Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages greets pitcher Sonny Gray as Gray leaves the game after allowing just one base runner, on a home run hit by San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey, in seven innings of work on Sunday, June 23, 2024, at Busch Stadium.
MINNEAPOLIS — When the Cardinals positioned rookie catcher Pedro Pages as their backup, his feel, comfort and command behind the plate influenced that decision and led to the increasing amount of starts that followed.
How he’s developing at the plate shapes this next crucial choice at catcher.
A day after fracturing the middle finger on his right hand, catcher Willson Contreras went on the 10-day injured list, and the Cardinals recalled prospect Ivan Herrera from Class AAA Memphis. Contreras is scheduled for another scan and exam Monday to determine how long he will be out, and it is entirely possible that the Cardinals will face their remaining 32 regular-season games without their All-Star catcher and with two rookies at the position.
“We’ll look at how we’ll split the time behind the plate,†manager Oliver Marmol said.
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A driver for that division of starts has been defense, where Pages has the edge. Where he’s added to his claim is at the plate. Pages had two singles Sunday in the Cardinals’ 3-2 victory and series win against Minnesota at Target Field. Earlier this month he hit the longest home run by a Cardinal at Busch Stadium this season, and he’s been on an uptick offensively for several weeks. He’s 9 for 22 (.409) over his past eight games, including Sunday’s.
The improving bat adds to his claim to playing time “because it’s not like this guy is an out,†Marmol said. “He gives you a good at-bat, a productive at-bat, productive outs whenever. He knows what he’s trying to do, and I think he’s only going to get better.â€
Herrera returned to Class AAA Memphis to get better in multiple phases of his game. The young, rising prospect had difficulty policing stolen bases because of his technique and throws from behind the plate. Opponents stole 41 bases on him in 44 tries in 345â…” innings this season. Back at Triple-A, Herrera had some assignments that included arm strengthening and also adjusting some of his footwork behind the plate.
Asked if Herrera made strides, Marmol said: “We’ll see.â€
“Defensively, there are some things that he wanted to go down and work on, just from a throwing standpoint,†the manager continued. “That was an emphasis for him. Offensively, I feel like mentally he’s in a good spot just with what he’s trying to do with his approach, just overall plate coverage. I feel like that’s headed in a good direction. We saw really good versions of that as well.â€
The Cardinals crave offense as they’re trying to make a run back into relevance and the playoff race this week, and Herrera has provided enough of that in the past to merit some starts as a right-handed option. He was the Cardinals’ minor league player of the year last summer because of a .951 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) powered by a .451 on-base percentage that was among the leaders for the minors (all levels, all teams). In 27 games at Class AAA this season, he has an .875 OPS and a .402 OBP.
Contreras fractured his finger when struck by pitch in the fourth inning Saturday night. The pain was immediate, and an X-ray at the ballpark revealed the break.
For the Cardinals catcher, it is the second time this season he will miss an extended period due to a fracture. His forearm was broken earlier this season on a swing from Mets slugger J.D. Martinez earlier this summer, forcing Contreras to miss more than a month. At the time of both injuries, he was the Cardinals’ leading hitter by OPS.
“I’ve been healthy all year (but) just two fractures,†Contreras said late Saturday night at Target Field. “I just think I’m not lucky this year, to be honest. It’s part of baseball (and) not having good luck on my side. We still have a lot of games left, and I’m going to be present for the guys.â€
Gray: ‘Same game over and over’
What Cardinals starter Sonny Gray repeatedly mentioned late Saturday night after his loss to the Twins was how familiar the game felt, like he’s repeatedly had ones like it all summer.
“The frustrating thing for me is it just seems to be the same game over and over and over,†Gray said. “Put up some zeroes and then have the big innings. Give up three or four — two, three, four in one inning and then throw the ball well after that. It’s just zero, zero, zero, five, zero, zero. That’s the frustrating part.â€
Gray’s first start back against the Twins, his team the past two years, began with him striking out the side on 10 pitches in the bottom of the first.
Then the Twins scoring went close to what he described for his six innings.
Zero. Zero. Five. Zero. One. Zero.
“If you look back, it just seems to be one inning,†Gray said.
Eight times this season, the Cardinals’ No. 1 starter has allowed five or more runs; 10 times, he’s allowed four or more. In addition to allowing 20 homers this season vs. eight a year ago, those big-run starts have also mostly included a crooked-number inning as an island surrounded by zeroes. Gray’s eight starts with at least five runs have included seven innings with three or more runs scored. In three of his 10 starts with at least four runs allowed, Gray has allowed a four-run inning, including Saturday’s to the Twins.
Three of those runs came on a homer hit against Gray’s cut fastball. Gray mentioned that one solution could be looking at his pitch sequence and if it, like the innings, is getting too similar.
Minor keys
If the Cardinals elect to refresh or retool the bullpen for any of the coming series, right-hander Riley O’Brien is eligible for a return to the majors and pushing the conversation with his performance. Two weeks after the Cardinals optioned the right-hander to Class AAA Memphis, he’s made five appearances and not allowed an earned run in any of them. In five innings, he has four strikeouts, and in total this season at Triple-A Memphis, he has a 1.35 ERA and nine strikeouts in 13⅓ innings.
Since his return to Triple-A, Nolan Gorman is 2 for 12 (.167) in three games with a solo homer and four strikeouts. Jordan Walker, who returned to Memphis’ lineup the day before Gorman, had a three-hit evening in his first game back and is 5 for 15 (.333) with three RBIs.
Lynn, etc.
Lance Lynn will throw at least two innings of live batting practice Monday afternoon against teammates at Busch Stadium. The outing will be similar to a spring training simulated game that sets him up for a return to a game. The Cardinals will use how he recovers by Tuesday to decide if he requires a rehab assignment that could begin later in the week with a minor league affiliate.
- The win Sunday was the Cardinals’ 23rd come-from-behind of the season and improved them to 19-15 in interleague series this summer.
- Nolan Arenado has reached base in 24 consecutive games. That is the third-longest streak of his career.
Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas speaks with the media on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, after a series-clinching win over the Brewers at Busch Stadium. (Video by Ethan Erickson, Post-Dispatch)
