Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sonny Gray's Cardinals Debut Was Everything We Hoped For

Episode Date: April 10, 2024

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Policygenius Check life insurance off your to do list in no time with Policygenius. Head to policygenius.com/lockedonmlb to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. Ibotta Right now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code LOCKEDONMLB when you download the app. PrizePicks Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay Motors From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuel FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARENTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – win or lose! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) #ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sunny Grace, that's the tone and takes home the win in his Cardinals' regular season debut. This is Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey, the Cardinals fans, I'm J.D. Hafford and I'm a national radio sports anchor. Born and raised in the Lou, with a lifetime Cardinals fan. And I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio.

You can follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you to make Lockstone Cardinals your first list in every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you stop by, like, subscribe, and comment, hit the notification button so you know when new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. So was he worth the weight? I would say so.

Sunny Gray, the prize pickup and free agency this offseason for your St. Louis Cardinals. Finished second in the ALSye Young Award voting last year to the Yankees, Garrett Cole, inked a three-year deal with the Redbirds for $75 million. Club option for a fourth. Some people loved it. Some people just were like, it's not a bad signing. Other people thought it was terrible. They thought, hey, Sunny Gray's old.

It's 34. Don't like it. Why not go with younger people? But there's something about Sunny Gray, man. And he just, from the moment we knew he was going to be a free agent last year, when we knew the twins weren't going to sign him. You just knew he fit what the Cardinals needed, what the Cardinals wanted, as far as somebody to lead their pitching staff and their clubhouse.

And he has been everything. you could possibly want and more since putting on a cardal uniform. We got his legendary sunny gray bullpins in the spring, and then he's taken away from us. Second outing, he suffers that hamstring strain, and he's like the one guy that we really, we really didn't want to see her, okay, because, you know, you got a lot of depth at different positions around the field, but losing him, you know, your prize, free agent pickup was something that you really didn't want to have to deal with because of not only, you know, where he is in your rotation.

He's your number one guy. He's your ace. What he was bringing to the clubhouse already, the kind of attitude he was bringing. It was gone. It was taken away, stuffed out just like that. But thankfully, it wasn't as bad as we all feared. You know, Gray dealt with this type of strain before Minnesota during the 2022 season. And he had a couple of times where he ended up getting shut down because of the same type of

hamstring strain, but this time wisely enough, after he felt it pull a little bit, he shuts it down during that at bat and the trainers and Gray came together, devised a nice conservative plan to get him back sooner rather than later. Now, the fear was that he might be out until May. You know, that's what we were all worried about. We're like, oh, boy, what if this is like a six to eight week type of thing. But things were going well from the get-go. You know, Gray continued to make progress with each step of his.

his rehab plan. And finally on Tuesday night in front of the home crowd at Bush Stadium, he made his long-awaited regular season debut for the Cardinals. And he did not disappoint. Sunny Gray, he just looks different out there, doesn't he? He looks in control. He's in command. He's got that laser focus. Like it was just a breath of fresh air. It was wonderful to see. Not that the guys that have been starting for the Cardinals have been bad or anything, but just to see the way he goes about his business, it's just different. And we knew he was going to be on a 65 to 70 pitch count. We were hoping he'd squeeze out three to four innings.

And what does this guy do? He goes a full five innings on 64 pitches. Like it really couldn't have gone much better for the Cardinals and Sunny Gray tonight. Final line for the righty, five innings, five hits. zero runs, zero walks, five strikeouts, just beautiful. And it's not like he was just breezing through some Swiss cheese lineup. Like we're talking about the Philadelphia Phillies here. They got some of the biggest names in baseball on their team.

And there were moments where, you know, he did have to exert a little, little extra energy. First inning, he and Philly superstar Bryce Harper had quite the duel, fell behind him too well. then it goes to three and one. He battles back, gets the strikeout. In the second inning, after a one-out single by Alec Baum, he gets Bryson Stott to ground into the six three double play. Defense was awesome again tonight. Top of the fourth inning, Tray Turner gets the leadoff single,

but he strikes out Harper again. They've really done a great job on controlling Bryce Harper in these first two games. Turner ends up stealing second base, which Ivan Herrera, man. I don't know. I don't know if they're stealing them off the pitchers or him or whatever's going on here. But not looking great when it comes to that. Offensively, Yvonne Hur is fantastic. But they're kind of taking advantage of him behind the plate so far.

But Sonny Gray steps up, gets real muto to whiff on the sweeper, and then he gets bombed to ground out to Aronado, who had another stellar night at third base to end the inning. Then in the fifth inning, back to back, one out singles by Castiano's and Brandon Marsh. but gets one of the fastest guys in the league. Johann Rojas rolls into the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, and it ends his night.

It was awesome. It was freaking awesome. I mean, how many comments did I give from people are like, wow, it's good to see like an actual ace out there on the mound because we haven't really had one in a Cardinals uniform for a couple of years. And I say, yes, I agree with you. It was very nice to see. Bulpin takes over from there.

and yeah, there were a couple of sticky situations that they got themselves into, but they were able to wiggle out of it. So we're going to talk about those and how finally, how finally, just putting the ball in play. The Cardinals offense was able to do that, which led to some insurance runs. So we'll get into all of that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Baseball season is officially underway. Do not miss your chance to add your favorite players from the diamond and your

prize picks entries, whether it's strikeouts, RBIs, first inning runs. You can go home runs. You can go stolen bases. You know how many stats there are. Baseball. You're listening to a baseball podcast. You know this. But you can take your pick of more or less and add them to your prize picks entry today. And don't forget, it's not just baseball. You can do this with all sports. Get in on the playoff action. It went up to 100 times your money on prize picks as you are the world's best players take the game to a new level during basketball's postseason, which is coming up here in just a few days. It's going to be here before you know it. My favorite. favorite aspect of prize picks is how simple and easy it is.

That's what I like in my life. I like things to be simple. I like them to be easy. I'm a laid back guy. So simple and easy and I can make money. Sign me up. Make your picks. Submit your entry.

You can do it all in less than 60 seconds. They got quick withdrawals, easy gameplay, and an enormous selection of players and stat types, which is why Price Fix is the number one daily fantasy sports app. So download the app today and use the code locked on MLB. Get yourself a first deposit. match up to $100. Download that app today.

Price picks, in case you're not paying attention, and use the code to lockdown MLB, L-O-C-E-D-O-N-M-L-L-C-D-O-N-M-LB for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy with price picks. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day and have to turn down the volume because they keep shouting and yelling at you? Well, we're not going to yell at you here with the Lockdown Sports Network.

Make the switch to Lockstone Sports Today. It's nice. You're going to like it. It's a free 24-7 sports streaming channel, and it is programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all that screaming. Locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions, news, and it's streaming 24-7 on YouTube, or you can get it on the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And remember, you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals's hometown broadcast with Sirius XM. Just download that SXM app. Search the word Cardinals. And thank you for making it. on Cardinals, your first listen every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Feedback always welcome and encouraged.

I'm sure we're going to have more positive feedback about what we saw from Sunny Gray on this Tuesday night in the comments section because he was that good. It was freaking awesome to see him finally on the mound in a regular season game and looking like the guy who finished second in the Alesai Young Award last year. Some people thought maybe, you know, he got a little lucky last year. I'm telling you, the guy has been really, really good for about five years now. You just haven't heard much about it because he was playing for the Reds and then he was playing for the twins. And now he's in a Cardinals uniform and you're going to see what he's all about. As long as he stays healthy, that's the only thing you really worry about. But he was able to get out of the limited trouble that he was in.

There was never really a ton of pressure put on him. But in the situations where there were runners on, he was able to get out of it. But on the other side of things tonight, Zach Wheeler, I mean, doing his normal thing, whiffing batters, throwing up zeros of his own. That was until the fourth inning. Because in the fourth inning, two outs, Nolan Gorman comes up to the plate and hits a two one fastball on a line, just a pus line over the center field wall, just about the same spot that he put both of his home runs on Sunday, 106.2 miles per hour off the bat,

419 foot shot, gives the Cardinals a 1-0-0 lead. And you can just feel just like, whew, because what you were worrying about was, at least I was, was that the Cardinals weren't going to score any runs, and Sonny Gray wasn't going to get the win, and they were going to lose this one because the offense couldn't get anything going. And I know, I've been very harsh on Nolan Gorman

because of the amount of strikeouts, okay? He's had a lot of them so far, okay? And I've consistently said, though, that you can handle all of the strikeouts that Nolan Gorman is going to have if, if the power and the production in the other at bats makes up for it. All right. If you're going to go one for four with two strikeouts, that one hit better be something important. It's got to be like an RBI double. It's got to be a home run or something like that. You still got to have that balance where you're getting all these strikeouts, but you've got to have the power and production.

on the other side. And until the last three games, it was a whole lot of swing and misses. A lot of strikeouts, not a ton of production. So seeing him starting to break out a little bit with those two long flies on Sunday and then another missile on Tuesday, definitely great to see. And we're hoping we get more of that out of Nolan Gorman.

He spoke with Jim the Cat Hayes after the game. And, you know, he's like, I love this team. I love what we're doing. we are going to win a lot of ball games. We love seeing Sunny Gray out there, our defense. He used the word love a lot. So pretty happy. For a guy who doesn't really show a lot of emotion,

you got to see a couple of smiles out of Nolan Gorman, which was good to see. They also talked about in the postgame show on Bally's about, you know, how he's a similar type of hitter to the Phillies, Kyle Schwerber. Not a high average. Probably never going to be a high average guy. A lot of strikeouts, but the power, just undeniable. And when he does start connecting, he can change games with just one swing,

just like he did on Tuesday. And, you know, Gorman is a hell of a, like if you're going to compare him to Schorber, yeah, hell of a lot better defensively in second base than Schorber is in the outfield. No one gorman. Yeah, he's got one error on the season, but for the most part, even solid on the, on the middle infield with Donovan having to play more left field so far this year. But the home run breaks the guys through. And then in the fifth inning, finally. The stuff we've been clamoring for here at Lockdown Cardinals, they were able to avoid the strikeouts in key situations and manufacture some runs against Sack Wheeler.

And it was the bottom half of the order. They got it done again. Alec Berluson singles to left and Mason Wend drills one down the line in left field. And Burleys, he's huffing and puffing and picking him up and putting him down, gets all the way to third base. I was a little nervous that he was going to have to stop at second because the ball went down the left field line. But Burley makes it the third safely.

Win, of course, gets into second base. So now you've got second and third. Nobody out. Victor Scott the second half the dish. Now, these are the situations where the strikeouts have been popping up and just killing the Cardinals offense and just killing rallies in general so far this year. And you don't need a hit in this situation. You just need to put the ball and play.

That's what we've been asking for. And that will more than likely lead to at least one run getting in. Just one. And Victor Scott has struck out a lot this year. Okay? He's making the jump from double A to the major leagues. So you can't really be too mad at him. It's not an easy jump.

Go ask Jordan Walker about it. He tried to do that last year. But tonight, situation comes up. Victor Scott, who is hitting the ball way too much in the air, by the way. For a guy who picks him up and puts him down the way he does, the speed he's got. This is a very Willie Mays-Hays situation from the movie Major League where he can, he keeps popping the ball up in the air and he needs to be hitting balls on the ground and leg in out, as Lou Brown would say, you need to hit the ball on the ground.

Anyway, but here in this situation, hitting the ball, hitting a fly ball, that's okay. Tonight, he does his job. He lifts a sack fly to left field to score Burley. First RBI in the major leagues for Victor Scott the second. So very cool. And for some reason, Brandon Marsh, who's in left field, wet hair and all, chucks at home, thinking he's got an even the slightest chance at catching Alec Berlinson at home play. Throws off line a little bit and the card say, hey, thank you very much.

Mason Wend, come on over to third base. So now you got him at third with one out, really a dumb play by Marsh. You got to throw it to third there and try to prevent the bigger inning from happening. That's the play. You're not trying to gun the runner at home. You're no Rick Ankeel out there, Brandon Marsh. So now you got a runner on third. he got one out perfect guy at the plate right now brennan donovan he's the perfect guy at the

plate for this situation because what does he do puts the ball in play a lot and once again what does he do just puts the ball in play hits a screamer 57.8 miles per hour a grounded in first base just a soft little trickler goes down over there to first base but because win is so fast on third base gets a good jump he scores easily making it three to nothing and that is just good baseball. That is good baseball. It's little things like that, little things like that that the good teams do to win your ball games.

Now, if we know anything about the Phillies, they don't quit. All right, we saw them do it to the Cardinals in the playoffs. They do it pretty much any game we ever play them. They constantly fight, take tough at bats, and it was going to be up to the ballpen to hang on to this three to nothing lead. And things got hairy on a couple of occasions, but they showed some testicular fortitude and got out of trouble each and every time.

Matthew Libertory comes in and he walks the first two guys in the six. You know, you sunny grade, there's five shutout innings brilliantly. And then Matthew Libertor comes in and he walks the first two dudes to bring up Bryce Harper out of all people. And I know what you're saying. Same thing I was. Oh boy. Here we go again. There we go again.

Dusty Blake comes out, tries to calm Libby down a little bit. Libby's like, yeah, I'm good, man. I, you know, I just, this happened and I'm fine. Throws the next two pitches or balls. Now we're 2 and O to Bryce Harper and you're just waiting. At least I was for that three run bomb to go soaring into right field. But Libby gets him to chase two pitches. Bryce Harper clearly not locked in right now,

kind of the way Aronado and Paul Goldschmidt are. He's just not locked in yet. So he chases two pitches up in the zone before absolutely smashing a sinker to Nolan Gorman in second base, 107.7. Off the bat. But Gorman, who's been a very good fielder, as I mentioned earlier, fields it cleanly, flips it to win. It's another monster double play for this Cardle's pitching staff and for this defense, who continues to look so smooth out there when they're turning double plays. I believe they lead the league in double plays turned right now. Like they're just getting a ton of them and it's great. then the righty JT Real Mutu comes up next so Ali goes to Kit.

Andrew Kittridge comes from the bullpen, promptly strikes him out, Cardinals escape, just a huge moment for Matthew Libertor, who was still probably getting used to just being a bullpen guy instead of a starter, but to succeed in a situation like that, high pressure situation, against one of the best hitters in baseball and Bryce Harper, got to be a huge confidence booster for the 24-year-old. Now, Ketridge remains in for the start of the seventh day. Strikes out, Bohm to start.

But then two ridiculously fluky infield singles occurred. Neither of them are hit over 46 miles per hour. Just garbage infield singles off the bat, like just dumb hits. Like so dumb I don't want to talk about it anymore. But it makes it first and second and one out. Ali goes to the next lefty in the bullpen, Jojo Romero, to face their lefty, Brandon Marsh. And what does he do?

Walks him. five pitches walks him you're like you know like as frustrating as it is you're like my god this is what's going to happen now here we are again oh shipballs here we go this is where it all comes crashing down right because we're all dealing with PTSD from 2023 and we expect them to fail but like the undertaker you know the meme or he's the gift or whatever he rises out of the out of the casket Romero comes through punches out with merrifield and Kyle Schwabber, and he is freaking fired up. If you're on YouTube right now, I'm going to throw up a picture of it.

And it's not a great picture, but this is him like yelling out at center field. Like he was jacked in this moment, and I freaking love it. I love this kind of reaction and this kind of energy coming off your guys, raw emotion, something we hardly saw last year. And to see it tonight was awesome. You would have thought it was like game seven of the NLCS, the way he reacted. He was excited. To get the job done and get his team out of a situation.

They look pretty scary there for a second. Then in the eighth inning, he gives up another infield single to Trey Turner to start the inning, which was stupid and annoying. Like, infield singles are just annoying, aren't they? But he gets Harper to punch out again, strikes out stubs who had to come in for real muto after JT took a pitch to the throat in the seventh inning. I hope he's okay because that was kind of scary looking because he gets it. and he's kind of woozy there with the trainer,

and he's kind of woozy when he's trying to get the ball. You can tell he couldn't catch his breath. I mean, he just got popped right in the Adams apple. So those catchers, tough-ass dudes, man. So we hope J.T. Romuto is okay, but it wouldn't be shocking if he has the day off for the day game on Wednesday. But Jojo gets boomed to line out to Siani and right, and it's on to the ninth inning,

where Helsley was set to make back-to-back appearances. Didn't do it a lot last year. kind of scary when he did it in the past. But to say he was cutting it loose tonight, that was an understatement. We'll talk more about this next on Lockdown Cardinals. Passion, drive and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive.

eBay Motors has everything, and I mean everything, that you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. We're talking superchargers. We're talking roof racks, exhaust kits, LED, LED, headlights and a whole lot more, whether you're into speed. Maybe you like power instead. Maybe you're the stylish guy in your group. eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or

die. You're always going to find exactly what you're looking for. And because eBay does the guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time. Or you're going to get your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're not burning cash. Your burning rubber. All right. They want you back on the road,

feeling good about your purchase, and feeling good about your automobile. With all the parts you need, at the prices you want, it's easy to make your car, be MVP and bring home huge wins. Keep your rider dial live at eBaymotors.com. Eligible items only,

exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit, only available to U.S. customers. Locked on us launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and it's now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7

covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked-on plus our national shows which cover every league. Find Locked on Sports Today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. Now in previous years, the Cardinals have been a little bit scared, a little bit hesitant to use Ryan Helsley in back-to-back games.

And frankly, it's because he wouldn't perform so well. in that second game. Just wouldn't be as good. Same thing with going more than one inning. There are multiple times that they bring him in, and he looks fine to close out the eighth inning, and then they try to get him to finish off the ninth, and he struggles in the second inning.

So whatever it was, mental, physical, I don't know, but this year, Ali has made it clear to Housley and everyone else that's listening that the ninth inning is Ryan Helsley's inning this year. They're not going to bring him. them in and make him do double duties or anything, but the ninth inning is his. Okay? Last night, they had to use them in the 10th inning when they went to extra

innings and the Phillies got him for a couple of runs, but that's, you know, you got the free runner on second from the get-go and it's just, it's not an ideal situation for any reliever. You know, it's, uh, you know, best of luck trying to keep that run from scoring because it's not easy. So tonight, Hellsley gets to start like normal. nobody on fresh hitters doesn't have to worry about anything else and holy smokes he looked as dominant tonight as I've seen him since 2022 when he was an all-star the dude came in

humming tonight it looked like he had something to prove was popping 101 102 on the gun and doing it with ease he's ripping sliders at 88 miles per hour and then he's spinning 70 mile per hour 79 mile per hour, like 12, six breaking balls that look like they're falling off tables on guys. Just filthy stuff out there tonight. He blows bomb away at 101 for the first out. Castiano's actually put some good wood on the ball lines out to center field for the next out. And then he just completely wipes out Brandon Marsh with a slider to end it. Three-nothing victory for the Cardinals tonight.

Just a wonderful all-round team effort. That tonight was the type of Cardinals baseball that we, We love in St. Louis, and it's hopefully the type of Cardinals baseball that will continue and hopefully start putting butts in the seats again because it was another weak crowd at Bush Stadium tonight by Cardinal standards. The announced crowd 31,972. A lot of stadiums would love to have that on a Tuesday night. But according to our friend Jeff Jones at the Bell Bill, the smallest night crowd in the history

of Bush Stadium 3, in the history of Bush Stadium 3, which is a little bit short. shocking considering it was Sunny Gray's debut. The weather seemed fine. So I don't know. People haven't bought in yet. They haven't bought into this team yet. But I think if you get more nights like this where you get this type of effort from everybody involved, they'll show up. They'll come.

If you play this way, they will come. The top four hitters in the Cardinals lineup, Donovan, Goldschmidt, Contreras, Aronano. By the way, good to see Wilson Contreras back in the lineup tonight. Did have a hit. But all four of those guys combined one for 15. Contreras getting that only head. Although Nolan Aronado, give him a little bit of credit today, he did take his first walk of the season.

Ady boy, Nolan. So that's something. I mean, we're going to try to stay as positive as we can. So that's something for Nolan. Also, by the way, bare-handed play that he made earlier in the game, thing of beauty. That was gorgeous. Maybe two or three guys who play third base.

maybe probably key Brian Hayes, Matt Chapman make those plays, maybe Austin Riley, but not many guys are making that play, bare handed, tossed a first, beautiful stuff. The hitting certainly hasn't affected what he's doing in the field yet. And with him and then Mason Wynn playing shortstop, that left side of the infield, that's been spectacular so far this season. Heck, the whole infield has been impressive this year. I mean, give credit to Paul Goldschman. He's hitting like poop, but he's been fantastic.

first base, Nolan Gorman, the struggles with the strikeouts, has the one error so far. He's been great. It's made a huge difference in everything that's going on with this team and with this pitching staff. Paul Goldschmidt mentioned the struggles continue, struck out three more times tonight. Batting average has now dipped to 182, starting to get a lot of people going, thank God we didn't give him the extension. Let's not give up on Paul Goldschmidt just yet. Okay, I know he's struggling. He knows he's struggling. Tomorrow, day game. perhaps good day to give him a day off. It would be nice to, if Matt Carpenter was still around,

to get him some reps over at first base and in the game tomorrow with Aaron Nola on the mound. Maybe they can stick Burleson over there tomorrow or something, but maybe he could use a day off just to kind of regroup a little bit before they head out to Arizona. Because, I mean, if we're going to give Aronado hell for his at bats and looking goofy at the plate, Paul Goldschman needs to be held accountable as well.

And his look is bad if not worse than Nolan Aronado. Whose hitting street got snapped tonight at nine games, by the way. Despite allowing a combined eight hits tonight, the five Cardinals pitchers kept the Phillies hitless and seven at bats with a runner in scoring position recording a combined 13 strikeouts. I mean, that is getting it done in pressure situations. The bullpen, what more can you say about them? You've got to be impressed with what you've seen from them and the starting rotation so far this year. I mean, it's very much an upgrade from what we saw from last year, right? You got to admit that.

So again, just a very fulfilling team win on Tuesday. Pitching, top notch. Defense was fabulous. Offense, still weak, but it was Zach Wheeler. All right, he's one of the best in the business. They did enough to get the win, and that's good enough for me. Wednesday, day game, Lance Lynn against Aaron Nola, Lynn O&O on the season, pitched well in L.A.

before the rain came. Marlins. He was cruising along and then three home runs later and he's gone, but he had seven Ks and four and two-thirds inning. So he'll be looking for a bit of a bounceback performance. Nola 1-1-5.40 ERA got absolutely torched by the Braves in his first doubting, but five and two-thirds scoreless innings against Washington in his second start. Congratulations to Jackson Holiday. Before we wrap things up, Jackson Holiday, Number one prospect in baseball, also known as Cardinals Hall of Famer, Matt Holiday's son, getting called up to the major leagues with the Baltimore Orioles. Congratulations, that's cool.

Lars Neupar Update had a single and walked in five-plate appearances, drove in a run, scored twice, likely to join the team for their trip to Arizona after tomorrow's game. John King was the victim of getting sent down for the Sunny Gray transaction for him getting activated. So it'll be interesting to see what. they decide to do when they activate Newpar, whether they're going to send Victor Scott down or do they send down Michael Ciani? I mean, it's probably going to be Victor Scott, right? It's probably going to be because if Carlson hadn't gotten hurt, Victor Scott wasn't going to

be on this team. So if Newport comes back, Victor Scott, probably going to go down. As great as he's been defensively, nice to see him running when he is on the base pass, but obviously the offense just is not there. So probably going to be Victor Scott. But it's okay. That's okay. You got a taste of the major leagues and he'll be better for it.

Hopefully when he gets down to Memphis, if it happens. But that's my prediction. I think Victor Scott will probably be sent away. But anyhow, thanks for making a lot of time Cardinals for first listen every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter X at L.O. underscore Cardinals

and the JD Sports Radio. Feel free to hit me up during all the games. I'll be on tomorrow on Twitter. X chatting along with all of you. 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 I will see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.