he went 0 for 3 on Saturday. He started his next streak with a single and a run scored on Sunday.

In the last 10 games in which he has had a plate appearance, Kolten is hitting .371 (13 for 35). He is up to .344 (22 for 64) for the month.

Paul DeJong

After his big series against Pittsburgh, Paul DeJong finished the Houston series just 1 for 9. He is still hitting just .225 (18 for 80) in July.

Harrison Bader

Nothing will drop in for Harrison Bader. Hitless in 5 at bats during the Houston series, Harrison is now 0 for his last 14 at bats. He is hitting .146 for the month (6 for 41), and is down , now, to .195 on the year.

Yairo Munoz

Not much went Yairo Munoz’ way against Houston, either. Hitless in 8 at bats in the series, Yairo is now working on an 0-for-10.

Over his last 6 games, Yairo is 4 for 24 (.167), and is now hitting just .233 (14 for 60) for the month.

Final Notes from the Pirate Series

Yairo Munoz got the start in left field on Wednesday, breaking Tyler O’Neill’s streak of 11 consecutive starts in left. That had been the longest active streak by any Cardinal at a single position. That mantle now reverts back to Paul DeJong, who – after the conclusion of the Houston series – has made 14 consecutive starts at shortstop.

While Miles Mikolas – the Thursday starter – has pitched notably better since the All-Star break, he is still well on pace to set new career highs (all set last year) in runs, earned runs, hits allowed and walks. He gave 3 more runs (all earned) on 5 more hits and a walk in his six innings, and has now served up 58 runs (56 earned) on 127 hits and 20 walks for the season. His career highs were the 70 runs (63 earned), 186 hits and 29 walks he gave last year. At his current pace, Miles will give up 92 runs (89 earned), 202 hits and 32 walks this season.

With their 6 runs on Thursday, St Louis finished the series with 30 runs scored – the most runs they have scored in any series this year (of course, this was a four-game series). The previous high was the 26 runs they scored against the Dodgers from April 8-11 (also a four-game series).

NoteBook – Houston Series

Paul Goldschmidt picked up his seventh GWRBI with his Friday home run. He is 2 behind Marcell Ozuna for the team lead.

When St Louis out-homered Houston 2-1 on Friday, they brought themselves into home run parity for the season for the first time since the twelfth game of the season (they were actually ahead of the opposition at that point, 19-18). The Cards ended Friday with 134 home runs hit and 134 home runs allowed. As recently as game number 90 (on July 13), they were 16 home runs shy of the opposition (109 hit and 125 allowed).

With his 3 at bats on Thursday, Dexter Fowler surpassed the 289 at bats he totaled in his slump-and-injury plagued 2018 season. Dexter now has 292 at bats for the 2019 season.

Carlos Martinez has started at least 1 game every year of his seven-year career. On Friday he pitched in his twenty-fifth game of the year – all out of the pen. He is 8 games pitched away from the 33 he pitched last year, when he was mostly a starter. Even after missing the first part of the season with injuries, Carlos is still on pace to pitch in 39 games, which would be his most since he pitched in 57 games when he was mostly a reliever in 2014.

But no starts, yet.

Carlos has already set career highs in games finished (17, after finishing 13 in 2014) and saves (he has 10 this season after recording just 7 previously in his entire career).

One thing about Kolten Wong’s season. He won’t be able to complain that he did have ample opportunity. Kolten, who has had annual issues staying healthy (and producing enough to stay in the big leagues) played his 103^rd game of the season on Sunday. He played only 127 all last year. His 10 at bats in the series brought him to 328 for the season. He totaled 353 all last year.

The consistent playing time has seemed to pay off some. Wong already has 85 hits (with his 3 against Houston) and 128 total bases this year, after finishing last year with 88 hits and 137 total bases.

He already has more runs batted in this year (40 after his Friday RBI) than he had all of 2018 (38).

When the Friday game started, St Louis had gone 8 games being at least tied in the game after 6 innings, but they trailed in this one by a 2-1 score at that point of the game.

In Saturday’s loss they broke a streak of ten straight games where they held the lead at some point of the game.

George Springer’s home run in the first inning on Sunday meant that Houston scored first in all three games of the weekend set. The Cardinals have now surrendered the first run in five of the last six games.

St Louis is now 11-5-1 in series after winning the first game.