Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Regain SWAGGER As Lineup REDEEMS Itself In WIN over The Texas Rangers

Starting point is 00:00:00 The meat of the order says enough is enough. And they put the team on their shoulders to avoid the sweep against the Rangers. 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 there, Cardinals fans. I'm Jady Hafford and on today's show.

Starting point is 00:00:26 We head back to the farm to check in on Lars Nupar before he gets activated for the weekend. Andre Palante spends a nice one against the Rangers, was good. Riley O'Brien rebounds. Yeah, had that nasty game. But, you know, it's all about how you respond to stuff like that. But the theme this week has really been about the offense, not being able to rise to the occasion in key situations, something that has been a problem for a very long time this season. But finally, finally, we saw some production and runners in scoring position. We're actually coming around and scoring on Wednesday night. And because of that the Cardinals were able to avoid the sweep and snap the Texas Rangers five game winning

Starting point is 00:01:08 streak. And one of the things that the Cardinals were doing well early on in this season that I feel like has been lacking recently just by the eyeball test is when they were racking up all those wins early on. They were wearing out the opponent starter very early on in the games. They were taking a lot of pitches and they were walking a ton. And we know how dangerous it can be when you start putting guys on base. We've been on the other side of that where our pitchers will walk people and it causes just havoc, right? At the beginning of the year, Cardinals were tied for eighth most walks in the league. All right, when you go through the month of April, they were tied for eighth.

Starting point is 00:01:46 Then in May, they dropped to 28th in the league and walks. From 104 walks in 26 games to 73 in 26 games. 31 less walks. That is a huge difference. and I miss that ability to wear guys down and take walks. It's what made them so tough to play early on this season. You kept hearing words like, wow, what a scrappy Cardinals team this is. They really put up a fight against you.

Starting point is 00:02:16 They're not an easy out. And you're not hearing that as much anymore. Now, could this drop off be because of the way that other teams are pitching them now? Sure. Is it the quality of pitching that they're facing now? Sure. We've pointed out multiple times how good some of the. the guys that they've run into recently have been.

Starting point is 00:02:35 But when other teams adjust, that's what you've got to do. You've got to adjust to them, but not lose the things that have made you successful. So I've seen them push some pitch counts in that first inning. I've seen them push it against a few guys, but it usually kind of dies off as the game goes on. So I loved how the Cardinals approach things in the early going in this game on Wednesday against McKenzie Gore. they were extremely patient at the plate early on, especially in that first inning, forcing Gore to throw strikes. You were going to have to come to them. And they weren't chasing as much, which is always nice. You know, Mason Wynn worked a walk to start the game, lead off locks.

Starting point is 00:03:14 We know about the rules there, man. The lead off locks usually comes around and scores, six pitches. Herrera only sees two, but gets robbed by Nemo in right field on a nice catch. Then Walker has a six pitch of bat before he grounds into the fielder's choice. And then it's Nelson Velasquez, who is not known for walking a ton, ends up working a six-pitch walk, which brings up Burley, who again hasn't had much success against lefties this season, compared to last season, where the splits weren't quite as drastic. But this time, you know, things are a little bit different here in 2026. But he has been very good with runners in scoring position.

Starting point is 00:03:53 And he comes through here with the RBI single to right field. Then you get Jose Fermin, who works a seven-pitch walk before Gorman. eventually flies out. So in the first inning alone, you got three walks. You get one key hit, which is all you needed because you were getting on base via the walk. And you make their starter throw 32 pitches. And you grab the lead on top of that. And that's the stuff you like to see. And they were doing a lot of that earlier on in the year. And for whatever reason, the lineup has not been able to do it the way that they were earlier on. So I would love to see them get back to that I would assume it's not because a lack of effort. I would assume that there are other things

Starting point is 00:04:33 that are involved here, but it's just something as far as eyeball test and just watching the games. It's something I've noticed that they just have not been getting as many walks the way they used to. And that's going to lead to less opportunities, although when they've had opportunities to have to be able to bring these guys in anyway. But still, the more havoc, the more people on the base pass, the better, the better for your offense and the worse off the other team is going to be. And oddly, those were actually the only three walks in this game. They, they would not get another one the rest of the way. But it set the tone early on in the game against McKenzie Gore, who would only make it four and two thirds innings because of that pitch count. He still got up to 100 pitches,

Starting point is 00:05:11 but was up there by, you know, the fifth inning. So that's, that's good. That's what you want. You want to knock out those starters. You want to eat into the bullpen, even when, you know, the Rangers have have a very good bullpen. But still, that's the idea in the series. And you heard it on like, money ball where he's like, I want you eaten into that bullpen early on and often. And by the time that you're going up against these guys in the end of the second game and third game, you want to be going against the last guys on the depth chart in their bullpen. And that's something that, you know, the Cardinals should be striving for. Third inning was completely different than what we saw in the first thing.

Starting point is 00:05:46 So Gord tried to get ahead of these guys with strikes early on the second time around through the order, making adjustments. And so the Cardinals adjusted right with them. And they attacked early in the counts with Walker singling on the third pitch. He saw the Lasquez doubles on the first pitch, Burley devils on the second pitch. And then you're looking at a three to one ball game. Fifth inning, it was a one out Jose for mean double, followed by a Thomas and Jacey RBI triple to right center field that had some wicked spin on it. Like it hit and then it kind of went and like hugged against the fence out there.

Starting point is 00:06:17 And that was the hit that not gore out of this game. And the cartels were up four to one. And, you know, great for Thomas and Jacey. You heard Chip say it last night. You know, with more playing time, he gets better. Usually that is the case. It's just as unfortunate that there's not a lot of room for C. to get that playing time.

Starting point is 00:06:34 And when they were giving it to him earlier on in the season, he wasn't doing much with it. So I'm very curious what they're going to do with the roster when all these guys come back and get healthy. I'm talking about Urias and obviously Newpar and Nathan Church. I wonder what adjustments they're going to make on this roster and who they're going to keep and who they're going to push away for just playing time.

Starting point is 00:06:53 purposes. Some of these guys, you don't want them just sitting on the bench. You need them to play every day. And unfortunately, the best place for that might be at Memphis. Cardl's tack on another one in the sixth inning with two outs after Jordan Walker singles. He steals second base. His team leading eight steel of the of the season. Yes, he has more than Victor Scott. And then it's Velasquez, who's a rip at a single to right center to make it five to one. And you got to be very much pleased with what you've seen from Nelson Velasquez so far this season in the, you know, short period of time that he's actually been up with the team so far. He's been a big deal.

Starting point is 00:07:27 He's come up with some big hits. Heart of the order in this game goes seven for 11 with two extra base hits, four rivis, four runs scored, a walk and a stolen base. Just doing damage left and right. Put the lineup on their shoulders, carried them to victory in this one. For Mane had that big double. So J.C. 2 for 4 with the RBI triple, but the three, four, five guys were absolutely outstanding.

Starting point is 00:07:49 They owned it in this one. The team finishes four for 13 with runners in scoring position. still left nine on base, which is way too many. You've got a lot of chances there to really blow these games open and make this not so dramatic later on in the in the games, but it was certainly better than what we had been seeing from them recently. So we applaud you to the offense for getting it right on Wednesday and avoiding the sweep. So that was nice. The pitching, though, pretty darn good in this one, too. We're going to talk about Palante and O'Brien's rebound performances coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.

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Starting point is 00:09:58 You can get your daily car. Cardinals coverage completely add free by joining our everyday air club. Do it today. Start your seven-day free trial right now and get closer to your team without those interruptions. Click the link in the show notes or go to locked on. SdL cardinals.com to claim your free trial. So pitching really hasn't been the issue recently for the Cardinals. It isn't something that we're pointing out like, these guys are terrible. That really hasn't been the case. You know, there's always going to be ups and downs with certain games. But, you know, the two of the main guys that were a part of this win on Wednesday night were actually two of the guys coming off subpar performances.

Starting point is 00:10:39 Andre Palante was not very good on Friday against the Cubs. Lasted just three innings. And credit to Ali Marmel who recognized, yeah, look, Palante does not have his good stuff tonight. He was getting knocked around by the Cubbies and went out there and yanked him before things got out of hand. So the Cardinals went on to win that game because Ollie was like, hold on. It's one of them days for Andre, which happens. It happens. This time around, though, Ali would not need to make such a drastic move because Palante was excellent.

Starting point is 00:11:09 He goes five and two thirds innings. He allows just one run on three heads. He strikes out five. He walks just two, worked around some situations too, like worked around that hit by a pitch in the first inning, which you're like, here we go. Got around that lead off field. error by Burley in the second inning just after the Cardinals had gotten the lead. And Burley came up with that big hit. Then he lets one go right through him.

Starting point is 00:11:31 But he works around that, works around a two-out walk and a stolen base in the fourth inning. Got a big ground out on Duran with one out in the sixth inning before handing it off to Joe, Joe to finish that inning. And he did all of that. The five and two-thirds innings, the five strikeouts, all of it. He did it all on 85 pitches, which is very impressive. And here's actually Andre, after the game, talking about the differences from his last start against Chicago to Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers. You know, the last sergeant landed my curveball very well.

Starting point is 00:12:03 Today I felt like I landed it. I felt like that was the biggest improvement. Defense was good. They were all in the right places today. You know, that's part of it too. I felt like all the balls were hit at people. And, yeah. Now the Rangers did get to Jojo in the seventh inning after a lead off double.

Starting point is 00:12:20 There was then a walk. And then that gosh darned. Jack Peterson. I want to say worse things than that, but that gosh, George Jack Peterson, again, with the two run triple to cut the lead to five to three at that point. And now you're starting to sweat a little bit. You're like, oh, boy, all right. The offense finally got us like five runs. And now we're, we're having our bullpen issues again. But hey, that's baseball, right? You got to live with the good and the bad. And credit to Ryan Stanick, who came on to get the strike out to, in the fly out to strand jock at third base. He's at third with one out. And they

Starting point is 00:12:54 don't score, which is a huge momentum boost. So great stuff from Stannock. And then he gets out of the eighth inning. He allows just one single, but they don't score again. And April was a very tough month for Stannock. We were doing the Stannick panic stuff and we were having our issues with them. And look where he is now because he's had a pretty awesome May with an ERA of two, 11 Ks and nine innings. And so far he's continued that into the early part of June here. And I remember a time. And this is what we talk about, you know, when it comes to baseball. because it's such a long season. Remember how many fans wanted to DFA him?

Starting point is 00:13:29 Get him out of here. He's trash. Why are we paying this guy? He's crap. We don't need him. There's got to be somebody better. And now he's one of your more reliable arms in the bullpen. Like,

Starting point is 00:13:41 that's how quickly things can change. Because for a while, it was Jojo, right? It was Jojo and Riley O'Brien, who were the guys who were untouchable. Now they're starting to fade a little bit. They're not having as much success, but you're seeing guys like Brian Stanick. You're seeing Soriano, George Soriano coming up huge.

Starting point is 00:13:58 Gordon Griscefo has been huge. You know, you've seen some decent stuff from Ryan Fernandez. So it's been other guys, and that's how this works, man. When one person goes up and somebody else comes down, you got to find that balance. So credit to Stanit, credit to the coaching staff for turning things around for him. And he's been a big part of some of the success that they've seen here in the last month. Now with a five to three lead in this game, Ollie goes back to right. Lee O'Brien, who had that brutal outing on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:14:27 And I'll be honest, when he first did it, I was like, oh, what are we doing? What are we doing? But then I kind of understood the logic. We'll get to that in a moment. But, you know, he had that bad outing on Tuesday night. Didn't make it easy for himself on Wednesday night either. He walks the leadoff guy, the big no, no. Then the Rangers bunt for whatever reason to move the guy over.

Starting point is 00:14:49 I don't know if they didn't realize what the score was in the game. I'm not entirely sure what happened there. But, you know, the broadcast was saying like, you know, maybe they were just trying to keep it from a double play ending the game right there or whatever. I really can't understand it. I would be so upset. You know, one run down, I get why your sacrifice funding there. Two runs, not so much, not so much, because you're just giving away one of your final three precious out.

Starting point is 00:15:16 So a gift there from the Rangers. Thank you very much, Skip Schumacher. then Peterson made the pacemakers go off when he came up just a few feet short of tying this ball game, hits a deep fly ball off of Riley O'Brien that dies on the warning track just in front of the wall there. Victor catches up to it in center field. We all exhale a little bit before O'Brien gets young to fly out in the game to Jordan Walker. And although our faith in Riley O'Brien has waned a bit recently, as it should, you know, he hasn't been. good. Hasn't been the same dominant guy that we've seen in the early going, but it was nice to see

Starting point is 00:15:54 him close another one out. He picks up his 15th save of the season, some of the, you know, one of the highest totals in the league. And some question, like I said, why he was back on the mound just 24 hours after Texas beat him. I was one of those guys initially. And then I was like, okay, this kind of makes sense. But here is Ali actually talking about why it was important to get him out there right away. So you always want that for any reliever. anytime they've been good and they have a hiccup, then you want to get them out there as fast as possible. It just helps them not sit there and dwell on it, right?

Starting point is 00:16:29 And the opportunity presented itself today. Obviously, we have a day off tomorrow, so getting him back out there was important. So that's why. Again, he would have had to, if he didn't go out there last night, that means he's thinking about that game on Tuesday on Wednesday. And then he's thinking about it again on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:16:46 And he's thinking about it again going into Friday. Makes perfect sense. him out there and just, you know, you got to, you got to coddle these dudes sometimes. You got to give him a smack on the ass and say, look, dude, you're our guy. You're the guy. Like, you're not, you're not losing your job. You're the dude. We need you. So let's get it, get it back together and get it going once again. And he was able to do that, did not get any strikeouts or anything like that. But it was a positive step forward for Riley O'Brien, which is something that you need. Now, three starts of the game. We're going with Andre Palante, who now leads the club with six wins

Starting point is 00:17:20 on the season. Who had that at the beginning of June that Andre Palante would have six wins, would lead the club and wins on a club that is actually winning ball games. Like, this is not a team that is in the toilet or anything. So I can't imagine a lot of people predicted that. Alec Berlison, shout out to him. Two for three, three ribbies. Both RBI's coming off a lefty. So lefty, lefty damage right there against score. And then I'm going to have a tie here for third with Jordan Walker going three for four with three runs scored. Rob Raines from SDL SportsPage.com pointed out that Jordan had just been two of 20 in his first five games of this homestand and over his previous eight, just five for 31 with 10 strikeouts. So it was great to see him. You saw that in this series

Starting point is 00:18:03 where he struck out seven straight times in a row. So, and this is what the difference has been with Jordan Walker this year is that when things do go bad, which happens to everybody from time the time. He's able to be resilient and pick himself up and get right back in there. So after two not so great games, he gets the hit on Tuesday night. And then on Wednesday, he goes three for four, three runs scored. He was huge, huge in this game. So that just shows me a sign of more maturity for Jordan Walker as well as a more confident hitter. Who knows he's better than that. And he was able to turn it around. So awesome stuff from Jordan and props to Nelson Velasquez, who went two for three with an RBI now hitting 462 since getting called up.

Starting point is 00:18:45 How long will he be there? That is the real question. Raster moves are looming with Lars Neupar set to come back this weekend. We'll talk about him and we'll talk about this in L. Central coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Oh, and we're going to throw in some Joshua Bayos because the dude is crazy good right now. Baseball season is here and now you can trade every game on Calci. On Calci, you can trade every single game.

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Starting point is 00:20:13 Thanks again for making Lockdown, Carlos, your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown, the number one sports podcast. Network. So Lars Newpar is about to return to the team for the first time since last season. I haven't seen Newton in a while. We miss Newt. We miss his energy. We miss his smile. We miss his production. So he's about ready to return after having the offseason surgery on both of his heels. On Wednesday with Memphis, he was one of the catalysts and their 18 to 4 curb stomping of Louisville. Newt led off the bottom of the first inning with his second home run of the AAA portion of his MLB rehab assignment. It set the tone for Memphis ahead of a four homer 14 walk victory.

Starting point is 00:20:53 14 walks from Memphis marks a new season high and surpassed their 13 walks, which they drew on May 19th against Iowa. Newt two for five in the game, two runs scored the walk, four RBIs at his minor league totals during his rehab has now boosted him up to 257 average, three home runs, eight RBIs, nine walks, eight runs scored. He's done all of that in 35 at bats. It appears that Lars Newport is healthy. It appears that Lars Newpar is ready to rejoin this Cardinals ball club and might just be the injection this offense needs to, you know, kind of lengthen that lineup a little bit. We know how bad things have been after the top four guys and he's going to be somebody that gets plugged in right away. Don't know where they're going to

Starting point is 00:21:36 put him in the order. I would assume that they're going to put him right behind whoever's batting cleanup. So usually Jordan Walker. I would assume that's where he goes. But we'll see what Ali does on maybe he shuffled some things around. Joshua Baez continues to be scorching hot, red hot, white hot, whatever you want to call it at the plate. He hit his 17th blast of 2026 in this game. Let off the bottom of the six with that. He ends up going three for four with four runs scored,

Starting point is 00:22:04 three ribbyes, the home run. He hits a double. He takes a walk in two games to start the series that they're currently in with Louisville. He has seven for nine with four extra base hit, six ribbyes, five run scored. Now last year, if you remember, we were in awe at this incredible season the Joshua Baez had because he had struggled so much, you know, since, uh, since coming into the organization. And, you know, there was some, some doubts on whether or not he was going to end up being something. And then last year, whatever happens, he figures it out, whether it's, uh, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:35 launch angles, whatever it is that he figured out, he ends up going off for 20 home runs, 79 RBIs. He steals like almost 60 bags, like has this incredible season. in just 418 of bats over 117 games at high A and AA Springfield. And most of that damage was done in AA. He wasn't at Peoria very long. And at AA, he had 16 bombs, 55 rubies, and 79 games. So now we move him up to AAA. You go to Memphis.

Starting point is 00:23:03 You take on the next level of pitching. You're that much closer. You're one step away from Major League Baseball. Has a nice spring. Then struggles a little bit out of the gate here in 2026. but he has just gone nuclear recently. The guy is now up to 17 bombs and 45 ribbies in just 200 and 10 at bats. 52 games.

Starting point is 00:23:25 He's got 17 dongs and 45 ribbies in his first go-around at AAA. This is not season two where he's adjusted to everything after having a lot of time at that level. No, it took him like 20 games to adjust. And then all of a sudden he's just crushing everything. And the fans and the organization have every right to be excited about this guy who's going to turn 23 at the end of the month. It appears that we have a budding superstar on our hands at AAA Memphis. The question is, when will he come? When will he come up to the big leagues?

Starting point is 00:24:01 And the cardals are going to be patient with it, right? And it makes sense. You don't have to rush it. But eventually, you keep doing what he's doing down there. and you're not going to have a choice. Like he's going to bang down and kick open that door to the clubhouse and say, hey, I am here. Let's go.

Starting point is 00:24:19 So very excited for Joshua Baez. Now, as far as the NL Central goes, good night for the Cardinals because the Brewers actually lost a game. They got shut out one to nothing by Logan Webb and the Giants. The pirates had Paul Skeens on the mound and blew a nine to five lead in the eighth inning when the Astros erupted for six runs with two outs. talk about deflating, and they did it against two of their best left-handers in Mason, Montgomery and Gregory Soto. Cubs below a 4-2 leave in the eighth inning, and they fall at home by a score 5 to 4 against the A's. And then the Royals score 3 in the ninth inning against Cincinnati to beat them 5 to 2.

Starting point is 00:24:55 So the Cardinals in a rare night are the only team in the NL Central to win a ball game on Wednesday, which puts them a percentage point ahead of the Pirates for second place in the division. The shuffling continues. five and a half back of Milwaukee, who has been incredible, but the cardals aren't going away. They're not going away. They get the day off today on Thursday before hosting the Reds for the first time this season at Bush Stadium on Friday night. We had the one-in-one split in Cincinnati because it rained cats and dogs the whole time

Starting point is 00:25:27 while the Cardinals were in town. So hopefully that is not the case this weekend in St. Louis, and they're able to get all three in. And they get the face, the trio that the Reds are kind of the bottom three guys in their rotation. It's Brady Singer, Nick Ladolo, and Rhett louder. So you don't have to face Chase Burns. You don't have to face Andrew Abbott. They're two top pitchers right now. So that's good news for the Cardinals would be great to win the series would be awesome to sweep them and kick them while they're down. No Ellie. He's out hurt. Hunter Green's out hurt. They don't have Emilio Pagan. He's

Starting point is 00:26:03 out hurt. Like this is the time to take advantage of it and really put some space between you. the Cincinnati Reds. So brewers and pirates and cubs are all playing on Thursday. The Reds are off as well. So a big series coming up this week in a Bush Stadium between the Reds and the Cardinals. Thanks for making it locked on Cardinals. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals. We're on TikTok and Instagram at Locked on Cardinals. If you like those shorts, those reels, that's where those go. They're about a minute long each time. So you can catch up on everything we talk about, but do it in an instant with just one minute. Like, subscribe on YouTube. our channel on love for the Cardinals grow,

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Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Regain SWAGGER As Lineup REDEEMS Itself In WIN over The Texas Rangers

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