To say it was a lost week for the St. Louis Cardinals is an understatement. The team dropped both games in Minneapolis and remained quarantined in their Milwaukee hotel all weekend. Future games have been juggled, but major questions remain after a series of positive COVID tests. Our history feature highlights some of the 44 triple plays turned by the Cardinals since 1882.
Game recaps
Tuesday, July 28 – Cardinals 3 at Twins 6
The St. Louis Cardinals began a two-game series with a tough Twins team on Tuesday in Minneapolis. Carlos Martinez got his first start of the season and it was a rough one.
Martinez pitched only 3 2/3 innings and gave up all six runs on seven hits, including two home runs. The right-hander struck out two and walked one. All but one of the six Twins’ tallies came in the second inning. After Martinez’ yielded his second long ball – to Josh Donaldson with two outs in the fourth inning – he left the game, replaced by Austin Gomber.
Gomber tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, with no hits, no walks and one strikeout. In his debut, Giovanny Gallegos secured the next two outs. Tyler Webb and John Gant each pitched a scoreless inning.
St. Louis’ offense was held scoreless until the fifth inning against former Reds starter Homer Bailey. After Dexter Fowler led off with a single, Tyler O’Neill thumped a two-run home run to center field.
Tommy Edman added a solo home run in the eighth inning for the final Redbird run. Edman was 2-for-3, a double and a home run. Matt Carpenter was 2-for-4. Other hits were Fowler’s single and a double by Harrison Bader.
Martinez committed a throwing error in the first inning on a pickoff attempt.
Wednesday, July 29 – Cardinals 0 at Twins 3
In the second game of the series, the Cardinals were shut out by the Twins 3-0. Minnesota pitching held St. Louis’ offense to only three hits.
Paul Goldschmidt singled on a line drive to left field in the first inning but was left stranded. Yadier Molina also singled to left in the second inning but was out at second on a force out by Rangel Ravelo.
The Cardinals offense remained hitless until Dexter Fowler singled to left in the eighth. Fowler was erased in a pop out double play off the bat of pinch hitter Matt Wieters.
Daniel Ponce de Leon got the start and pitched 3 2/3 innings. The right hander gave up three runs on two hits, one a home run. Ponce de Leon struck out eight and walked three. Tyler Webb got the last out of the fourth inning.
Kodi Whitley relieved in the fifth and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Andrew Miller followed with two clean outs to close out the loss.
The Big Picture
The Cardinals played only two games, both losses, during the week due to the postponement of the Brewers series in Milwaukee.
St. Louis’ offense was significantly worse than what it had been in the opening Pirates series. The team managed only 10 hits across the two games. Kolten Wong and Paul DeJong were hitless in the Twin Cities. Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina, Tyler O’Neill, and Harrison Bader each had one hit in the series. Bader’s and O’Neill’s went for extra bases. Only Edman, Carpenter and Fowler had multiple hits, with two apiece.
Neither starting pitcher in the series finished four innings. The bullpen was a lockdown in both games, with a combined 9 1/3 scoreless frames.
The defense was good and there was no running in either game. The only error was made by a starting pitcher.
The Cardinals are scheduled to play four games in Detroit starting Tuesday, assuming the team is cleared to leave quarantine in Milwaukee. A three-game series against the Cubs is scheduled for the weekend in St. Louis.
The Cardinals missed all three games against the Brewers and those games will likely be made up at some point. The team will be playing catch up and will need to win both series this week – assuming they can be played.
At this point, the make-up of the active roster for next game is a major question. The number of players to be placed on the injured list due to positive tests as well as their replacements are yet to be announced.
In other words, this week’s Big Picture remains very cloudy.
NL Central Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB |
| Chicago | 7 | 2 | 0.778 | |
| Milwaukee | 3 | 3 | 0.500 | 2.5 |
| Cincinnati | 4 | 5 | 0.444 | 3 |
| St. Louis | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 3 |
| Pittsburgh | 2 | 7 | 0.222 | 5 |
COVID-19 puts the Cardinals on hold
The Cardinals announced on Friday that two players had tested positive for COVID-19 in a test conducted prior to the Wednesday game in Minnesota. Since then, additional tests have been conducted.
After the first two positive tests were received on Thursday night, the positive players were isolated in their hotel rooms in Milwaukee. The entire 58-member traveling party was in quarantine as of 6 am Friday morning. Additional testing was done and contact tracing began. A third player was identified from contact tracing as a potential positive. The original two positive players have since been sent home to St. Louis.
Rapid result testing was done at the hotel and the results uncovered four additional positives. Saliva tests were conducted and sent to a lab. On Saturday evening, the third player was confirmed positive and one additional positive, a staff member, was also confirmed. Four more tests that were inconclusive were also identified. These four include a fourth player and three staff members.
More tests were conducted, and at least one additional positive was reportedly communicated to the team, but there has been no announcement. More results were expected on Sunday evening, but the team later issued a statement that there will be no further updates until Monday.
As a result, all three games of the series against the Brewers in Milwaukee were postponed. The traveling party remains quarantined in their hotel rooms.
The Cardinals are scheduled to travel to Detroit on Monday to begin a series against the Tigers on Tuesday. As of this writing on Sunday evening, no new results have been communicated and the team remains in Milwaukee.
Given the current situation, whether the Detroit series will be played on schedule remains a major question.
Mikolas out for the season
The Cardinals announced on Tuesday that RHP Miles Mikolas will have surgery on his right forearm and be out for the rest of the season. He was placed on the 10 day injured list.
Mikolas had issues with his right forearm flexor tendon last fall and again in spring training and was shut down. The length of time between the shutdown of spring camp in March, and the restart of Summer Camp in July gave Mikolas time to rehab. He received a platelet rich plasma injection in February and was seemingly healthy when Summer Camp opened.
The discomfort returned when Mikolas pitched in the exhibition game against the Royals on July 23. An MRI taken on the following Monday revealed significant damage to the tendon, though the ligament remained intact. Mikolas will undergo surgery to repair the tendon, at a date yet to be determined. Because this is a repair, not a ligament replacement (Tommy John), the right-hander is expected to be fully healthy for the start of spring training in 2021.
The Cardinals initially replaced Mikolas in the rotation with RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon. It was thought that LHP Kwang-Hyun Kim might be the choice, but the team had just moved Kim to the back end of the bullpen. The Cardinals also have LHP Austin Gomber as an experienced starting option if needed.
Mikolas’ Forearm Injury Returns with Gallegos and Woodford Added
MLB and MLBPA agree to seven inning doubleheaders
A joint announcement was made on Friday by MLB and the Players Association of an agreement that all doubleheaders during the 2020 season from August 1 forward will be reduced to seven innings each.
This agreement was made in the interest of player health and safety, to shorten games and reduce the strain on pitchers in particular. There is a limited amount of time in the season to play 60 games, and more than the usual amount of doubleheaders are expected due to possible COVID related delays.
Seven inning doubleheaders are the norm in the minor leagues and are common in college baseball. Rules regarding when a game becomes official will remain the same. The rule that extra innings start with a man on second base, which applies to all MLB games in 2020, will be implemented in the eighth inning of doubleheaders.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
There are no trade or acquisition rumors to report.
Transactions
- 7/28 The Cardinals placed RHP Miles Mikolas on the 10-day injured list retroactive to July 25, 2020. Right forearm strain.
- 7/28 The Cardinals activated RHP Giovanny Gallegos from the 10-day injured list.
- 7/28 The Cardinals recalled RHP Jake Woodford from Cardinals Alternate Training Site. This filled the active roster at 30 players.
Injury Report
- RHP John Brebbia underwent Tommy John surgery on June 1. He will miss the entire 2020 season.
- RHP Jordan Hicks (Tommy John surgery) has opted out of the 2020 season. Hicks, a Type 1 diabetic, made the decision to opt out prior to the season and was placed on the restricted list.
- 3B Brad Miller (right ankle bursitis) was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to July 20. Miller traveled with the team to Minnesota instead of remaining at the Alternate Training Camp. He was expected to be available for the postponed Brewers series, but was not activated.
- RHP Giovanny Gallegos has been activated from the 10-day injured list.
- RHPs Alex Reyes and Genesis Cabrera (previously quarantined for positive COVID-19 test) are said to be “progressing nicely” at the Alternate Camp Site in Springfield. Both pitchers threw to live batting practice on Wednesday, and both looked sharp according to reports. With potential COVID replacements expected, the duo could be called upon to return to the team.
- RHP Miles Mikolas (right forearm strain) will have surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.
Looking Ahead
Due to at least four positive COVID-19 tests, the series between the Cardinals and Brewers over the weekend was postponed.
The Cardinals will remain in their Milwaukee hotel until Monday, when they hope to travel to Detroit for a four-game series against the Tigers. The first game was scheduled for Monday but has been pushed back until Tuesday. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Wednesday, with the final game on Thursday. The original schedule had two games in each city, but now, all four are scheduled in the Motor City.
The team will then return home for a three-game weekend series against the Cubs. The homestand will continue the following Monday with a three-game set against the Pirates.
The three games of the Milwaukee series have not been rescheduled at this time.
The full 60-game schedule can be found here.
Blast from the Past
The Chicago Cubs turned a questionable triple play on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. The replay showed third baseman Kris Bryant did not make the catch on the line drive, as the ball hit the dirt first. Because infield plays are not reviewable, the triple play remained. As the “triple play” was the first of the 2020 season and triple plays aren’t that common, it is an interesting subject for this week’s Blast from the Past.
The SABR Triple Play Database indicates that 721 triple plays have been recorded in major league baseball since 1876. The first occurred on May 13, 1876 in a game between the New York Mutuals and the Hartford Dark Blues. The Mutuals’ defense turned a 5-3-5 triple play.
The database allows sorting by team. The Cardinals have secured the second highest number of triple plays all time, behind only the Orioles. Of course, many franchises have moved locations and changed names over time and so the totals include every place where the franchise was located. For example, the Orioles have 48 total triple plays, 25 as the Baltimore Orioles, and 23 as the St. Louis Browns.
38 of the Cardinals’ 44 triple plays were turned as the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League, five as the St. Louis Browns of the American Association, and one as the St. Louis Cardinals of the American Association. The early days are a bit of a murky area, as the team itself does not consider its official start until 1892. The stats-providers do not draw this distinction.
The very first triple play turned by the franchise was on July 26, 1882 against the Baltimore Orioles. The bases were loaded, and the triple play went 2-5-4, Sleeper Sullivan to Jack Gleason to Bill Smiley.
The Cardinals turned another on June 29, 1894 against the Boston Beaneaters. This one was 5-4-3-2, Doggie Miller to Joe Quinn to Roger Connor to Heinie Peitz.
Fast forward to July 1944, notable as the Cardinals turned two double plays that month. The first came on July 1 against the Brooklyn Dodgers, a 6-4-3. On July 15 against the Cincinnati Reds, a 4-6-3 triple play was turned.
The Cardinals recorded two triple plays in the 1956 season – a 3-3-6 on May 30 (Reds) and on September 25, a 3-6-4-1-5 (Cubs).
Since 1956, the Cardinals turned a 9-6-4-6 triple play against the Astros on May 8, 1977, a 6-2-3-4-5 play versus the Phillies on April 11, 1981, a 5-4-3 on September 5, 1991 against the Padres, a 4-6-3-6 vs. the Mets on May 11, 1993, a 5-5-3 on August 1, 2002 against the Marlins, and a 3-3-6 versus the Padres on May 5, 2005.
The most recent triple play turned by the Cardinals was recorded on June 6, 2014 against the Blue Jays in Toronto. The play went 4-6-3, Daniel Descalso to Jhonny Peralta to Allen Craig.
The foregoing are just a handful of the 44 triple plays made by the Cardinals in the history of the franchise.
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