photo: Willson Contreras (USA TODAY Sports)
The St. Louis Cardinals continue to tread water while the Milwaukee Brewers increase their divisional lead. Willson Contreras hit two home runs, drove in five and had a .976 OPS during the 3-3 week. Our history feature highlights four former Cardinals who played with at least 10 MLB teams.
Game recaps
Monday, August 5, 2024 – Cardinals 0, Mets 6
The St. Louis Cardinals were routed by the New York Mets in a 6-0 shutout on Monday at Busch Stadium. This one-game series was the makeup of the rained-out contest from May 8.
The Mets were not fooled by Cards starter Andre Pallante. The right hander gave up five runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Pallante struck out two and walked two and took the loss.
New Cardinal Shawn Armstrong relieved Pallante and surrendered one run in 2 1/3 innings. Matthew Liberatore halted the Mets in the final two innings.
St Louis was held scoreless as the offense scattered six hits. A double from Nolan Arenado was the only extra base hit. They were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men stranded.
New York scored a run in the second inning and followed up with a four-run fifth. The final run crossed the plate in the sixth.
Masyn Winn stole his 10th base of the season. Alec Burleson had an outfield assist at second base.
Tuesday, August 6, 2024 – Cardinals 4, Rays 3
The Cardinals defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by one run on Tuesday at Busch Stadium. Sonny Gray was on the bump for St. Louis. The right hander threw seven innings, gave up two runs on four hits, fanned six and walked one to earn his 11th win of the season.
Andrew Kittredge relieved Gray and hurled a scoreless eighth. Ryan Helsley surrendered one run in the ninth but still received his 35th save.
Tampa Bay scored two runs in the first inning. The Cardinals answered with a four-run second to go up 4-2. Pedro Pagés thumped a two-out single. Victor Scott II followed up with his first major league home run, a two-run shot to right center field. Masyn Winn was plunked. Tommy Pham blasted a second two-run home run.
The score remained at 4-2 until the Rays scratched a third run across in the ninth.
The Cardinals posted four runs on eight hits. Pham was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Pagés was 2-for-3. Scott had two RBI.
Winn made a fielding error.
Wednesday, August 7, 2024 – Cardinals 5, Rays 2
On Wednesday, the Cardinals won the second game to take the three-game set. Erick Fedde pitched better in his second Cardinals start. The right hander pitched five one-run innings with four hits allowed, six strikeouts and two walks. Fedder earned the win.
Ryan Fernandez relieved Fedde and surrendered one run in the sixth. JoJo Romero threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Andrew Kittredge hurled 2/3 of a scoreless inning. Ryan Helsley tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his 36th save.
St. Louis took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Masyn Winn doubled and scored on a single by Willson Contreras.
Tampa Bay tied the game in the top of the third. The Cardinals answered with two runs in the home third. Alec Burleson and Contreras singled. Nolan Arenado plated Burleson and Contreras on a double.
The Cardinals added two runs in the fourth to increase their lead to 5-1. Nolan Gorman drew a walk. Winn singled. Burleson drove in Gorman and Winn on a double.
The Rays scored one run in the sixth to shrink the lead to 5-2.
The Cardinals totaled nine hits for five runs. Burleson and Arenado were 2-for-4 with two RBI. Contreras was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Winn was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Thursday, August 8, 2024 – Cardinals 4, Rays 6
Due to a leaky bullpen, the Cardinals failed to complete the sweep over the Rays on Thursday with a 6-4 loss at Busch Stadium. Kyle Gibson started and pitched six innings, gave up two runs on eight hits, fanned six and walked one.
Kyle Leahy relieved Gibson and surrendered two runs in 1/3 of an inning. JoJo Romero allowed one run in his 1 1/3 innings and took the loss. Shawn Armstrong yielded one run in 2/3 of an inning. John King secured the final two outs.
Tampa Bay went up 2-0 in the top of the first inning. St. Louis answered with three runs in the home first to lead 3-2. Masyn Winn led off the inning with a walk. Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch. Nolan Arenado singled to score Winn. Brendan Donovan doubled to plate Contreras. Arenado came home on a ground out by Paul Goldschmidt.
The Cardinals added a run in the third to increase the lead to 4-2. Arenado singled. Donovan took a free pass. Goldschmidt drove in Arenado on a single.
The Rays regained the lead with three runs in the seventh. They scored a final insurance run in the ninth.
The Cardinals offense scored four runs on nine hits. Arenado was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Donovan was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Victor Scott II was 2-for-4. Goldschmidt had two RBI.
Goldschmidt stole his seventh base. Arenado swiped his second bag.
Friday, August 9, 2024 – Cardinals 8 at Royals 5
The Cardinals won the first of a two-game series over the Royals on Friday in Kansas City. Miles Mikolas took the mound to start and struggled through four innings. The right hander gave up five runs on eight hits and fanned three.
Matthew Liberatore relieved Mikolas and earned the win with three scoreless innings. Andrew Kittredge threw a scoreless eighth. Ryan Helsley tossed a scoreless ninth for his 37th save.
The Cardinals went up 2-0 in the first inning. Masyn Winn drew a walk to begin the game. Willson Contreras knocked him in with a two-run long ball to right field.
St. Louis added a run in the top of the third on a solo home run by Alec Burleson. Kansas City answered with three runs in the home third to tie the game at 3-3. The Royals gained the lead 5-3 in the fourth.
The Cardinals shrunk the lead to 5-4 in the sixth. Paul Goldschmidt walked. Nolan Gorman followed with a double. Goldschmidt scored on a ground out by Tommy Pham.
St. Louis took the lead back in the eighth with a two-run inning. Brendan Donovan led off with a double. Donovan advanced to third on a ground out by Goldschmidt. Pedro Pagés pinch hit for Gorman and drew a walk. Lars Nootbaar pinch ran for Pagés. Tommy Pham grounded into a force out. Nootbaar was out at second. Victor Soctt II plated Donovan and Pham on a double.
The Cardinals increased their lead to 8-5 in the ninth on the second long ball of the game from Contreras, another two-run shot.
Contreras went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Burleson was 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Donovan was 3-for-5. Goldschmidt was 2-for-4. Scott drove in two.
Saturday, August 10, 2024 – Cardinals 3 at Royals 8
The Cardinals fell to the Royals on Saturday to split the road series. Andre Pallante took the mound and pitched 5 2/3 innings, gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits, fanned four and walked four.
Ryan Fernandez surrendered three runs in 1/3 of an inning and took the loss. John King yielded one run in 2/3 of an inning. Shawn Armstrong continued the bullpen meltdown with two runs allowed in the final 1 1/3 innings.
The Cardinals began the same as the day before, with a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Nolan Arenado started with a single and Paul Goldschmidt followed with a two-run home run to center field.
The Royals cut the lead to 2-1 in the third. Kansas City tied the game in the sixth, then put up a four-run seventh to lead 6-2.
St. Louis added a third run in the eighth. Brendan Donovan doubled and scored on a single by Willson Contreras.
Kansas City scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth for the final score of 8-3.
The Cardinals produced only three runs on 10 hits. Nolan Gorman was 3-for-4. Goldschmidt had two RBI. Every Cardinal in the lineup had a hit except Brandon Crawford, but the team was only 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
The defense committed two errors. Contreras made a throwing error. Gorman had a fielding miscue. Pallante picked a runner off first base.
Sunday, August 11, 2024 – Off day
The annual rivals series being only two games at each location (won by Kansas City three games to one) created a very unusual Sunday off for the Cardinals.
The Big Picture
The Cardinals had a 3-3 week, winning 2 of 3 from the Rays, splitting two with the Royals, and losing a makeup game to the Mets. They remain in second place in the NL Central, but are 7.5 games back of the Brewers, who are running away with the Division.
The Cardinals have two series with the Brewers remaining in the season, so there is room to move up if the Cardinals can get it going consistently from here on out. This is a tall task based on the team’s performance to date.
The Cardinals are 1.5 games out of the Wild Card, trailing the Diamondbacks, Padres, Braves, and Mets. The Cardinals have one series remaining with the Padres. The Giants are close on the Cardinals’ heels and the final series of the season will be against San Francisco.
The Cardinals’ issues have not changed. From week to week, there are games in which the offense does its job and the pitching doesn’t and vice versa. This past week, the offense was adequate but the pitching was not, especially the bullpen.
The top offensive performers over the last seven days were Pedro Pagés (1.071), and Willson Contreras (.976). Five players had an OPS over .800. They were Nolan Arenado (.895), Masyn Winn (.853), Brendan Donovan (.840), Paul Goldschmidt (.821), and Nolan Gorman (.812).
At the bottom were Lars Nootbaar (.258) and Brandon Crawford (.000). During the game on Saturday, Chip Caray announced that Nootbaar has been out of the starting lineup for a couple of days because he was working on some of his hitting issues.
On the pitching side, three starters had ERAs under 4.00 for the week. They are Erick Fedde (1.80), Sonny Gray (2.57) and Kyle Gibson (3.00). The outliers were Andre Pallante (5.23) and Miles Mikolas (11.25). Mikolas in particular has been struggling for the last several starts.
During this past week, the bullpen was a bigger issue. Ryan Fernandez (27.00) and Kyle Leahy (54.00) had a terrible week. New Cardinal Shawn Armstrong has not impressed (8.31). The standouts in the bullpen are limited to Andrew Kittredge, Matthew Liberatore and Ryan Helsley.
The Cardinals activated Riley O’Brien off the 60-day injured list and immediately optioned him to Memphis in favor of Leahy. Whether this was a smart move is questionable given Leahy’s recent performance. O’Brien is untested at the major league level which likely played into the decision.
Steven Matz will be returning to the roster at some point this month, and with Lance Lynn on the IL the question will be whether Matz will return to the rotation or move to the bullpen. A bullpen assignment was given as an option by manager Oli Marmol, something that has occurred quite a bit over the last several seasons. Matz has missed a substantial amount of time on the injured list since signing with the Cardinals in the 2021-2022 offseason.
Currently, the rotation consists of Gray, Gibson, Mikolas, Fedde and Pallante. Lynn may come off the IL in a week or two. What the rotation will look like when Lynn returns will be interesting.
The Cardinals start the week with a series against the Reds in Cincinnati, and then return to St. Louis to play the Dodgers. The Cardinals have a difficult schedule for the remainder of the season so there is little room for error.
NL Central Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | WCGB |
| Milwaukee | 67 | 50 | 0.573 | ||
| St. Louis | 60 | 58 | 0.508 | 7.5 | 1.5 |
| Chicago | 59 | 60 | 0.496 | 9 | 3 |
| Cincinnati | 57 | 61 | 0.483 | 10.5 | 4.5 |
| Pittsburgh | 56 | 61 | 0.479 | 11 | 5 |
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
There are no trade or acquisition rumors to report.
Transactions
- 8/11 The Cardinals designated RHP Nick Robertson for assignment.
The Cardinals needed to clear a 40-man roster spot for O’Brien and Robertson was the odd man out. The Cardinals have a week to trade, release or wait for Robertson to clear waivers.
Update on the players the #stlcards received from Boston in the Tyler O'Neill trade. RHR Nick Robertson was DFAed today after posting a 7.48 ERA with Memphis. RHP Victor Santos lost his rotation spot twice and has a 6.11 ERA, also with the Triple-A Redbirds.
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) August 11, 2024
- 8/11 The Cardinals activated RHP Riley O’Brien from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Memphis.
Since his assignment to Triple-A for rehab on July 20, O’Brien made nine appearances with a 2.25 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and a .207 batting average against.
Injury Report
- RHP Keynan Middleton (right forearm strain) was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list on June 22. Middleton underwent season ending forearm surgery. The right hander will not throw a pitch for the Cardinals this season.
- LHP Drew Rom (left bicep tendinitis and left shoulder surgery) was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60 day-injured list on April 30. Rom underwent left shoulder surgery. The left hander is expected to be out until at least September.
- RHP Riley O’Brien (right forearm flexor strain) has been activated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to the Memphis Redbirds.
- LHP Steven Matz (lower back strain) was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list on June 28. Matz is currently three starts into his rehab assignment with the Memphis Redbirds.
- CF Michael Siani (strained right oblique) was placed on the 10-day injured list on August 4. Siani is expected to miss 3 to 4 weeks with a moderate oblique strain.
- RHP Lance Lynn (right knee inflammation) was placed on the 15-day injured list on July 31. Lynn injured the knee on July 23 in Pittsburgh but made his start on July 30 against the Rangers. Lynn threw long toss and played catch off the mound on August 9. A mid-August return is the expectation.
Looking Ahead
The Cardinals begin a three-game series with the Reds in Cincinnati on Monday. Sonny Gray will make the Monday start, followed by Erick Fedde on Tuesday and Kyle Gibson on Wednesday.
After their second travel day in five days, on Friday the Cardinals begin a weekend series at Busch Stadium with the Dodgers. After the Dodgers, the first-place Brewers come to St. Louis for three beginning Tuesday, August 20.
The team then travels to Minnesota for a weekend series against the Twins.
The Cardinals return to St. Louis for a four-game series with the San Diego Padres. They leave again for New York for three with the Yankees to end the month of August.
The final series of the road trip is with the Brewers in Milwaukee.
Blast from the Past
This week’s Blast from the Past continues the series that showcases former Cardinals who played for many teams in their career.
St. Louis recently acquired former Cardinal Tommy Pham in a trade with the Chicago White Sox. Pham began his major league career with the Cardinals in 2014 and remained for four seasons before being traded in 2018. Since that time Pham has played for seven other teams prior to his return this July.
These players did not necessarily start with the Cardinals nor play for the Cardinals more than one time. A career arc like that of Tommy Pham is a rare feat.
In the first installment, we listed three players who played for 10 or more teams in their career. This second installment spotlights four additional players who played for 10 or more teams.
The following is a list of those who played for the Cardinals and for multiple franchises in their career. The name of the player, the dates he played for the Cardinals, and the other teams he played for s noted.
Royce Clayton – The Cardinals acquired Clayton in a trade with the Giants in December 1995. The intention was for Clayton to back up Ozzie Smith, but manager Tony La Russa decided that Smith and Clayton would compete for the starting job. Even though Smith outplayed Clayton in spring training, La Russa gave Clayton the starting job. This upset the future Hall of Famer Smith and made Clayton unpopular with Cardinals fans.
Smith retired at the end of the season and Clayton remained in St. Louis through the first half of the 1998 season when he was traded to the Texas Rangers.
Clayton played for 11 teams in total, beginning with the Giants. After leaving St. Louis, Clayton played for the Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays, and Boston Red Sox.
Clayton retired in 2008.
Dennys Reyes – The Cardinals signed Reyes to a two-year free agent contract in 2009. Reyes pitched out of the Cardinals bullpen in 2009 and 2010.
The Cardinals were the 10th of 11 teams in Reyes’ major league career. Prior to coming to St. Louis, Reyes played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, Cardinals, and finally the Boston Red Sox.
Todd Zeile – Zeile began his major league career with the Cardinals. St. Louis drafted him in the second round in 1986 as a catcher but was he moved to first base to make room for Tom Pagnozzi. Zeile later moved to third base.
Zeile spent seven seasons in St. Louis. In 1995 he was traded to the Chicago Cubs, his second of 11 teams in total. His subsequent teams were Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, and Montreal Expos. He played for the Mets twice and ended his career there and is a broadcaster for them currently.
Zeile has the distinction of being the only player in major league history to hit at least one home run for over 10 teams.
Russ Springer – Springer is the only one of these four players who was with the Cardinals twice. The Cardinals signed the reliever as a free agent in 2003 and again in 2007. He remained for two seasons in his second stint.
Springer also was employed twice by the Houston Astros and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The list of 10 teams for whom Springer played are New York Yankees (started his career), California Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, Astros (twice), Diamondbacks (twice), Atlanta Braves, Cardinals (twice), Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cincinnati Reds.
Springer won the World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001. He was also on the Astros 2005 World Series roster. The Astros, then in the National League, lost to the Chicago White Sox.
Springer retired in 2011.
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