Random Cardinal Stats

Lackey Quiets Cardinal Offense 5-0

As the offense submitted quietly to John Lackey last night, among the many missing aspects of the heretofore dynamic offense was their proficiency at hitting with runners on base. Before last night, the Cards carried a team .258 (57/221) batting average with the bases empty, while hitting .296 (61/206) with at least one runner on base. Twenty-eight of the 61 hits had gone for extra-bases, including 11 of the 21 home runs they have hit so far this season.

Last night, in spite of Lackey’s dominance, St Louis still had 13 plate appearances with at least one runner on base. Aledmys Diaz’ double that set up the only real scoring opportunity of the night was the only hint of success the Cardinals enjoyed in those at bats.

St Louis had been almost other-worldly, so far, when they have put two runners on base. They already have hit 6 3-run homers (they had only 15 of those all last year) and were 20 for 60 (.333) with a .683 team slugging percentage with two runners on before last night. Lackey was very effective at diffusing the offense before things got to that point. He faced only two Cardinal batters all night with two on, striking out both Leake and Carpenter to strand the runners.

St Louis, at the 13 game mark, has played 9 games against presumptive also rans in Atlanta, Milwaukee and Cincinnati, battering them for 78 runs in the 9 games. They have now played 4 games against presumed contenders in Pittsburgh and Chicago and have scored 7 runs in those games. These are far too few games to make any sweeping observations over, but it does underline the scrutiny that the Cardinal offense is under this year. After two unremarkable offensive seasons during which they have averaged 3.91 runs per game – and following a less-than-spectacular offseason – the offensive concerns of Cardinal Nation can’t quite be assuaged by pushing around second division teams. As the season wears on, this team will have to show at some point that they can score a few runs against the contending teams as well.

Mike Leake and Tyler Lyons invited plenty of trouble throughout the game. With the bases empty, the Cubs hit .316 (6/19) against the pair, including both their doubles and their home run. Leake and Lyons, however, responded solidly to these threats. With a runner on base, Chicago was held to just 3 of 15 (.200), grounding into two double plays. Subtract Diaz’ error on a potential third double play ball, and the last two innings of this game would have a much different energy.

Baseball

Cardinals Fight Past Cincinnati, 4-3, to Win Seventh of Last Nine

With Jedd Gyorko, Greg Garcia and Eric Fryer all starting, yesterday’s lineup looked like it was getaway day. Continuing an early-season meme, the Cardinals’ bench players led the way.

Eric Fryer

Eric Fryer – thrust into the backup catcher role by Brayan Pena’s injury – put together a 3-for-3 afternoon and has started his Cardinal career with six hits in six at bats.

His second inning double that gave the Cardinals a short-lived 2-1 lead came on a 2-2 pitch. He is now 3-for-3 in the early going with two strikes on him. Fryer was also 2-for-2 yesterday and is 3-for-3 on the year with 2 outs.

Greg Garcia

Greg Garcia had the “other” pinch home run the night the Cardinals became the first team ever to hit three pinch hit home runs. While there has been substantial attention paid to Jeremy Hazelbaker and Aledmys Diaz (who have pushed their way into the starting lineup), Garcia has quietly been a part of the recent Red Surge. He has 5 hits in his last 8 at bats, including that home run.

Matt Adams

All three of Matt Adams at bats yesterday came with the bases empty. With his 0 for 3, Adams is now hitless in 7 at bats this season with the bases empty. He is four for 12 with at least one runner on base.

Matt also lined out to right on a 1-2 pitch in the fourth. Adams, now 0 for 12, is still looking for his first 2-strike hit this season.

Three pitches continues to be the dividing line in Adams’ at bats. Hitless in 2 four-pitch at bats yesterday, Adams is now 0 for 13 this season in all plate appearances that have lasted more than three pitches.

Stephen Piscotty

Stephen Piscotty’s 0-for-4 day included three at bats with no one on base and one with one runner on. Over the last 9 games, Stephen is 5 for 27 with less than 2 runners on base (.185). He is 4 for 7 including a home run with 2 runners on base.

Stephen, of course, had the big series in Atlanta (5 for 13 with a home run and 4 RBIs). He hasn’t quite found the range during the home stand. Playing in 5 of the 6 games so far, Stephen is 4 for 21 (.190) although he did hit a three-run homer against Cincinnati on Saturday that briefly gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.

He was also 0-for-2 hitting with 2-strikes on him yesterday. Stephen is 1 for his last 15 (.067) once he gets two strikes on him.

Michael Wacha

Michael Wacha added a second consecutive quality start since he struggled at Pittsburgh. In beating Milwaukee and taking a no decision against Cincinnati, Wacha has been touched for one earned run over 12 innings (0.75 ERA). Even with Adam Wainwright and Mike Leake still struggling, the Cardinals’ team ERA is still 3.56 since leaving Pittsburgh.

Jay Bruce’s infield single was the only hit that Wacha allowed to a left-handed batter yesterday. Over his starts against the Brewers and Reds, lefties have managed 2 hits (both singles) in 12 at bats (.167). Overall, Cincy’s left-handed batters went 1 for 9 against Cardinal pitching yesterday. Since the Pittsburgh series, left-handers are hitting just .207 (24/116) against the Cardinal pitching staff.

Wacha has also excelled with two outs over his last two starts. Cincinnati was 1 for 7 with two outs yesterday and over the two starts opposing hitters are 2 for 13 once Wacha gets two outs.

Kevin Siegrist

Kevin Siegrist retired all three right-handed batters that faced him yesterday. Always a difficult at bat for righties, Kevin has held the 14 right-handers he’s faced so far this year to 0 for 14 with 8 strikeouts.

Siegrist has also been death to hitters once he gets them in 2-strike counts, which he did to all four batters he faced yesterday (and to 14 of the 19 he’s faced so far this year). They went 0-for-4 yesterday and are 0-for-13 so far this season (with 9 of them striking out).

Trevor Rosenthal

Trevor Rosenthal is also unsolved when he gets two strikes on a batter this year. They are 0 for 12 with 11 strikeouts after he struck out two more in yesterday’s game.

Overall

With two more home runs yesterday, the Cardinals now sit at 21 through 12 games and 427 at bats. Home run #21 in 2015 came in the third inning of the Cardinals’ 29^th game – an 8-5 win in Pittsburgh on May 8. Matt Holiday broke a 1-1 tie with a 3-run drive against Francisco Liriano. It was the Cardinals’ 982^nd at bat of the season. Over the 9 games since they left Pittsburgh, the Cardinals are scoring 8.67 runs per game, with a team-wide slash line of .310/.391/.583. They have 13 in the first 6 games of this home stand after hitting 6 in three games in Atlanta.

In losing 3 games in Pittsburgh, the Cardinals were just 3 for 24 (.125) – all singles – with runners in scoring position. Since then (and in spite of the fact that they were 0 for 5 in RISP situations last night), the Cardinals have 38 hits (18 for extra-bases) in 99 at bats with runners in scoring position, Over the last 9 games, the Cardinals RISP slash line is a jaw-dropping .384/.436/.758.

Baseball

After a Six-Homer Night, Cards Face a Lefty

Ten games into the season, the Cards have been held to less than four runs just twice. Last year this happened 79 times (48.8%) last season.

With 6 more home runs yesterday, your St Louis Cardinals have now drilled 17 in their first 10 games and 357 at bats. The team slugging percentage now sits at .521. In 2015 they didn’t manage their 17^th home run until game #25 – Mark Reynolds first inning grand slam off of Travis Wood that trimmed a 5-0 Cub lead to 5-4 in a game St Louis would eventually win 10-9. This was May 4^th occurring on the Cardinals’ 839^th at bats of the season. That was also the first home run hit by a Cardinal against a left-handed pitcher last year.

Brandon Finnegan’s start today is the first by a left-hander since the first two games of the season. Left-handed pitching has long been a soft-form kryptonite for this organization. Last year, we made some progress against lefties, going 25-18 against left handed starters, but only managed a .230 team batting average against them.

Much of the difficulty has been finding right-handed batters that can solve lefties. Last year, only one right-handed batter (Randal Grichuk) with more than 100 at bats against lefties managed a batting average north of .250 – Grichuk hit a “robust” .265 against leftie that included 6 home runs and a .522 slugging percentage. Stephen Piscotty and Tommy Pham came along later to hit .322 and .278 against lefties respectively, but all the rest of the Cardinal right-handed bats managed just a .226/.312/.365 slash line against lefties.

In the early going, we haven’t done too badly. Three home runs and a .256/.347/.430 slash line isn’t record-breaking, but pretty good for us. Among the right-handers having early success against lefties are Aledmys Diaz, 3 for 7 with a home run; Jedd Gyorko, 2 for 5 with a home run; Piscotty, 3 for 8; and Ydier Molina, 3 for 9. Our other homer against lefties belongs to lefty Jeremy Hazelbaker (who is 3 for 5 against them).

Finnegan, the Cincinnati lefty that we’ll see today, isn’t of the caliber of the Kershaws and Bumgarners that we will face later on this year, but it will be instructive nonetheless to see how they manage against him.