Archives for August 2022

Sometimes It’s More Than Location

It wasn’t a great start.

Leading the league in walking batters, Dakota Hudson – coming off a promising start against the Cubs – began the second game of the Cincinnati series by walking the first batter he faced.

Things would go mostly downhill from there. Hudson would end up on the losing end of a 5-1 score (box score), and his line wouldn’t be pretty. Dak allowed 5 runs on 9 hits over just 4.2 innings, sparking dialog about his place in the rotation. But the storyline is changing on Hudson. His leadoff walk to Jonathan India was his only walk of the game.

He threw 65.3% of his pitches for strikes – substantially higher than his concerning 59.3% figure for the season. This time, if nothing else, Dakota made them hit their way on. Unfortunately for him, though, they did. Nine times.

Even then, though, these weren’t all rocket shots driven to the far corners of the ballpark. The average exit velocity against Dak was a below average 86.36 miles per hour. During the course of his frustrating evening, Hudson had two groundballs bounce off the third base bag – one that Nolan Arenado make a superior play on, and the second that re-directed sharply off the bag striking Nolan in the cheek.

That last grounder – the second infield hit of that fifth inning – loaded the bases and set the stage for both Hudson’s exit from the game, and Cincinnati’s fifth and final run.

Sometimes It’s Not Location, Location, Location

The Cardinal pitching staff is blessed with several pitchers who can throw as hard as anyone in baseball. Hudson is not one of those. The hardest pitch he’s thrown all season tickled the radar gun at just 94.6-mph. He throws two pitches that average over 90 miles per hour – a four-seam fastball that averages 91.45, and a sinker that averages 91.93. He also throws a slider that, though it averages just 87.97 mph has been thrown as hard as 92.7 mph.

He doesn’t need, really, any more velocity than that. When he’s been most effective, he’s throwing those low-nineties pitches on the bottom edge of the strike zone and letting batters pound them into the ground (which usually works out better than it did last night).

Through the end of July, batters were hitting just .240 (43 for 179) against Hudson when he was throwing in the low-nineties (between 90-92 mph). Only 10 of those hits went for extra-bases (7 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 home runs) – a .324 slugging percentage. Yes, there were some walks – 28 in what would be the equivalent of 51.1 innings (to go along with 4 other batters who were hit by pitches). But Dak also got 10 ground-ball double plays in those innings, to limit the damage. His effective ERA (through July 31) when throwing the ball between 90 and 92.9 mph was a very solid 3.51.

This has all changed in August.

In 5 starts this month, batters are 19 for 48 (.396) against Hudson in that same velocity range. Interestingly, Hudson has only walked 4 of the last 54 batters that he has thrown to at this velocity. But even though the command has been better on these pitches, the results haven’t been.

In Cincinnati last night, 14 of the 22 batters he faced had their at bat end with a Hudson pitch of at least 90 miles per hour. They went 7 for 13, with 2 infield hits, a double and a walk – a .538/.571/.615 batting line.

The two most damaging swings against Hudson may give the most insight to the underlying issue here.

Third inning, Cards ahead 1-0. Cincinnati has a runner on first with no one out and Austin Romine at the plate. With the count 2-2, Dak throws him a slider (this pitch travelling just 87.9 mph) right to the lower outside corner of the zone to the right-handed batter. This pitch was exactly at the spot where the helpful TV-imposed lines that delineate the outside and the bottom of the strike zone meet.

The perfection of the location notwithstanding, Romine flicked the ball just over the wall in right-center (a fly that, I don’t believe, would have left most ballparks in the league).

After India then singled, Jake Fraley (a left-hander) came to the plate. The 1-1 pitch to him was that 91.7-mph sinker that once was again perfectly located at the low-outside juncture of the strike zone. And, once again, the location notwithstanding, Fraley stuck out his bat and lobbed a double down the left-field line for the second opposite-field, run-scoring, extra-base hit against Hudson in the space of three batters.

Some of this is misfortune. If a pitcher consistently hits that spot, he will succeed more often than not. But shifting the odds to the hitters’ favor was the fact that both of those pitches lacked the sharpness that they had earlier in the season. Instead of breaking late and suddenly, both of these pitches rolled into place just as they reached the plate.

Yes, they ended up perfectly placed, but lacking the vigor necessary to truly challenge the hitter.

This, I believe, is not uncommon in dealing with the mental challenges that baseball at its highest level presents. It’s easy to focus so much on one aspect (throwing strikes, throwing to a specific location) that other equally essential aspects of your game can get displaced.

Clearly, Hudson had to make an adjustment. The high volume of walks was complicating his innings and shortening his outings. But, perhaps, in recent starts – and especially last night against Cincinnati, he may have over-adjusted.

Sometimes, it’s more than location, location, location.

Woodford

While Hudson scuffled, Jake Woodford – a candidate to replace Dak in the rotation – prospered. He finished up the last 3.1 innings, allowing no runs and just two singles. Jake, thus, finished off an encouraging return to the major-league club. Since his recall, Jake has made 1 start and 4 relief appearances totaling 12.2 innings. He was 2-0 with a 0.71 ERA in those games, holding those opponents to a .196/.213/.239 batting line.

Nootbaar

Among the many Cardinals whose bat was silenced last night was leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar. Lars is 2 for 17 (.118) over his last 4 games.

O’Neill

Last night’s game ended with Tyler O’Neill striking out on a slider at 87.9-mph. It was the third time in the game that Tyler had been retired on pitches softer than 93-mph. That is still the book on O’Neill. Slow his bat down.

Tyler is hitting .198 (38 for 192) this year on pitches under 93 miles per hour.

Molina

Manager Oliver Marmol went on record saying he will bet on Yadier Molina in September. For his part, Molina isn’t wasting any of those hits in August. He was 0-for-3 last night, and carries an 0-for-20 into tonight’s rubber game against the Reds (the Cincy fans must really be loving this, by the way).

Since his return from his knee injury, Yadi has made 67 trips to the plate. He has 11 singles, 2 runs scored, 2 runs batted in, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts, 1 hit-by-pitch, and 3 ground-ball double-plays for a line of .172/.209/.172.

NoteBook

St Louis only scored one run last night, but it was the first run. They have now scored first in three consecutive games, and 15 of the last 21.

At the start of play this morning, two of the National League’s three best ERAs belong to ex-Cardinal farmhands Sandy Alcantara (who leads the league at 2.13) and Zac Gallen (third at 2.53). Both of these outstanding arms were the collateral damage of the disastrous Marcell Ozuna trade of a few years ago.

Hudson Approaching Career Lows (32 Games Remaining)

The 5 earned runs tallied against Hudson last night bring him to 62 on the season. The most earned runs ever scored of Dak in a single season were the 65 he was charged with in 2019. The runs lift his ERA to 4.43 this season. It has never been higher than the 3.35 he recorded in 2019. He also has one month left to try to get his opponents’ batting average and on base percentage below the .245 and .338 he allowed in 2019. Currently batters are hitting .267 with a .354 on base percentage against Hudson. His strikeout rate has also dropped to what would be a career low at 13.5%. He struck out just 16.1% of the batters to face him in 2018.

With the loss, Hudson ties his career high. He also lost 7 games in 2019.

Baseball

He Hits What He Swings At

So, it’s really hard to be a fan of the Cincinnati Reds these days. The Reds are one of several franchises that I wonder how they keep going. This season will mark eight of the last nine seasons in which Cincinnati will not get a playoff invitation. They are rarely close enough to be in the playoff conversation at this point of the season.

So, in recognition of the sufferings of its fanbase, the Reds and their visiting teams frequently combine to do nice things for them – like distribute multiple souvenirs.

Last night, the visiting St Louis Cardinals took advantage of the cozy dimensions of the Great American SmallPark, driving four home runs into the seats. The Reds hit three more of their own (all in the same inning) in what turned out to be a 13-4 Cardinal win (box score). The seven combined home runs nearly provided a souvenir for each paying fan in the sparsely occupied stadium. I think I’ve seen more people at Cracker Barrell on Saturday morning.

When they get to hit in their home park, the Reds have adequate power. They have hit 74 home runs in 63 home games – as opposed to just 49 in 64 road games. As far as the Cardinals go, after a sluggish start, they are fulfilling the power potential that ownership had in mind when they constructed the team. Now with 161 home runs on the season, St Louis ranks seventh in all of the major leagues (fifth in the National League). But that only tells part of the story.

After last night, St Louis has home runs in 7 straight games, hitting 16 home runs in those games. They have hit 36 in their last 19 games. They lead the major leagues in home runs for the month of August with 48 (Milwaukee’s 40 is the next closest). They also lead the majors in home runs since the Break. They’ve hit 62 second half home runs in 35 games.

So, the masks are off. This is a versatile offense that can score in a lot of ways, but their bread and butter is the home run.

That Being Said

That being said, one can’t really apply the word “typical” across the board (as in the phrase “typical power hitter.”) In this context, a Tyler O’Neill would be your prototypical power hitter. He delivered 2 of St Louis’ yield last night. In his 5 plate appearances, Tyler was thrown a total of 22 pitches. He swung at 9 of them, missing on 4 of the swings and fouling off 3 others. In his 9 swings, he only put the ball in play twice – both of those resulting in 400+-foot home runs. Tyler also walked once and struck out twice.

For the season, his miss rate of 28.7% trails only Nolan Gorman (another prototypical home run guy). Gorman is missing on 32.6% of his swings.

But the Cardinal lineup also features a guy like Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt woke up this morning second in the league in home runs with 33. But Paul – who also leads the league in batting average – isn’t the classical free-swinger that O’Neill and Gorman are. Goldschmidt swings at 42.1% of the pitches thrown his way (team average is 47.2%). He only misses with 23.4% of his swings, while fouling off 38.6% of the pitches he swings at, and putting the ball in play with the other 38%. The team-wide averages are 23.2% misses, 38.8% fouls and 38.0% in play.

Goldy succeeds with a very short, exquisitely controlled swing that produces plenty of power, but does so without leaving him unbalanced at the plate.

And Then . . .

And then there is Nolan Arenado.

Nolan is on quite a little run. With his 2 hits last night, Arenado has hit in 4 of his last 5, with 3 of those games being multi-hit efforts. Nolan is 10 for 18 (.556) over his last 5 games, with his 2 doubles and 2 home runs pushing his slugging percentage to 1.000 even. Arenado sits at .371 for the month (36 for 97) with a .732 slugging percentage in August (11 doubles and 8 home runs). He has driven in 27 runs in 25 games. His second half average sits at .347 with a .686 slugging percentage.

As compelling as the numbers, though, is the precision with which he’s compiling those numbers. Last night, in 4 plate appearances, Nolan swung the bat 5 times. He fouled one pitch and put the ball in play with his other 4 swings. Dating back to the last game of the Arizona series, Arenado has swung at 55 pitches. He has missed just 6. Three of those were in one at bat – a five-pitch strikeout against A.J. Minter in the last Atlanta game. In the other 29 plate appearances since then, Nolan has swung and missed just three times.

This, of course, is Nolan at his most dialed in, but this ability to hit what he swings at has been a consistent part of the Arenado experience. Last year he missed on only 17.9% of his swings (only Tommy Edman’s 14.3% miss rate was lower among regulars). Since the Break, Nolan has been missing only 16.2% of the ball’s he’s chased – the lowest rate among starters, and among players who see frequent at bats, second only to Brendan Donovan’s 10.3%.

In a way, it’s a kind of like a superpower. You get the power without the miss. It’s one of the many special things about Mr. Arenado. He hits what he swings at.

Dickerson

Corey Dickerson chipped in with 3 more hits last night – the fourth time in his last 7 games that Corey has banged out three or more hits. Over his last 26 games (20 starts) Dickerson is hitting .413 (33 for 80) and slugging .650 (8 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 home runs). In the season’s second half, Corey is now up to .431 (28 of 65).

Corey’s return to the roster and the lineup has been marked by a renewed aggressiveness at the plate. Last night, he hacked at 13 of the 19 pitches that were thrown in his direction. Since the Break, Corey is swinging the bat 61.1% of the time – the highest rate on the team.

Pujols

Albert Pujols isn’t going quietly in his last month in the major leagues. He had 2 hits, including a home run last night – bringing him to a .407 average for the month (22 of 54). Half of his August hits have been for extra-bases (3 doubles and 8 home runs), giving him a .907 slugging percentage this month. He is hitting .408 and slugging .859 in the second half.

Especially this month, Albert has been causing pitchers to labor. His 5 plate appearances last night cost the Reds’ staff 23 pitches. This month, he is seeing an average of 4.22 pitches per plate appearance.

Edman

Tommy Edman has begun turning things around recently at the plate. He had two hits (both doubles) last night, and is hitting .310 (9 for 29) over his last 7 games. Probably the most surprising aspect of this little surge is the unexpected power. Tommy’s last 9 hits include 3 doubles, a triple, and 2 home runs – a .690 slugging percentage.

Goldschmidt

In an uncharacteristically tough evening, Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. Thus ended his most recent six-game hitting streak. Goldy had 28 plate appearances during the streak, providing 6 singles, 2 home runs, 5 runs scored, 5 runs batted in, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts, 1 hit-by-pitch and 1 double-play – a batting line of .348/.464/.609.

Mikolas

Miles Mikolas’ Monday start was kind of a microcosm of his second half – half good, and half bad. He was nearly spotless for four innings, and then served up 3 home runs in the fifth. In spite of the fact that he began that inning with an 8-0 lead, Miles was unable to finish the inning and get credit for the win. He has made 8 second-half starts, 4 of them quality starts and 4 of them less so. He is 3-3 since the Break with a 5.81 ERA.

Even with the rough outing, Miles still threw strikes with 53 of his 80 pitches – 66.3%. Mikolas has been the rotation’s most dependable strike-thrower all season, getting strikes on 66.5% of his deliveries.

Of the 41 swings the Reds took against Miles, they only missed with 7 of them. In spite of manager Oliver Marmol’s expressed preference for the swing-and-miss, Miles is leading a staff that is increasingly contact oriented in the season’s second half.

Since the Break, Mikolas is only missing bats on 15.2% of their swings against him, Adam Wainwright and Jose Quintana just 18.4%, and Dakota Hudson just 19.1%. Of the current starters, only Jordan Montgomery (23.4%) is getting misses on more than 20% of the swings against him.

Thompson

Great to see Zack Thompson back with the big club. I wasn’t sure why they sent him down in the first place. With his two scoreless innings on Monday, Zack has given just one run (unearned) on 4 hits (.085 batting average) over his last 15 innings. His ground-ball rate in that span is 71%.

For the season, he holds a 0.47 ERA when pitching in relief.

Woodford

Jake Woodford wrapped up the evening with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, needing only 10 pitches to navigate the inning. Jake has been very efficient in most of his opportunities. He is throwing just 14.53 pitches per inning for his 30 major league innings.

Woody did allow an infield hit, but promptly got a ground ball and a double play – another thing Jake has been very proficient at in his limited opportunities. He has now gotten that double play in 6 of 23 such opportunities – a team-leading 26.1%.

NoteBook

The Cards scored first again. They have put the first run on the board in 14 of their last 20 games.

As last night’s game crept into the ninth inning, the Cardinals’ 12-4 lead represented their largest going into the ninth since they led Colorado 13-0 going into the ninth inning of that August 18 contest.

On Tuesday, June 22, St Louis paid a visit to Tampa Bay, losing a game there 4-2 before a raucous crowd of 10,905 patrons. That was 73 games ago – and that’s how far back you have to go to find a smaller crowd for a Cardinal game than the 11,051 that made the trek to Great American Ballpark last night.

O’Neill produced the game-winning RBI for the third consecutive game. He now has 9 on the year, still a bit behind Arenado and Goldschmidt, who are tied for the team lead with 11 each. Behind him are Dylan Carlson (6), Paul DeJong (5), and Gorman (5).

Players Working Towards Career Highs (and Lows)

After giving up some hits when he first arrived in St Louis, Chris Stratton has been more solid in his recent outings. His opponents’ batting average still sits at .303 for the year. His career worst is .300 that he set in 2019.

But if hits against him are up, home runs are down. Only 1.7% of the batters that he’s faced so far this season have managed home runs against him (none of them since his trade to St Louis). The lowest he’s managed in any previous season was 2.0% back in 2017.

Arenado’s double last night was his thirty-fifth of the season. He is 8 away from his career-high.

Baseball

They Should Have Everyone’s Attention By Now

The home run was a real kidney punch.

St Louis held a two-run lead and was 7 outs away from winning the series against the red-hot Atlanta Braves. With Braves on the corners and two-outs in the seventh – and with starter Adam Wainwright at 100 pitches – manager Oliver Marmol turned the game and the series over to his two back-of-the-bullpen arms.

First into the fray was All-Star closer Ryan Helsley – he of the 103-mph fastball and the 0.89 ERA. Ryan would throw 19 pitches in this contest – 18 of them mostly untouchable.

But five pitches into the at bat of the first batter he faced, Ryan poured a 100.1-mph fastball right down the dead center of the strike zone where the batter – Dansby Swanson – almost effortlessly drove it 418 feet into the right field stands.

And suddenly, the hard-earned lead was gone. Now it was Atlanta that was just 9 outs away from winning the series.

After being punched around by the Braves, 11-4, in the first game of the series (box score), the Birds evened up the series with a gritty 2-run, ninth-inning rally to win the Saturday game, 6-5 (box score). Now they would have to fashion a second consecutive comeback against one of baseball’s most solid bullpens. The situation was less than ideal.

After Dylan Lee and Collin McHugh pitched around a one-out walk to keep the Cardinals scoreless in the seventh, and with the energy leaking steadily out of the home crowd, Atlanta manager Brian Snitker handed the ball to A.J. Minter (possessor of 23 holds and a 2.18 ERA). His first opponent would be the struggling Tommy Edman – who hadn’t had a hit yet in the series.

With his first pitch, everything changed.

Minter sent a first-pitch fastball roughly into the exact same spot that Helsley threw his fastball to Swanson. And Edman provided a similar result.

The explosion of Edman’s bat against the ball reverberated around muted Busch Stadium like a pistol shot. The drive – which jumped off Tommy’s bat at an impressive 112.1 miles per hour – re-awakened the crowd, and may have changed the trajectory of the Cardinal season.

After the home run, Minter sewed the seeds of his ultimate demise when he walked Lars Nootbaar. When a sacrifice attempt from Brendan Donovan rolled under the glove of Atlanta third baseman Austin Riley, the Braves were in a mess.

A.J. almost worked his way out of trouble. He struck out the two biggest bats in the St Louis lineup (Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado), and inched ahead of the next batter – Tyler O’Neill – with a first-pitch strike. His second pitch to Tyler was a strike as well – an elevated fastball that the ESPN Sunday Night baseball audience got to see soar 423 feet into Freese’s Lawn beyond the wall in dead center.

And just that easily, St Louis won two of three from the defending world champions (box score).

I’m notoriously hesitant to read too much into a single win or a single series. It’s such a long and arduous season, full of small hot and cold streaks, that you almost have to stand at the very end of the journey to be able to look back and fairly assess the truth of the season.

Even so, this was not just another win. The Braves came in – not only as the defending champs – but as winners of 15 of 17 games (after their win in the first game). At that same point, they were also 17-7 in August, and 23-10 in the second half. Moreover, these games were significantly more important to Atlanta than they were to the Cardinals. Even as St Louis is easing away from Milwaukee in the division race, the Braves were closing to within two games (at one point) of the Mets for their division title.

To not only win the last two games, but to win them late, coming from behind against that bullpen – it’s an achievement that can’t be easily shrugged off.

Moreover, these wins continue a recent reversal in one area that has been a red flag for this team all year – their ability to compete against winning teams.

On July 26 in Toronto, the Cards were handed a 10-3 loss. The loss was the team’s eleventh in their last 15 games against winning teams (and pushed them to 3 games behind the Brewers at that point).

The next evening – fittingly with Wainwright on the mound – the Cards answered with a 6-1 victory. That win triggered a 23-7 run from the Cards that swept them into first place by – as of this morning – six full games. But the most encouraging aspect of this streak is the success they’ve found against the better teams they’ve played in that stretch.

They followed the win against Toronto with a three-game sweep of the Yankees, and from there have gone on to take two of three from both the Brewers and, now, the Braves.

All of a sudden there is a vibe in St Louis. Some chemical reaction taking root in the clubhouse. A vaguely familiar spring in the step, reminiscent of past October surprises.

It’s an infectious energy that’s all but impossible to resist. I admit, this team has shown me some mettle that wasn’t there earlier. They’ve gotten my attention.

At this point, they should have gotten everyone’s attention.

Arenado

With August about to fade into September, Arenado is riding the hottest of hot streaks. He was 5 for 8 against the Braves, and has now hit in 7 of his last 9 games, including 1 two-hit game, a three-hit game, and 2 four-hit games. Nolan is 16 for his last 35 (.457), with 7 of the hits going for extra-bases (5 doubles, 2 home runs). In 9 games, Nolan has 10 RBIs and a .771 slugging percentage.

The outburst brings Nolan to a .366 average for the month (34 for 93). He has driven in 25 runs (including 5 game-winning RBIs) in just 24 games this month, while slugging .731 (10 doubles, 8 home runs). Arenado is hitting .342 and slugging .684 in the season’s second half.

Donovan

With hits in each game during a 4-for-13 series, Brendan Donovan faces the Reds tonight carrying a ten-game hitting streak that is really a twelve-game hitting streak counting only games he started. During the 12, Donovan is hitting .400 (18 for 45), raising him to .385 for the month (20 of 52).

Brendan is now up to .333 since the Break (24 for 72).

Goldschmidt

Goldy was less visible in this series than he has been in most. Still, he finished the set against the Braves with 3 hits in 10 at bats (all singles). Paul heads to Cincinnati with hits in 6 straight games, in 12 of his last 13, and 16 of his last 18. Paul is hitting .386 (27 for 70) over those 18 games. He has 4 doubles, 7 home runs, 18 runs scored, 21 runs batted in, and a .743 slugging percentage in those games.

On the strength of this streak, Goldy is hitting .374 in August (34 for 91) and slugging .736 (6 doubles and 9 home runs). He’s hitting .359 with 13 home runs and a .744 slugging percentage in the second half.

Molina

Yadier Molina burst through with a three-hit game against Arizona on August 20. He’s gone 0-for-17 since then, as his season just refuses to turn for him. Down, now, to .203 for the season, Yadi is hitting .180 (11 for 61) with no extra base hits in the second half.

Waino

Sunday was Adam’s sixth start since he pitched that game in Toronto that started the winning streak. He is 3-1 in his last 7 starts with a 2.31 ERA. He has allowed just 1 home run over his last 46.2 innings.

NoteBook

With Sunday’s win the Cards are 20 games over .500 for the first time this year. They were last 20 over on October 1 of last year, when they were 90-70.

St Louis scored first in two of the three Atlanta games. They have scored that first run 13 times in the last 19 games.

The seven-run loss that began the series against Atlanta was the largest suffered by the Cardinals since they were ambushed 16-5 in Colorado on August 9. It was also the second time in three games that they had lost by more than 5 runs.

The defending world champions seem to have almost as much buzz as the Yankees. The first two games of the Brave series drew the largest home crowds (46,027 and 46,119) since the last game of the Yankee series (46,472 on August 7).

After playing in the relative cool of Arizona (under the dome) and Chicago, it was back to the late August heat for the Cardinals. The mercury for the Saturday game of the Brave series (August 27) sat at 90 degrees – the warmest Cardinal game since they played in Colorado in 91-degree heat on August 11. In the interim, they played 15 consecutive games through the middle of August without seeing a temperature higher than 86 degrees. The last 15 games have averaged 78.7 degrees.

The last time they played in St Louis in 90-degree heat was Sunday afternoon, August 7, against the Yankees. The mercury was at 94 that day.

St Louis has now won 5 consecutive series, and 8 of its last 9.

The Cards had won the first game of 4 consecutive series, and 7 of 8 before losing the first game against the Braves.

The Cards have now played 40 series this year – half of those, now, against teams that had won their previous series. Eight of those 20 have gone to a rubber game, with the Cards now winning 5 of the 8.

By allowing the runner he inherited to score on Friday night, Genesis Cabrera returns to AAA having allowed 8 of his 16 inherited runners to score.

O’Neill drove in the game-winning run in both of the Cardinal wins. He now has 8 GWRBIs this season, placing him third on the team. Arenado and Goldschmidt are tied for the team lead with 11. Behind O’Neill is Dylan Carlson with 6, and Paul DeJong and Nolan Gorman with 5 each.

As both of those RBI’s came in the late innings, O’Neill has now taken over the team-lead in late-game-changing-RBIs. Sunday was the sixth time this season that Tyler has driven in a run in the seventh-inning or later that has either tied the game or given the Cards a lead.

Players Working on Career Bests (34 Games Left)

Tyler O’Neill – who struck out just once in 10 plate appearances over the weekend – has struggled most of the year. However, he has been striking out at a lower rate than any time in his career so far. In 2020, O’Neill – who has struck out more than 30% of the time in his career – whiffed in just 27.4% of his plate appearances. So far in 2022, Tyler is down to 26.8%.