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LOS ANGELES — Brendan Donovan was close enough to hear the baseball Teoscar Hernandez crushed collide with the unpadded plateau that sits atop Dodger Stadium's left center field wall.

The sound, the Cardinals' do-everything defensive player knew as soon as he heard it, meant the ball wasn’t in his outstretched glove.

A two-run Dodgers lead built on home runs had just become a five-run Cardinals deficit, thanks to Hernandez’s second homer in what became Friday night's 6-3 loss.

Replay showed Donovan was a lot closer than watching it live suggested. What would have been a sensational defensive play from a Cardinals player was overshadowed instead by the Dodgers’ remarkable power. That's been a theme through these first two games.

After spending an offseason talking about recommitting to stellar defensive play, the Cardinals through two losses here have shown real and encouraging signs they can and they will.

"We placed such a huge emphasis on it," Donovan said.

Actions are backing the talk.

The signs?

They include a sharp throw from Jordan Walker in game one that got Shohei Ohtani out via rundown after Ohtani doubled. Shortstop Masyn Winn already has made stops and throws of both standard and spectacular variety, including as pretty of a double play turned with Nolan Gorman that you will see this season. Center fielder Victor Scott II has not just his first steal beneath his belt, but his first diving headfirst catch, one that covered up an initial misread off the bat and robbed Freeman of a hit. The only decent example of a play not made that doesn’t fit into what looks to be follow-through on the team’s intent to shape its defense back into a collective strength is an uncharacteristic non-play from third baseman Nolan Arenado in game two; it’s probably safe to assume the 10-time Gold Glove award winner doesn’t have too many of those.

In games not defined by the opponent bludgeoning home runs, these kind of plays can swing and win games. But as Donovan was reminded, even a well-timed jump and a big stretch aren’t great matches for balls destined to leave the venue. Cardinals pitchers, specifically the starters, have to give this defense a chance.

The Dodgers’ six home runs against the Cardinals are the most a Cardinals team has ever allowed through the first two games of the season. All six of the Dodgers’ runs in Friday’s game were scored via homer. On Thursday the Cardinals trailed by two before homers from Mookie Betts and Freeman against game-one starter Miles Mikolas created a five-run hole.

“Every hard hit we have given up so far has left the yard, which is tough,” manager Oli Marmol said Friday night. “I don’t think that will continue."

Playing teams other than the Dodgers should help. Optimism! (Ducks.)

If this Cardinals defense that has been on display at Dodger Stadium was happening against a team not named the Dodgers, I think this Cardinals defense would be a bigger story right now. It was so uncharacteristically off last season. It looks so much better now. I'm not searching for a silver lining. I think it's an important early development.

(Besides, I'm not sure how many times I can write how far the Cardinals are behind these Dodgers before I'm accused of just rewriting the previous day's column. Folks, in case you missed it, these Dodgers are far, far ahead of these Cardinals. Be glad the Cardinals do not play in the potent National League West. It would be rough.)

Marmol stirred some baseball debate in game one, when he opted to play his infield in with one out and Mookie Betts on third base after that Walker throw created the run-down out of Ohtani.

Freddie Freeman singled up the middle to beat the aggressive move and scored the series' first run.

The manager's decision, hinted at in how the Cardinals aligned during spring training, was mostly panned because of the outcome.

The intent behind it had a little to do with facing stingy Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow, but more to do with Marmol wanting to live by the team's defensive mission statement.

“We have to play good defense," he said.

And he wants to lean into that defense, to lead with that defense. If I was reaching for a corny reference to MLB's Ohtani investigation, I would say the manager is willing and even eager to bet big on his defense.

If Ohtani running himself into an out had been followed up with Betts being thrown out at the plate? A statement would have been made.

It didn't happen and Dodgers homers overshadowed it all anyway, but still there are are signs this defense is back to being a strength and back to being something the Cardinals can and should emphasize.

Keep it sharp and cut down on the hits the defense can’t reach, and it will start winning some games. Just maybe not against these Dodgers.

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The Cardinals, seeking their first win of the season, continue a road series Saturday with the third game of a four-game set against the Dodgers. First pitch is set for 8:10 p.m. ������Ƶ time.

Right-hander Lance Lynn will take the mound for the Cardinals for the first time since 2017, and he'll do so vs. a team he pitched for last season.

Lynn, who will turn 37 next month, went 13-11 with a 5.73 ERA last season, his first 21 starts with the White Sox and his last 11 with the Dodgers. In total last year, he allowed an MLB-worst 44 homers as well as 117 earned runs, second-worst in baseball.

He and the Cardinals have focused on tweaks to help him regain some of his past success.

Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (0-1, 45.00 ERA) takes the hill for the Dodgers. He's hoping his Dodger Stadium debut can help him rebound from a rough start to his MLB career. He gave up five earned runs in one inning pitched last week in South Korea.

Yamamoto, 25, signed a $325 million, 12-year deal in the offseason, coming over from Japan, where he went 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA in seven seasons.

He has reportedly had pitch-tipping issues, putting up an 8.38 spring training ERA.

The Cardinals have six total hits this season and a .143 team batting average. Both rank second-worst in baseball.

Along with Lynn's return, Matt Carpenter will make his first start of the season and his first Cardinals start since September 2021.

The Dodgers' seven homers thus far lead baseball, and six of them have come in the past two days vs. Cardinals pitching.

Lineups

CARDINALS

1. Brendan Donovan, LF

2. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B

3. Nolan Gorman, 2B

4. Nolan Arenado, 3B

5. Matt Carpenter, DH

6. Iván Herrera, C

7. Alec Burleson, RF

8. Brandon Crawford, SS

9. Victor Scott II, CF

P: Lance Lynn, RHP

DODGERS

1. Mookie Betts, SS

2. Shohei Ohtani, DH

3. Freddie Freeman, 1B

4. Will Smith, C

5. Max Muncy, 3B

6. Teoscar Hernández, LF

7. James Outman, CF

8. Jason Heyward, RF

9. Gavin Lux, 2B

P: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RHP

Injury report

Sonny Gray (hamstring): On the 15-day injured list, Gray will start for Class AAA Memphis on Wednesday in his first rehab assignment appearance, and his next outing after that could be in the majors. Gray threw the equivalent of three innings in a live batting practice session Friday in Jupiter, Florida. Gray injured his hamstring in the first week of March. He is expected to join the rotation during the first home stand.

Lars Nootbaar (fractured ribs): On the 10-day IL, Nootbaar had eight at-bats during live batting practice Friday and he was able to test how his ribs felt when he had some game-speed swings and misses. He will play four innings and take four at-bats Saturday in minor-league game. The next step for him is likely to be a minor-league rehab assignment with an advanced affiliate. The Cardinals will determine his readiness to join the team for the first home series of the season based on his feel at the plate and his comfort taking game-speed swings and rotation of his torso. Nootbaar injured the ribs during a crash into the wall midway through spring training.

Dylan Carlson (sprained shoulder): On 10-day IL, Carlson returned to ������Ƶ for additional exams to determine the degree of separation and damage in his left shoulder. During Monday’s exhibition game against the Cubs, Carlson sustained an AC joint sprain during a collision with teammate Jordan Walker. The Cardinals were initially encouraged that he’ll miss “a matter of weeks, not months.”

Keynan Middleton (forearm strain): On the 15-day IL, Middleton has continued a throwing program that will put him off the mound around April 5. He is building strength after having to stop throwing late in spring training. He’ll have some bullpen sessions before advancing to a live batting practice with minor-leaguers in Jupiter. Within a week of testing his arm against hitters, he could be on a rehab assignment and headed toward the majors.

Tommy Edman (wrist surgery): On the 10-day IL, returned to ������Ƶ to shift his rehab to a strengthening program before he makes another attempt to resume baseball activities. He will strengthen the area around the wrist before attempting swings. He will have an MRI on April 3 to determine if he can begin swinging that day. The switch-hitting utility fielder has had his program slowed significantly after several setbacks during spring training. Edman had wrist surgery in October, but during spring training was unable to get deep into the hitting program because of recurring discomfort in the surgically repaired left wrist. The Cardinals do not believe that his absence will be 60 days into the season, as evidenced by them not placing him on the 60-day IL to start the year.

Drew Rom (biceps tendinitis): On the 15-day IL, Rom experienced the soreness in his left arm shortly before the end of spring training. He was able to resume playing catch and throwing at a distance before the team left Florida. He’ll be on a throwing program to rebuild arm strength and ready for a likely assignment to Class AAA Memphis’ rotation.

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LOS ANGELES — There’s a distinct yin and yang to the Cardinals’ current double play duo. Rookie shortstop Masyn Winn’s superior athletic gifts make him a force in the field with elite defensive ability playing alongside a second baseman in Nolan Gorman with awe-inspiring prodigious power.

Winn brings a vocal, high-energy and highly athletic brand of play to the field with a wiry 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame that belies his physical gifts. The often stoic Gorman packs enormous power in a 6-foot-1, 225-pound build that doesn't always reflect the skill in his game.

They teamed up for one of the best defensive plays of the game Friday night. Gorman came in and to his right to field a grounder off the bat of Los Angeles Dodgers phenom and two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani, quickly flipped to Winn, who caught the feed while keeping a foot on second base and then unleashed a laser beam to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt a split second before Ohtani could drop his foot on the bag.

That double play erased a walk drawn by another Dodgers superstar, Mookie Betts, though it ultimately came in a 6-3 loss to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in the second game of the season-opening four-game set for the Cardinals.

“When I saw how close Ohtani was to the bag on that double play and how fast the ball got to first base, it was pretty amazing,” Gorman said. “It’s great to have that over there because you can turn a lot of good double plays like that.”

The double play helped get starting pitcher Zack Thompson through the fifth inning, and Thompson pitched into the sixth (5 1/3 innings) before he handed the game over to the bullpen.

“I think a lot of people were saying Gorman’s defense is his weakness, and I’ve seen him work day in and day out throughout spring training, a little bit last year and then into this year,” Winn said. “He’s just as good as anybody over there. … He makes a good feed every time (on the double play). It’s fun whenever there’s a groundball over there, I know we’ve got a chance. I get geared up, knowing he’s going to catch it and give me a good feed to let it eat.”

Winn, 22, and Gorman, 23, were two of the four players aged 23 or younger who started for the Cardinals season opener, something the franchise hadn’t seen happen since 1924. In fact, Winn became the seventh-youngest opening day shortstop in club history and the youngest since Garry Templeton in 1977.

A highly touted defender

The questions about Winn, the top-rated prospect in the Cardinals’ farm system entering this season, were largely whether he’d produce enough offensively to contribute as the everyday shortstop.

There’s no doubting his playmaking ability in the field. In the fourth inning Friday night, Winn made a diving, backhanded stop on a ball hit on a hop into the hole by Dodgers infielder/outfielder Kike Hernandez.

“That’s what I get paid for, defense,” Winn said. “I got my guy (Thompson) on the mound for that (backhand) play, and I want to make plays for all my guys. For me, it’s a big deal to go out there and be that guy for them.”

Winn admitted he didn’t really see the ball off the bat, which led to a “awkward dive-fall hybrid.” Winn also described the ball hit to him as “a nice long hop,” which he contended helped him make the play.

"That was an awesome play," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "I mean, not many shortstops make that diving play. That was a very athletic play." 

Winn’s throw got to Goldschmidt with Hernandez still two steps from base. Winn knew Hernandez runs well, so he didn’t waste time scrambling to his feet and letting the ball go with a quick release and strong throw.

While Winn said he “didn’t let it 100 percent eat,” he wanted to get it to Goldschmidt on a line. The ball got to Winn quickly off the bat. It had an exit velocity of 95.6 mph off the bat.

An impact bat at second base

Meanwhile, Gorman led the team with 27 home runs last season and his .478 slugging percentage also led the club. His 76 RBIs were the third-most, despite playing in just 119 games. Some prognosticators projected Gorman as a designated hitter prior to this season. 

However, the Cardinals have repeatedly shied away from the suggestion they'd make the middle infielder with a highly potent left-handed swing into a full-time DH. 

With super-utility defender Brendan Donovan pressed into duty as the left fielder with Lars Nootbaar injured, the Cardinals need Gorman to provide a stable and reliable presence at second base.

As far as the connection he and Winn have formed as partners in the middle of the infield, Gorman credited Winn's chattiness for keeping the two in sync constantly.

“We have good communication up the middle,” Gorman said. “I’m less talkative than he is, so he’s the one communicating. But he’s really good at it. We’re on the same page whenever it comes to any situation that’s going to happen.”

So far this season, Gorman has batted in the No. 3 spot in the lineup, between cornerstone multi-time All-Stars Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

“I’ve hit in that spot my whole life, so I’m really comfortable with it,” Gorman said of batting in the No. 3 hole. “How I’m feeling at the plate, I feel like I go out there and try and compete as best I can. We’re facing good arms, so that’s all you can really do is go out there and compete and try to win every pitch.”

A productive night for the duo 

The youthful double play combination combined for four of the team’s six hits Friday as well as one run scored and two RBIs on a day when the Cardinals scratched out three runs, all scored after right-handed fireballer Bobby Miller turned the game over to the Dodgers bullpen.

All three runs scored in the eighth inning, a frame that began when Winn beat out a slow roller to third base for an infield single, his second hit of the night. The infield single made him 2 for 6 at the plate through the first two games of the season.

“I’m feeling pretty comfortable,” Winn said of his work in the batter’s box. “Results-based, obviously, I’d like to do well. As far as comfortability at the plate, I feel like I’m seeing the ball well. I’m at least putting bat on the ball right now, so that’s good.

“Working with (assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen) and (hitting coach) Turner (Ward), those guys have been on me every day and I’ve been working with them every day just trying to be more comfortable in the box. I think it’s working right now.”

Winn and Donovan scored on Gorman’s two-strike, two-run double hooked into right field that plunked down on the grass and hopped toward the warning track,  where Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez snagged it.

Gorman’s double came with the bases loaded and drove in the Cardinals first runs of the game. It also moved Goldschmidt to third base and set up a sacrifice fly by Arenado. It also gave the Cardinals their first hit of the season with a runner in scoring position.

“I’ve got two strikes on me with the bases loaded,” Gorman said. “I’ve got to put the ball in play, no matter what. So I’m looking to, just like I did, dink one out into the outfield or get a ball in the air to score a run, sac fly or whatever it is. So I’m battling up there, trying to get the bat on the ball as much as I can.”

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LOS ANGELES — Several minutes before the Cardinals hitters arrived and took over the field for their off-day batting practice Wednesday, Zack Thompson mostly had the place to himself as he stood on the Dodger Stadium mound.

He’d been there three times before but not like this, not like he would be a few days later as the Cardinals’ starter for the first night game of the year in Los Angeles. He mimicked throwing a few pitches. He checked as if there were runners on the base. He imagined what the place would be like full, loud, and waiting for him to deliver.

“Get on the mound, take in the scenes, and it helps with visualization,” Thompson said. “You get that fresh feeling about, OK, this is what the backdrop looks like, this is kind of how the slope of the mound feels.”

He’d been thinking about that mound all winter.

What he did from it late Friday night, especially in his third time through the Dodgers’ lineup, was enough for the Cardinals to look forward to his second time out. What happens behind that start is out of his grasp.

Thompson misplaced several pitches and allowed three homers and five runs in the Cardinals’ 6-3 loss Friday to the Dodgers. Around those bruises to the box score, Thompson showed a variety of pitches and a feel for multiple off-speed looks that earned him a chance to face the MVP-laden top of the Dodgers’ lineup for a third time. Mookie Betts drilled Thompson’s first slider of the game for a leadoff homer, but otherwise Thompson did what his teammates could not during Thursday’s opening day. He kept Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman — the three former MVPs leading LA’s lineup — to a 1-for-9 night with two strikeouts, one walk, and that solo homer.

“I thought he threw the ball extremely well,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “Well, yes, the line shows that he gave up five. In reality, he did a really nice job. We’ve said it enough — that group across the way is really good. He made a couple of pitches that they got. … He got ahead of guys. He landed his second stuff, slider was in the zone, mixed in some changeups. Kept his composure. I thought he did a really nice job.”

Circumstances started Thompson in the second game of the season.

The Cardinals lined up Lance Lynn for the home opener, which meant using him in Game 3. They didn’t want to stack lefties on back-to-back days and were already committed to getting Steven Matz one more start in spring training because he was already a start behind his peers. That meant Matz for Game 4, and Thompson was set for Game 2. His presence in the rotation at all can be traced back to Sonny Gray’s hamstring injury a month ago that put him on the injured list to start the season and Thompson into the rotation.

It is not a coincidence that Gray’s live batting practice session Friday came on the same day that Thompson pitched, or that Gray will make a rehab start Wednesday with Class AAA Memphis. That night, in San Diego, Thompson is scheduled to pitch. But starts like Friday’s, even with the bloated ERA and three homers, increase the Cardinals’ confidence in having Thompson in some rotation or rotation-related role.

It takes peering behind the line to see it.

Dodgers’ starter Bobby Miller dictated the game. The second-year right-hander struck out seven of the first 10 Cardinals he faced, did not allow a baserunner until the fourth inning, and finished with a career-best 11 strikeouts. During one nine-pitch at-bat against Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker, Miller challenged him with a 99-mph fastball, a 94-mph slider, a 99-mph sinker, and then blitzed Walker with a 100-mph fastball. When that didn’t end the at-bat, Miller went to an 80.5-mph curveball, and then back to the 100-mph fastball. Walker was caught looking at the strike 3 fastball. Or, maybe admiring is the better verb.

But even with Miller’s overpowering outing, Thompson had more swings and misses than the Dodgers’ right-hander. The lefty got 10 to Miller’s nine.

Three pitches in, however, Thompson was down one.

“The game plan today was to come in and throw the first punch,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately, Mookie threw the first punch. So, I had to adjust.”

He has more ways to do that now.

A year ago, Thompson had a fastball and a curveball that he could count on. Those were the pitches he leaned on as a reliever and pitches he was sometimes only confident in as a starter. This winter, he expanded the number of pitches he has to show hitters. He took his changeup and reduced the spin on it to produce a pitch that is sometimes a forkball. Five of those 10 swings and misses came on that changeup which does drift or veer at times like a forkball.

“Feels like more of a knuckle changeup,” catcher Willson Contreras said.

Thompson tightened his curveball so that he has a harder, sharper breaking ball to go with the classic, waterfall curveball. He also has the harder slider that can be a cutter. On Friday, Thompson threw 87 pitches and had five different pitches. He used each to get ahead in the count. Of the 23 batters Thompson faced, 11 started with a called strike 1, and he got to 0-1 on 14 of those hitters. Seventeen times he got a first-pitch strike, including the hanging curveball Teoscar Hernandez launched for his second homer off Thompson.

That meant that each time he faced a hitter for a second or third time, he had a different sequence and pitch to give them. Betts homered on a slider in the first inning. He struck out on the changeup in the third. Betts worked a walk in the fifth only to see Thompson land a cutter that got a groundball from Ohtani. A strong throw from shortstop Masyn Winn turned that grounder into a double play. And that double play gave Thompson the opportunity to pitch on and become the first Cardinals’ starter to get an out in the sixth inning. He finished with 5 1/3 innings and four strikeouts.

Increasingly, teams are reluctant to use starters for a third time through a lineup. Thompson faced the first five batters in LA’s lineup three times each. They went a combined 3-for-12 with two walks — and that Betts homer. They had some hard-hit balls as well. Victor Scott II turned a Freeman liner into an out in the first inning. But each of the hitters also saw a varied mix of pitches, some for the first time the later they got in the game.

“We have more stuff (for) every at-bat,” Contreras said. “We have more stuff to work with and put in a hitter’s mind.”

And Thompson has had more time to maintain that stuff.

“To his credit, think about being that swing guy, who is starting sometimes and then in the ‘pen,” Marmol said. “You don’t need all of that when you’re coming out of the ‘pen. Staying sharp with it is difficult because you’re in the ‘pen for a few weeks and then, hey, spot start and you’re not sharp with your secondary stuff. Typically, you can be a two-pitch guy and you’re fine.”

That could be the spot where Thompson is headed by the time the Cardinals return from this road trip. He’s scheduled for two starts on the trip, and when he returns his next start coincides with when Gray is eligible to come off of the 15-day injured list.

The Cardinals have discussed a six-man rotation to help navigate a difficult schedule at the start of the year. Thompson earned the spot as the sixth man, if needed, during spring training. If not needed, it’s not clear how the Cardinals would adjust — whether that means Thompson heads to Class AAA Memphis so he can continue starting or relocate to the bullpen, where maybe the time to maintain all of his pitches isn’t available.

The Cardinals have almost as many looks they can give Thompson as Thompson now has to give hitters.

And how long he gets a look at starting is related to Gray’s readiness.

It was three times through Friday.

Which is just as he saw it all winter. Thompson said as he developed the new pitches and worked on them in the offseason, he had the schedule in mind. He had three previous appearances at Dodger Stadium, all of them in relief, and when he spotted the opening series there for 2024 he motivated himself by believing he’d be a starter there.

“Several times in the offseason,” Thompson said about when he thought of Dodger Stadium. “It’s kind of the starting point for a lot of goals this season.”

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A MiLB opening day starter for his third consecutive full season as a pro, Cardinals prospect Michael McGreevy provided an outing on Friday for Class AAA Memphis befitting of his style.

The sinker-ball throwing righty with a knack for filling the strike zone induced 11 groundball outs and didn’t walk a batter as he limited Charlotte, the White Sox Class AAA affiliate, to two runs on eight hits over five innings in Memphis’s 6-5 season-opening win at AutoZone Park. 

McGreevy collected two strikeouts and induced two swing-and-misses as his fastball and sinker velocity ranged in the low 90s, per Statcast. Both runs surrendered by the 23-year-old came in the second inning after he allowed three singles to the first four batters he faced to begin the frame. After the two-run second inning, the former first-round pick kept Charlotte to two more singles and a double before his 71-pitch outing ended following his fifth inning of work.

Along with McGreevy’s start, here are other notable performances from Memphis’s opening day:

Infielder Thomas Saggese: With Memphis after a strong spring training as a non-roster invitee to big league camp, Saggese started at shortstop and batted second for the Redbirds. Saggese, 20, went hitless in four at-bats and struck out twice, but pushed across Memphis’s first run of the season when his ground out in the fifth inning allowed Jose Fermin to score from third base. The utility infield prospect ended the 2023 MiLB season with a 13-game stint in Memphis after excelling with Class AA Springfield following the trade that sent him from the Rangers system to the Cardinals system.

Outfielder Mike Antico: In his debut at the Class AAA level, the speedster went two-for-five with an RBI from the leadoff spot and added two stolen bases on two attempts. Antico, a former eighth-round pick in the 2021 draft, spent all of the 2023 season in Class AA where he batted .265 with a career-high 18 home runs and a .797 OPS in 127 games. Antico, 26, went 52-for-60 on stolen base attempts for Springfield and has 129 steals in 298 career MiLB games.

First baseman Luken Baker: Back in Memphis after leading the International League in homers with 33 a season ago, Baker kicked off the new season with a two-for-four game that included a solo home run to left field and a single. Baker’s home run jumped off his bat at 109.1 mph making it the hardest-hit ball in Friday’s season opener between Memphis and Charlotte, per Statcast.

Outfielder Moises Gomez: Two at-bats after Baker homered, Gomez launched his first home run of the season on a first-pitch slider left over the middle of the plate from Charlotte righty Prelander Berroa. Gomez’s homer traveled 409 feet to left-center field and was the outfielder’s only hit in four at-bats vs. the Knights. Gomez, who was removed from the 40-man roster before the start of spring training, came into the season opener with 69 homers across the last two minor league campaigns.

Infielder Jose Fermin: Fresh off a spring during which he slashed .283/.370/.478 with two home runs and 13 hits in 24 games, Fermin went two-for-four with a pair of doubles and two RBIs. Fermin’s second double of the day came in the sixth inning and brought catcher Pedro Pages and third baseman Cesar Prieto in to score to give Memphis a 5-4 lead with one out in the frame.

Eight Cards minor leaguers released

The Cardinals on Friday released eight players from their minor league system, including former 2020 fifth-round pick L.J. Jones IV.

Pitchers Connor Lunn, Grant Black, Joe Corbett, Jack Lynch, and Nick Trogrlic-Iverson and catchers Aaron Antonini and Jonathan Morales were released along with Jones. 

As a member of the same draft class that produced Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, Tink Hence, and Alec Burleson, Jones posted a .245 average and a .705 OPS in 261 career games within the Cardinals’ farm system. He reached Class AA last season but batted .223 with a .277 on-base percentage in 73 games for the S-Cards. 

The transaction makes Jones the second member of the Cardinals’ 2020 class – a draft that was shortened to five rounds because of the coronavirus pandemic – to be released. Lefty Levi Prater, a former third-round pick, was released last March ahead of the 2023 MiLB season.

LOS ANGELES — With none of the pomp and circumstance of opening day, it was back to basics for both the Cardinals and Dodgers on Friday.

Nothing rules quite like good, old-fashioned pitching with a dash of new-wave velocity.

Basically, Bobby Miller dominated.

The Dodgers’ second-year right-hander struck out a career high 11 batters and was perfect through three innings. The Cardinals had a late uprising once Miller left the game, but it was too little to catch up with Los Angeles’ lead. All six of the Dodgers’ runs scored on homers in a 6-3 victory at Dodger Stadium.

Mookie Betts opened the game with a leadoff homer against Cardinals starter Zack Thompson. Teoscar Hernandez hit two of his against the lefty, and by the time the Cardinals mustered their first rally of 2024, they were down by six runs off four home runs. Dodgers No. 9 hitter Miguel Rojas added the final one in the seventh inning. For the first time in at least 112 years, the Cardinals have allowed six home runs in their first two games.

Varying between his 100-mph fastball and his 80-mph curveball and all the movement he could create in between, Miller struck out six batters in his first spin through the Cardinals’ lineup. He is the 23rd pitcher since 1900 to have double-digit strikeouts against the Cardinals and the first to have at least 11 in the first games of any regular season.

Miller overpowers, overwhelms Cardinals

The latest in the ongoing line of power-packed Dodger pitching prospects, Miller struck out the side in the top of the inning on 15 pitches — signaling what was ahead for the Cardinals.

He struck out the first two batters he faced on the plunging changeup that he plays off his power fastball, and then, for the third bat, sliced a slider for the strikeout.

Miller had tied a career high for strikeouts with nine by the fifth inning.

He struck out 10 of the first 17 Cardinals he faced.

How did it was by whipsawing from overpowering velocity to overwhelming movement.

In the first inning, Nolan Gorman saw back-to-back 100-mph fastballs before Miller bent that 87.1-mph slider by him. The Dodgers’ right-hander was even more relentless during a nine-pitch at-bat against Jordan Walker to lead off the third inning. The nine pitches gave Miller a chance to show Walker all sorts of pitches — including a 99-mph fastball, a 94-mph slider, and a 99-mph sinker. As the at-bat went deeper, so did Miller. He tested Walker with a 100-mph fastball and then dropped an 80.5 mph curveball on him. The pitch, the ninth pitch of the at-bat, was back at 100-mph, 20 mph swifter than the previous one. Miller took advantage of the strike zone given him and the speed at which he could expand it.

Walker took the fastball for a called strike 3.

At one point in the game, Miller had four consecutive looking strikeouts, and all of them came from Cardinals looking at him for a second time.

Offense stirs, but it’s too late

The rolling threat the Cardinals expect from their offense this season arrived late but did arrive Friday night when it had a steeper hill to climb.

Helped along by a hit batter and a walk, the Cardinals put together a three-run rally. Nolan Gorman dropped a bases-loaded double into the right-field corner to take advantage of the gifts from Dodgers reliever Michael Grove. Nolan Arenado added a sacrifice fly to give two teammates a chance at cleaving LA’s lead down to a run. The inning stalled there with the Cardinals providing almost as many hits in one inning as they had in the previous 16 innings of the season and tripling their run total.

Masyn Winn initiated the rally with a leadoff single, his second hit of the game. 

Winn gems

In back-to-back innings, rookie shortstop Winn showcased the defense that the Cardinals have urged him to focus on and let the bat develop over time. The belief from the Cardinals is that Winn's athleticism and arm strength at shortstop can change games, and while it did not shift Friday's in their direction it did keep it tidy for a bit.

In the fourth inning, Winn dove to his right to snare a sharp, bounding grounder, and he had the power to throw from near the grass in deep short for the out.

An inning later, he was the pivot on a key double play, and it took the former pitcher's arm strength at the turn to get the second out. The Winn's throw gave Thompson the double play that allowed him to go deeper into the game.

Mistakes hit hard for Thompson

The biggest bruises on the box score for Cardinals starter Thompson came on three poor pitches to two Dodgers hitters.

All of them landed in the seats.

All of them produced the five runs against him.

Thompson hung a slider on the third pitch of the game and Dodgers leadoff hitter Betts pulled it out to left field and beyond the wall for his third home run of the young season. In the second inning, Thompson left a 90-mph fastball up and floating on the far edge of the zone for Dodgers outfielder Hernandez to drive the opposite way and over the wall in the right field. Hernandez pulled on a tumbling curve in the fourth inning for his second homer of the game and three more RBIs.

All around those three pitches, Thompson found stretches of success, particularly with the pitches he spent all winter developing and all spring executing. Thompson held Shohei Ohtani hitless in three plate appearances, and there were times in the first six innings of the game that Thompson successfully landed a series of breaking balls without the floaters that Betts or Hernandez hammered.

Thompson’s new pitches — a sharper slider, a minimal-spin changeup, and a tightened curveball — have all defied the usual descriptions provided by Statcast data during the games. And, during spring, they defied hitters, too. For example, the second time Thompson faced Betts, he struck him out one the new changeup. The game data listed it as a strikeout on an 87-mph forkball. Thompson finished the second inning with a 93.5-mph fastball for a strikeout, and he was able to get a key groundball on a breaking ball to Ohtani.

With no outs and two runners on base in the fifth inning, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol stuck with Thompson, his lefty, against Ohtani, one of the game’s best left-handed hitters.

Thompson got a double play from Ohtani on what he calls a “baby” curve.

Statcast saw it as an 81.9-mph slider.

Ohtani saw it as a groundout.

That double play allowed Thompson to press on deeper into the game and become the first Cardinals starter of the season to get an out in the sixth inning. He allowed five runs on six hits and two walks. All of the runs came on those three homers against him.

And Gorman makes two

The first five times through the Cardinals’ lineup this season and the only member of the group that had a hit was Paul Goldschmidt.

Miller retired the first 11 Cardinals he faced Friday night, giving the Cardinals not named Goldschmidt an 0-for-36 start to the season. They had three hits in the entire opener Thursday — all by Goldschmidt — and they were hitless with two outs in the fourth inning Saturday. Gorman, the Cardinals’ No. 3 hitter against right-handed pitchers to start the season, lined a pitch to right field to join Goldschmidt in the hit column.

The inning ended with Gorman on first.

In the sixth, the hitting worked its way around the infield with rookie shortstop Winn lifting his first hit of the season to right-center field. Goldschmidt followed two batters later with a walk to give the Cardinals their first look at Miller with a runner in scoring position. Gorman was back up with a chance to change the look of the scoreboard. He fouled off a full-count, 100-mph fastball from Miller to keep the at-bat going. Miller followed with a 98.1-mph fastball that Gorman missed to end the inning and the threat.

That was Miller’s 93rd pitch of the game.

Betts surpasses Mizzou’s Kinsler

Betts' leadoff homer was the 49th of his career, breaking a tie and moving alone into fifth place all-time. He had been tied with Ian Kinsler, the All-Star second baseman and former Texas Ranger who was also an All-American at Mizzou and contributed heavily to the Tigers’ recent search for a new baseball coach.

Betts has 29 leadoff homers as a Dodger for LA’s franchise record.

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