Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante had done an admirable job since he came back from the minor leagues, where he retooled his pitching arsenal and reinvigorated his career as a starting pitcher.
He stabilized an injury-depleted rotation, and he provided very solid performances on the mound.
However, the Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t any other team with any other lineup. With three former MVPs atop their lineup in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman as the engine of the fifth-highest scoring offense in the majors (4.95 runs per game entering Saturday), they can make solid pitchers look suspect.
Pallante, a native of Mission Viejo, California, took the mound on Saturday night and held the Dodgers and their vaunted lineup at bay for the better part of seven innings. In the process, Pallante put the Cardinals on the path to a 5-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 41,929 at Busch Stadium.
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Pallante (5-6) played the role of stopper as the Cardinals (61-62) halted a five-game losing slide. The win also snapped a string of five consecutive losses for the Cardinals in games started by Pallante.
Home runs from Cardinals rookie shortstop Masyn Winn (2 for 4), designated hitter Alec Burleson (3 for 4, stolen base) and veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado (1 for 4) helped provide the punch needed to stay ahead of the Dodgers (72-52).
The Cardinals collected 11 hits in the win, and they hit multiple home runs in back-to-back games for the first time since August 29-30, 2023.
Cardinals relief pitchers JoJo Romero and Ryan Helsley combined for two perfect innings on the mound to finish the game. They didn’t allow a batter to reach base in the final two innings as Romero earned his 30th hold of the season and Helsley registered his 38th save.
“You’re going to have to do that to beat teams of that caliber,†Burleson said of the Cardinals getting contributions from multiple corners of the roster. “We want to make the playoffs, and those are teams that we’re going to be facing. So it was good to kind of put everything together with the start, the bullpen, the defense and, obviously, the offense. We just need to do that consistently here until the end and let it shake out how it’s going to.â€
Pallante held the Dodgers to two runs on four hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out five and recorded his fourth quality start in his 13 starts this season.
“We’re facing one of the best teams in baseball, if not the best team in the National League, and Pallante did nothing but pound the zone with fastball after fastball,†Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras said. “Then he executed with two strikes really good tonight. Great effort. Pallante gave us a chance to win tonight.â€
The first hurdle for Pallante was as much internal as anything the Dodgers threw at him on Saturday night.
Once he calmed his nerves and settled into the game, he found a rhythm on the mound.
The Dodgers took a one-run advantage of Pallante’s early uneasiness when Ohtani walked, stole second base, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a single by Freeman.
Contreras’s RBI single in the bottom of the first evened the score.
Pallante gave up a leadoff single in the second inning to Miguel Rojas, but Contreras threw Rojas out at second base in a failed stolen base attempt.
“Willson throwing that guy out in the second inning was really important for me,†Pallante said. “It helped me relax a lot.â€
After the Rojas single, Pallante gave up just two more hits. The only extra-base hit came in the fifth inning when Ohtani hit a solo home run with two outs.
Pallante’s outing ended two innings later when he got Kevin Kiermaier to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Pallante threw 95 pitches in his outing, 62 for strikes. Of his 95 pitches, he threw either his four-seam fastball or sinker 68 times.
Asked about his willingness to go after that star-studded lineup with such a high volume of fastballs, Pallante offered a straightforward explanation.
“It’s confidence,†Pallante said. “Confidence and aggression are very important. Aggression comes from being confident that this is your best pitch and if you execute your best pitch, you’re going to win.
“That’s a big thing that you have to learn over time. Because when you first get up here, you have no idea where your stuff plays, what works for you and what’s a good pitch (or) what’s a bad pitch.â€
Contreras attested to the improved command Pallante has displayed during the course of this season.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and Pallante have pointed to the sinker as the key pitch that has changed Pallante’s ability to get right-handed batters out on a consistent basis. He’d previously had a lot of success against left-handed hitters, and that played heavily into his usage out of the bullpen.
The sinker changed the dynamics of him matching up against right-handed batters.
This season since Pallante returned to the majors as a starter and stared featuring the sinker as part of his arsenal, right-handed hitters have slashed .252/.324/.389 against him through 12 starts (not including Saturday night).
For his career in the majors, right-handed hitters had posted a slash line of .303/.386/.428 against him entering Saturday.
“I’d like to say it’s right around 50 percent of what I think it can be,†Pallante said. “It’s a fastball. Guys are able to command fastball really well. I think I can too, especially as I get the movement more consistent. It's something I started working on my first year up, but hopefully that’s something I can develop to be a really consistent weapon for me.â€
The Cardinals were hurting for starting pitching options after Steven Matz went on the injured list (lower back strain) at the start of May. That’s what created the opening Pallante eventually filled.
However, the Cardinals added starter Erick Fedde at the trade deadline. Knee inflammation put Lance Lynn on the injured list right after the Fedde acquisition, and that allowed the Cardinals to slide Fedde into the rotation without bumping another starter out of a spot.
Now, Matz appears perhaps one start removed from a potential return to the majors and Lynn has already spent the required time on the IL before he can return. He’s set to throw a live batting practice session next week.
Marmol did not want those pending additions on Pallante’s mind.
“The kid’s pitching well,†Marmol said of Pallante. “He’s going to continue to pitch. That shouldn’t be a topic of conversation or a focus of his at all. He’s locked in, doing his job, and he just needs to continue doing that.â€