Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Contreras Leads The Way In Game One

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals ruin another rookie debut as they top the Mets in game one of their Sunday double header thanks to one beginning. You are Locked-on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, there, Cardinals. I'm J.D. Hafford and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at J-D Sports Radio and the podcast at LO underscore Cardinals. YouTube, we would love for you to come on by, like, subscribe, and comment, hit that notification button so you know when new episodes are posted. Also on TikTok and Instagram and Lockedong Cardinals, this is a show serving Cardinal Nation and give you the best fans of baseball,

Starting point is 00:00:46 all of the info about the birds on the bat. Mother Nature has been toying with our Cardinals this week, renting them out not once, but twice, and forcing them to play not one, but two double headers, which, you know, when you were a kid and you had a tournament over the weekend and you would play double-headers and there was no problem. Major league level, it's a little bit of a different story. Not quite as easy. The Cardinals, however, were able to sweep the double-headed that they had on Wednesday in Cincinnati. And then after Saturday was washed out, the Cardinals and Mets had game one on Sunday afternoon, a game that the Cardinals would hang on to win thanks to one big getting offensively in one huge moment for the bullpen. We're going to

Starting point is 00:01:34 about both these situations for you here. We're going to start with the offense, though, which had a chance to face another rookie pitcher making their debut, Mets right-hander, Blaine Tedwell. And it worked out for the Cardinals on Wednesday when they went up against the Reds Chase Petty, who was making his Major League debut in that second game of their doubleheader on Wednesday, the Cardinals were up to the task in that one, blasting Chase Petty all over the park and they were up to the task once again in this one. It took a little while to get things going though. Wilson Contreras did tie things up at one in the bottom of the second inning,

Starting point is 00:02:14 had an opposite field home run. And it was one of those that you're just like, wow, I can't believe that got out because it hits the top of the wall, spins before going over the wall. Like Soto's in right field. He's totally waiting for it to bounce back down so we could throw it into second base on what was going to be a double and somehow some way it hits and just and goes the opposite way and goes over the wall for a home run. Fourth home run of the year for Wilson, Contreras.

Starting point is 00:02:42 Contreras is apparently not the guy that you want to face if you are a rookie making your Major League debut because he's going to be a jerk because he smacked a three-run home run and the first inning off of Petty in that debut game on Wednesday night. And then here in the second inning, he tags Tidwell for an opposite field home run. So, you know, Wilson Contreras feasting on the rookies. Gotta love it. Mets would end up grabbing that lead right back in the top of the third inning.

Starting point is 00:03:13 But the Cardinals would answer again. They get three straight singles by Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arnato, and Nolan and Wilson Gattreras again. This would load the bases with one out for Nolan, Gorman, who I know it's very frustrating to watch. He's not having a good start to the year. the power is nowhere to be found, but you're hoping that you're going to see something big from him eventually. Eventually, you feel like it's going to click, right?

Starting point is 00:03:36 Like, it's got to, right? Like, he's too, he's got too much talent for it to keep going like this. But so far, we haven't seen him come up in, and do much in big situations. However, in this particular spot, no, he doesn't get a hit. He doesn't get a double, doesn't hit a home run, anything like this. But he does put the ball in play, which is, you know, miracle number one. for Nolan Gorman with the strikeouts. And he hits it deep enough to left field that Brinandanovin is able to tag up on third base.

Starting point is 00:04:05 He's able to score to tie this game up, but some really shabby base running. I was like, what the hell is going on? Did they forget how many outs there were? I didn't know what happened, but Contreras gets caught in a rundown that eventually leads to Aronado getting tagged out and forced out between home and third, ends the inning, ends the thread, which is something you absolutely don't want to do against a rookie. out of all things. You know, this guy's feeling the heat.

Starting point is 00:04:31 He's under pressure, man. He's freaking out and you just let him off the hook. Can't do that. Not sure what the hell was going on there, but it's dumb stuff like that. They can cost you ball games. And the cardals are not good enough to overcome dumb base running

Starting point is 00:04:47 on a day-to-day basis. Able to do it today, they survived, but that's the kind of stuff that'll screw a game up for you. So we got a tag game. move on to the bottom of the fourth inning where the Cardinals put together some two-out magic, which you love to see because it feels like it happens to the Cardinals a lot. It doesn't happen for the Cardinals a lot, but there they were with two wouts.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Victor Scott starts the rally with a single. Barrero is hit by a pitch. But with two wouts, Alex Burleson works a four-pitch walk. Thank you, Burley, for not swinging up the first pitch. And that brings up the Cardle's best hitter this season in Brendan Donovan. If there's going to be a guy at the play that you want in a situation like this, It is Brendan Donovan. And he rips a two-two pitch for a single up the middle.

Starting point is 00:05:32 That scores Scott and Barrero makes it four to two. Aronado has a solid at bat. He ends up working a seven-pitch walk. He looked better at the plate today. That brings up Wilson-Catreras again, who serves a single to right field. And it was on sort of like a check swing, but it was also a full swing. Like he just kind of peppered it. He just kind of, that's a good word for it.

Starting point is 00:05:52 He just kind of peppered it out to right field, which played a two more. That makes it six to two. And the cardals have this command. They knock out the rookie Tidwell before the end of the inning. So well done there. Unfortunately, the Cardle's offense would end up going silent again after this inning. And it's something that happened in game two of the doubleheader on Wednesday against the

Starting point is 00:06:13 Red. You know, they lied up petty in that second game and then got nothing after that. Remember it was like 20 straight hitters got mowed down, like just nothing. And then that offense bled over into the game on. Thursday where the offense did very little. They ended up getting blown out in that one. They just switched the scores and it was 9 to 1. The Reds instead don't want to see that happen again in game two.

Starting point is 00:06:39 But Wilson Catreras was the star offensively in game one. He goes three for four on the day. Home run, three RBIs. He's got his average up to a more respectable 244 after that ice cold start to the season. In fact, Contreras is hitting 391 in his last seven games, 382 over his last 15. it's good to see him swinging the lumber a little bit better.

Starting point is 00:07:02 More like the Catreras were used to, more like the guy we saw in spring training, who just vanished in the month of April. I don't know what happened to him, but he was not here. But the Wilson Contreras, it's been around the last week or so, much, much better.

Starting point is 00:07:18 That's what we want to see. He can stay. Brandon Donovan, with that huge hit in the fourth inning, he ends up going two for four in this one. He's got two RBIs, four-game hitting streak going on now. I know Willie has been hitting lately, but there is no doubt that Brendan Donovan has been the best and most consistent hitter in the Cardinals lineup so far this season.

Starting point is 00:07:38 He is the one guy that I truly trust. Like, if he comes up to the plate, I feel like he's going to do something. He's going to do something good. Very rarely has he let us down so far this year. If it's a key situation, there is nobody else on the team I want at that plate other than Brendan Donovan. He's been that good. He's batting 3.39 now on the season, which is second only to the Mets, Pete Alonzo,

Starting point is 00:08:03 who had another good day today. But second in the National League, he's fourth best in batting average overall in Major League Baseball. You've got Aaron Judge. He's just on another level right now, hitting 422, like it's ridiculous. And then you've got Alonzo. And then former Cardinal first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt, is third in the major leagues at 344. Nolan Arnato, as I mentioned, looked much better at the plate today.

Starting point is 00:08:27 I tweeted that out where I was like, you know, I've seen a lot of the like really weak ground balls to the left side recently, which makes me feel like he's off balance, that he's reaching for pitches. I've been seeing that a lot lately, but as soon as I said that, next couple of bats, he hit a couple of lasers. So two hits for Aronado. Hopefully he's coming back around a little bit. Victor Scott had two hits today, including a bun single, which you're always going to love that. As a Cardinal fan, you love to see the bunt. Jose Barrero had his first hit as a Cardinal. Burley got one, too. Rare game that Lars Dupar was just not, didn't do anything.

Starting point is 00:09:04 Nothing. Didn't have a hit. Didn't have a walk. He was over five. No one, Gorman was over two, but he had that RBI sack flying a walk. A couple of nice defensive plays at second base. Got his hand stepped on by Contreras and was bleeding all over the place, but stays in the game, which you love to see.

Starting point is 00:09:23 Cardinals get 11 hits in this game. only one extra base hit, the one home run by Contreras, the only extra base hit of the game, which is a little bit odd, but it was enough to win. They get the victory. They went at six to five, but it wasn't like it wasn't sweaty.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Because things got sweaty in this one, even though the offense jumped out to that six to two lead. We'll talk about Eric Fetty's start and the ballpins continuous roller coaster ride that eventually is going to give me a heart attack. It's going to happen. So we'll get into that. coming up next on Lockdown Cardinals.

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Starting point is 00:11:38 Thanks for making a locks on Cardinals. Your first listen every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on X. Anytime you want, the feedback is always welcome and encouraged. Eric Fetty on the Hill in game one. And the first thing you're going to notice if you were either watching this start

Starting point is 00:11:51 or you look at the box score after the fact is you're going to notice the walks. And they stick out like a sore thumb. Five more walks in this game for Eric Fetty, giving him 21 so far on the season, which decided for the six. second most in all of baseball behind only San Diego's Randy Vasquez. And you know, as well as I do, that unless you possess some serious strikeout stuff

Starting point is 00:12:16 in your arsenal, you cannot survive at this level of baseball, putting that many runners on in a game. You will not win. The fact that they got away with it today is incredible. I cannot believe that they were able to do that. they were able to do that against this Mets lineup. And Eric Fetty came away with a victory. It is an absolute miracle that he didn't give up more runs.

Starting point is 00:12:46 And I say this in almost every single start that Eric Fetty makes because he keeps putting guys on. He got his second one of the season on Sunday, his first since opening day, or not opening day, but the opening series, since his first star, I should say, against the Minnesota Twins. That was the only game so far this year in seven starts that Eric Fetty has not walked anyone. So it made sense that he won that game. It kind of makes sense that he hasn't won a game since. Not always his fault, but when you see those walk totals, it makes it more difficult. His walks per game go zero, four, four, three, three, two, and now five. And somehow he's able to minimize the damage in a lot of those games and come away with quality.

Starting point is 00:13:32 he starts. He's got four of them this year. And I can't speak about all the games off the top of my head. But on Sunday, it's not like he was really wild where it was like, oh, my gosh, this guy doesn't know where the ball's going. He's all over the place. And he wasn't like competitive against the hitters because that wasn't the case at all. He was around the zone, a lot of it. The Mets hitters were just able to lay off some close pitches or those pitches were so good that they fooled the hitters not to swing. And he just got unlucky that the Mets hitters weren't, you know, taking the bait and chasing some of these pitches. But it wasn't like he was just, oh, my gosh, this is like Nukla Luce from Bull Durham or something. He was around the zone. Like, I don't know how some of these hitters lay off some of these pitches.

Starting point is 00:14:23 Like, it's incredible. I mean, I guess that's why they're major leaguers. But I feel like some of the times the Mets hitters just got lucky they didn't take the bat off their shoulders. They should have been swinging at those pitches and lo and behold, they don't and they end up going against Fetty. But instead of just laying the ball in there, I will give Fetty credit. And this is something maybe he's thought about is that, you know, when he gets to counts like this and he gets close to walking somebody, he's not going to just lay it in there because he's afraid of walking a person. He's more than content to take his chances with a new batter, try to throw something competitive,

Starting point is 00:14:59 to throw a cutter or a sweeper or something that's a little bit off the plate, see if you can get him go fishing. And if it doesn't happen, so be it, I'll start over with the next guy, get a new batter, get a fresh count. He's not going to just lay it in there just so he doesn't walk the person so the guy can smash one off the wall or, heaven forbid, knock it over the wall. So after that Cardinals beginning in the fourth, they're up six to two at this point, that he did something that was like the most important thing he could do.

Starting point is 00:15:28 and it was put up a zero in the following inning. How many times do you see the Cardinals go ahead, get a lead, and then the next inning they give up a couple of runs and the other team gets right back in it, and the momentum switches again. Didn't happen in this one. And it makes that bigger inning sting a little bit more because they got to kind of sit on that for a little bit like, damn.

Starting point is 00:15:51 We're still down four runs, man. Damn. Top of the sixth, though. Big no-no, obviously, is the lead off walk. You just don't like to see that. And then the Mets get a single. Pitch counts at 101. So that finishes Fetty's day.

Starting point is 00:16:06 He would hand things off to the bullpen. And we know how much this ballpen can be a crapshoot from night to night. The path to Helsley has been a difficult one for Ali Marmel in most games. But right now the script of Leahy, Mayton, and then Helsley is the one Ali is trying to use, if possible. That's the one he has the most trust in. So naturally, two one, nobody out. He goes to Kyle Leahy first, which smart move. And once again, Kyle Leahy's able to deliver an excellent outing in this one.

Starting point is 00:16:39 He ends up inducing two weak ground balls so weak. Like he was so good and those balls were hit so weakly that the Cardinals were unable to turn two on either of them, which was really unfortunate because it ends up pushing a run across for the Mets to make it six to three. But the ball never left the infield. It's not like Lehi was getting hit hard or something. No, they did exactly what he needed to do. And it just, they were hit so poorly that they couldn't turn two, which was unfortunate. Because that brought up Juan Soto and now you're like, oh boy, here we go.

Starting point is 00:17:13 Juan Soto's at the plate. And Leahy comes through, man. He gets the strikeout call on Soto who didn't like the call. I loved it because the Cardinal fan. Might have missed the zone a little bit, but it was very, very close. So either way, he gets the call. Leahy gets the punch out and he's able to stop that big inning from taking place. Leahy would throw another shutout inning in the seventh, lowers his ERA on the season to a phenomenal 1.33.

Starting point is 00:17:40 I mean, how much as Kyle Leahy meant to this bullpen so far this season, a guy that, you know, we were aware of him coming into the season. We saw him pitch really, really well in spring training, but he has taken his game to the next level. and after what we saw today, it might be him coming in in more higher leverage situations later in games that it will be Phil Mayton. But I don't think that's been rattled just yet. I think Ollie's going to stick to this script for now because the next guy up in this script after Kyle Leahy is going to be Phil Maton, he comes into the eighth inning, but this is the Cardinals ball pin.

Starting point is 00:18:19 It's 6-3 at this point. This is the Cardinals' ball fin. So you know things got to get hectic. to get crazy. And what followed was perhaps a major turning point for Jojo Romero's season. I really hope it is. I'll talk about it next on Locked on Cardinals. Thank you for making Lockton,

Starting point is 00:18:49 on Cardinals your first listen today for your second listen. Check out the all new Lockdown MLB Game Night, every game, every night, all season long. Get local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB game night on Lockton MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. I am one of the rotating hosts on that show. if you want to stop by and show some card to love, I would appreciate that. So anyway, here we go. Phil Mayton, he's had one heck of a start to the season, right? Up until Sunday, he had only allowed an run run in one game in his previous 15 appearances.

Starting point is 00:19:21 He's been outstanding. So there's no real reason to feel like going to Mayton as a shaky situation. But in game one, he does the one thing that a reliever is told to absolutely not do and that is walk the lead off hitter because for whatever reason i don't know if it's a baseball god's thing and it's just like punishment but you walk that lead off hitter that dude usually comes around to score and usually begins some sort of rally for the other team and that's exactly what happened in game one on sunday lead off walk to the number six sitter louise torrens gets jeff mcneal to uh ground into a force out again the ball isn't hit hard enough to turn two so again

Starting point is 00:20:05 bad luck on that. But then you've got a single by a CUNY and then you get a single by Taylor, which flips the line up over. And now you're in big trouble because now you've got the bases loaded. You do have one out. So the double play is still there. But now you've got the big boys coming up. You got Lindor, you got Soto, you got Alonzo all waiting to bust this thing open.

Starting point is 00:20:30 And if you're going to beat the Mets, you have to do whatever you can do. to keep the bases cleared in front of those three guys. It's difficult to do it in front of the guys following those three because one of those three guys is probably going to get on base at some point. But if you can keep it cleared in front of those three, that's the goal. Do it any way possible. That's what you do. But in this situation, here we are, bases loaded,

Starting point is 00:20:58 Francisco Lindor up at the plate, and he singles. And it wasn't a horrible pitch. It was a cutter below the zone, but he's one of the best hitting short stops in baseball. Drives in two. Here we go. Six, five. Runners on first and second,

Starting point is 00:21:13 and now you got Juan Soto at the dish. So, Maiton's done. Ollie goes and gets Jojo Romero. And the struggles for Jojo have been well documented. And you're asking him to come in in a super pressure situation against one of the greatest hitters in the game right now. Not an easy task. but you can't just find easy places to put these guys.

Starting point is 00:21:41 These guys got to step up. Last year, Jojo Romero stepped up a lot. And the bullpen was very, very good last year because of it. And so far this year, he hasn't been able to come through. So this is a big spot for him. He goes up 02 on Juan Soto. So you're like, oh, my gosh, look at him attacking. He's coming after him.

Starting point is 00:22:01 But it's Juan Soto starts nibbling a little bit. and eventually Soto works the walk because he just doesn't chase. Now you got ducks on the pond again for Mr. Cardinal Killer Pete Alonzo already had two doubles in the game at this point, leads the NL and hitting. He's second in RBIs. It's still shocking to me that somebody didn't overpay for the polar bear and take him out of New York and put him somewhere out. I'm shocked that nobody went after him.

Starting point is 00:22:27 But now he's burning up the league and he's been smashing the Cardinals all season so far. and I'm willing to bet there wasn't a single Cardinal fan watching at this point in the game and thought that this was going to end well. I didn't. I was fully prepared for this to go off the rails and get bad. Mets fans at the game, they're all on the third base side behind their dugout. They're going wild. Cardinals fans sitting on their hands or chewing their fingernails.

Starting point is 00:22:55 Everybody's nervous if you're wearing red. We're expecting the inevitable. You're like, you can't watch. You're like, just tell me when it's over. Just tell me when it's over. I can't watch this. And lo and behold, Joe Joe freaking Romero

Starting point is 00:23:10 and his tight ponytail. Punch out Alonzo on a backdoor slider that nicks the zone. It was a perfect pitch. It was a great call by the umpire. Alonzo did not like the call. Sucks to be you, buddy. Take a seat.

Starting point is 00:23:28 Take a seat. It was a perfect pitch. That brings up Brandon Nimmo. So it's not like things get all that much easier. Nemo has been outstanding this year so far. Just had a nine RBI game recently. But he also hits lefties. His left hand hitter, but he also hits lefties.

Starting point is 00:23:43 Well, Jojo gets ahead of him one, too. And now we've got the Cardinals fans. Now it's their turn to show off their ability to make a little noise and get loud. People come to their feet. You know, it's a big situation. And you see the Cardinals fans in attendance. They had the announced attendance was over 37,000. people. But they're rallying behind Jojo. He gets Nimmo to fly out to center field. The Cardinals

Starting point is 00:24:10 hang on to the lead. Jojo shows that raw motion after the ball is caught. The crowd is jacked. And, you know, it felt like Cardinal baseball again at Bush Stadium. It was awesome. It was awesome. I'll even said in the post game, how he thought Romero fed off of the crowd and how loud it got, said it hadn't been that loud in a while. I miss those crowds, man. I miss those crowds. Ownership, we miss those crowds. We want to be back there, man.

Starting point is 00:24:42 Well, that was cool. A huge moment for Jojo in this team. Housley keeps the drama going in the ninth thing, gives up the lead-off single, throws a wild pitch to put the runner in scoring position because nothing that this bullpen does as a whole is easy. like they always got to make it sweaty but helsley ends up getting the pop out at the end of the game and cardals went at six five helsley grabs his fifth save of the season fattie gets the win despite the five

Starting point is 00:25:09 walks he owes kailahi a big juicy steak and a bottle of wine for grabbing for getting him out of that sixth inning that was a monster spot jojo obviously in a monster spot uh start of something better hopefully for jojo it was good to see uh you know his reaction to getting out of it you know like a very playoff-like atmosphere during that inning and during those couple of hitters. Wiggles out of that one, is able to pick up Mayton, who, you know, got single to death today. You know, the lead off walk, bad, bad, bad, we know. But it wasn't like they were just, you know, smashing the ball off the wall or anything like that. It was singles, you know, singles got them.

Starting point is 00:25:48 So it happens. Mayton, shake it off because we're going to need you down the stretch here, obviously. Contreras and Donnie, big games offensive. defensively a solid team win against a very good Met Squad who had beaten the Cardinals nine times in a row. Nine times. Yeah, that streak over. Done. So big game, big win for the Cardinals. Another victory at home. Got a chance to win the series in game two. I'll have a brand new episode over what happens in game two with Andre Palante on the mound coming into your feed. Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals your first list. And every day if you haven't already, give us a follow on next at L0 underscore Cardinals. the JD Sports Radio, TikTok and Instagram and Lockdown Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:26:30 like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. And we'll see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Contreras Leads The Way In Game One

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