Cardinals promote Adam Kloffenstein, add Victor Scott II to roster for game at Rickwood Field
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Cardinals made several roster moves to bolster their depth, particularly on the pitching staff, coming off four consecutive one-run games that included back-to-back extra-inning outings.
They’ve also recalled their top-rated prospect from the minors in advance of Thursday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants at Rickwood Field in Major League Baseball’s “Tribute to the Negro Leagues” showcase event.
The Cardinals recalled right-handed pitcher Adam Kloffenstein from Triple-A Memphis and optioned right-handed pitcher Chris Roycroft to Memphis.
The club also announced that outfielder Victor Scott II has been added to the roster as their 27th player for Thursday night’s game.
Kloffenstein, who the Cardinals acquired last summer from the Toronto Blue Jays along with right-handed pitching prospect Sem Robberse in exchange for right-hander Jordan Hicks, has been starting for Memphis this season.
Andre Pallante remains listed as the Cardinals’ starting pitcher for Thursday night. Kloffenstein’s first appearance will mark his major-league debut. This season, Kloffenstein has gone 4-4 with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 77 innings.
Scott, who made the opening day roster out of spring training, is the club’s top-rated position player prospect.
In 45 games for Memphis, Scott was batting .194 with three home runs, 11 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. Last season, Scott tied for the minor league baseball lead in stolen bases with 94.
Will the Cardinals' troubles beating bad teams discourage the front office from adding help sooner rather than later? Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon discuss.
Andre Pallante takes Rickwood Field mound as Cardinals face Giants: First Pitch
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Amid a long, grinding season, Thursday's game stands out.
It will be far more than just a game when the Cardinals face the Giants at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, the oldest professional ballpark and a place that exudes history.
The game pays tribute to the Negro Leagues. Willie Mays, who died Tuesday, first played professional baseball here, his hometown, for the Birmingham Black Barons.
All told, 182 Hall of Famers have played at Rickwood Field.
First pitch Thursday is set for 6:15 p.m. and the game airs on Fox and KTVI (Channel 2) in Ƶ.
Right-hander Andre Pallante (2-3, 4.61) will take the mound for the Cardinals. In four starts since moving into the rotation, Pallante has a 3.66 ERA.
He was pulled in the fourth inning of his last start after encountering some trouble and with right-handed batters ahead. Righties are hitting .396 vs. Pallante this season.
His groundball rate (59.1%) as among the best in baseball.
The Giants will counter with right-hander Keaton Winn (3-7, 6.66), a 26-year-old rookie from the tiny southeastern Iowa town of Ollie (population 160).
Winn has a 13.02 ERA in his last five starts after beginning his season strong with a 3.18 mark in April.
Thursday's start will be his third since a forearm injury kept him out three-plus weeks in late May and early June.
His fastball averages 95.7mph.
The Cardinals are 36-37, second in the NL Central. They've played four straight one-run games, two of them requiring extra innings.
After playing extras on both Monday and Tuesday then a late scratch Wednesday to starter Kyle Gibson, the Redbirds' bullpen has seen a heavy workload.
The Giants are 36-39, tied for second in the NL West. They've lost two straight series, to the Angels and Cubs.
San Francisco's bullpen has thrown 300-plus innings, the highest total in baseball and 60-plus innings more than the Cardinals' 'pen.
Before the game, the Cardinals called up right-hander Adam Kloffenstein and sent fellow right-hander Chris Roycroft to Memphis. Outfielder Victor Scott II will serve as the permitted 27th man.
After an off day Friday, the three-game series continues at Busch Stadium on Saturday.
Lineups
CARDINALS
1. Masyn.Winn, SS
2. Alec Burleson, RF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Nolan Gorman, 2B
5. Brendan Donovan, LF
6. Matt Carpenter, DH
7. Brandon Crawford, 3B
8. Pedro Pages, C
9. Michael Siani, CF
P: Andre Pallante, RHP
GIANTS
1.Brett Wisely, 2B
2.Heliot Ramos, CF
3.Patrick Bailey, C
4.Matt Chapman, 3B
5.Michael Conforto, LF
6.Jorge Soler, DH
7.Wilmer Flores, 1B
8.Mike Yastrzemski, RF
9.Nick Ahmed, SS
P: Keaton Winn, RHP
Injury report
Tommy Edman (wrist surgery):Edman shifted his rehab to the club's spring training complex in Jupiter, Florida, this week. His workouts are similar to a spring training buildup at this point. He's expected to resume working out with the team in Ƶ when the club returns to Busch Stadium.Updated June 19
Riley O'Brien (flexor tendon):The right-hander was slated to pitch for Double-A Springfield on Tuesday, June 18, however he had trouble bouncing back from his last outing.He did not pitch on Tuesday. He was set to have an MRI this week.Updated June 19
Giovanny Gallegos (right shoulder impingement):Right-handed reliever joined the club Monday in Miami but hasn't been activated. He threw a bullpen session in front of the Cardinals’ major league pitching coaches on Monday. He could rejoin the team as early as Thursday's game in Alabama.Updated June 19
Lars Nootbaar (oblique strain):Outfielder has started taking swings off a tee. He has responded well to increased movements of his core muscles and tests of the area injured. President John Mozeliak on Tuesday targeted a late-June or early-July return.Updated June 19
Steven Matz (lower back stiffness):The lefty started Sunday for Class AA Springfield and threw three perfect innings, with five strikeouts on June 16. However, he experienced lingering soreness in the days following that outing. He was headed to Los Angeles on Wednesday to receive a second medial opinion.Updated June 19
Nick Robertson (elbow inflammation):Robertson traveled to Springfield, Missouri, to throw a live batting practice session on Friday. He began a minor-league rehab assignment on Tuesday, June 18. He allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in one inning for Triple-A Memphis.Updated June 19
Willson Contreras (fractured arm):The catcher began a rehab assignment Tuesday afternoon with Triple-A Memphis, serving as the designated hitter and going 1 for 3 with a single and a strikeout. Contreras is scheduled to catch five innings for Memphis on Wednesday. It's not yet known how long his assignment will extend. Updated June 18
Mays' death shifts focus for MLB, Fox with historic Cardinals-Giants game in Alabama: Media Views
A manual scoreboard, as seen on Monday, June 10, 2024, is one of the features at Rickwood Field, in Birmingham, Ala. That's where the rich history of the Negro Leagues and Willie Mays will be celebrated on Thursday as part of festivities that include a game between the Cardinals and San Francisco Giants.
Brynn Anderson, Associated Press
Note: Updated at 2 p.m. Thursday with Fox's pregame show plans.
It was supposed to be a night spent honoring the legacy of baseball’s Negro Leagues, in a festive atmosphere in the Deep South while also celebrating the career of exquisite alum Willie Mays — all on the field in Birmingham, Alabama, where his pro career began in 1948 with his hometown Black Barons.
Those activities were intended to punctuate the first big league regular-season game to be played in the state with the Cardinals facing the Giants, the team Mays represented on the field for 21 seasons in his Hall of Fame career, with the entire proceedings being showcased in a national telecast by Fox.
Mays, at 93 the oldest living MLB player, planned to attend but pulled out on Monday, saying he’d follow the game from his San Francisco-area home. But he died Tuesday, thus shifting the focus of the events.
Dr. Reverend Bill Greason, seated, speaks to Willie Mays Scholars and a contingent from the San Francisco Giants about his time playing baseball in the Negro Leagues as a teammate of Mays, at the 16th Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. That was where four little girls where killed by a bomb during the Civil Rights movement. Greason, 99, who was the Cardinals' first Black pitcher, is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Cards play the Giants on Thursday at nearby Rickwood Field.
“Thursday’s game at historic Rickwood Field was designed to be a celebration of Willie Mays and his peers,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “With sadness in our hearts, it will now also serve as a national remembrance of an American who will forever remain on the short list of the most impactful individuals our great game has ever known.”
The setting will be Rickwood, which opened in 1910 and not only is the oldest facility still operating in baseball but has rich ties to the Negro Leagues as it was the home of the Black Barons.
“Willie Mays took his all-around brilliance from the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League to the historic Giants franchise,” Manfred added. “From coast to coast in New York and San Francisco, Willie inspired generations of players and fans as the game grew and truly earned its place as our National Pastime.”
The evening is being called “MLB at Rickwood Field: A tribute to the Negro Leagues,” and the coverage on Fox (KTVI, Channel 2 locally) begins at 4:30 p.m. with the first pitch scheduled for 6:15 p.m. The network plans to go all out with its telecast in focusing on the historical aspect of the event as well as the game itself.
Fox is treating the event like it would a World Series game, with its lead announcers set to call the game: Joe Davis (play-by-play) and John Smoltz (commentary). It also has its postseason pregame show crew on hand: Kevin Burkhardt as the host with commentary from Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz.
Oscar- and Grammy-winning artist Jon Batiste is to present a pregame musical tribute to the Negro Leagues, in which approximately 60 of its former players are scheduled to be on the field at approximately 6 p.m. Then the ceremonial first pitch is to be delivered by Bill Greason, a 99-year-old Negro Leagues alumnus who in 1954 was the Cardinals’ first Black pitcher. He since has been a pastor in Birmingham.
Before that is Fox's pregame show and because of Mays' death plans for it were not finalized until a few hours before first pitch. They include a tribute to Mays at the 4:30 p.m. start, a piece at 5 o'clock presented by Emmy-award winning actor and native Ƶan Sterling K. Brown to set the scene at Rickwood, an interview with Greason at 5:21 followed by a segment at 5:47 with former big-league standout Barry Bonds reflecting on Mays, who was his godfather. (Times subject to change.)
On the field, the Cardinals and Giants will be wearing throwback uniforms representing Negro League teams that played in their cities — the Ƶ Stars and the San Francisco Sea Lions.
It sets up for a memorable night.
The Cardinals and Giants will play a game on Thursday at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., to honor the game's Negro League roots. The facility is seen when a minor-league contest was being played there on Wednesday, May 29, 2019.
Jay Reeves, Associated Press
‘Spectacular’ look
“It’s going to look spectacular” on TV, Fox Sports Vice President of Field Operations and Engineering Brad Cheney told the Post-Dispatch, adding that the network will unfurl “postseason technology” for the telecast.
To that end, more than 20 cameras and in excess of 45 microphones will be positioned throughout the ballpark that will have a seating capacity of about 8,300 for the contest.
“Small stadiums have different sound” than big league facilities, Cheney said, so Fox wants to relay that.
The production folks also are eager to show shots of players and plays that will be tighter in the quaint setting compared to an MLB stadium.
“We’ll be close to the players,” he said.
This event long has been on the drawing board, with talks beginning three years ago. Cheney said Fox officials made six trips to the facility from the start of the planning stages through the period when modifications were being made to the ballpark to accommodate the network’s production as well as a big league game. He estimates that more than 12,000 man-hours have been spread across 270 people “to bring this event to life.”
Fox and MLB have tried to not be too disruptive. Despite the construction, Cheney said people who attended a game at Rickwood before the updates began should not notice any difference when looking at the field on Thursday. There was a minor league game played there Tuesday, giving organizers a couple of days to take care of any unexpected problems that arose before the main event arrives.
“It’s been a very big undertaking,” Cheney said, adding that he has been on-site since Friday. “It’s a large departure from normal, creating an event from the ground up.”
Fox has had experience on the baseball front with starting from scratch, having televised games from the “Field of Dreams” in Dyersville, Iowa, in 2021 and ’22. That was the setting of the 1989 film by that name.
That experience helps, but there also is a caveat.
“More challenging is that the stadium is here,” he said. “With the ‘Field of Dreams,’ we built the stadium from the ground up” to its own specifications.
Other coverage
MLB Network will be carrying shows from Rickwood throughout the day. At noon, “MLB Central” airs, followed at 1:30 by a celebrity softball game. At 3 o’clock is “MLB Tonight,” which is hosted by St. Charles native Greg Amsinger and has former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright among the analysts. “MLB Tonight” then returns after the game.
On radio, Cardinals broadcasters John Rooney, Ricky Horton and Mike Claiborne are to be on hand and pregame programming begins at 5:20 p.m. In addition to KMOX (1120 AM) and the team’s regular radio network, the contest will air locally on WFUN (96.3 FM), a rhythm and blues station owned by KMOX parent company Audacy.
Cardinals Spanish-language broadcasters Polo Ascencio and Bengie Molina also will call the game, albeit via monitors in Busch Stadium. That airs locally on WIJR (880 AM), the rest of the team’s Spanish network plus on Sirius XM Radio.
Cardinals need help from the outside. Will it arrive before it's too late? Inside Pitch
Cardinals to run basepaths blazed by Negro League pioneers at Rickwood Field
When the Cardinals step over the chalk line and walk into history at Rickwood Field in the first inning Thursday night, they follow the footprints of giants in their game, they run basepaths blazed by Negro League pioneers and all-time greats, and they do so with the tailwind of recent landmark decisions that assert they are not the first Major League players to take that field.
A confluence of events meets in Birmingham, Alabama, when the Cardinals and San Francisco Giants play Major League Baseball’s Tribute to the Negro Leagues game at Rickwood, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States.
The game comes within weeks of Major League Baseball rewriting the all-time leaders by embracing into its records the statistics from Negro Leagues that existed from 1920 to 1948. That announcement, made in late May, vaulted legendary player Josh Gibson’s .372 career batting average ahead of the title’s long-time owner, Ty Cobb. Gibson’s .466 average in 1943 is now the single-season record.
The inclusion of the stats is the outgrowth of MLB recognizing in 2020 the Negro Leagues as Major Leagues, like the AL or NL. And it came just weeks after the National Baseball Hall of Fame opened its exhibit, “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball,” and celebrated it by hosting the East-West Classic, an exhibition tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game that featured retired MLB players like Ozzie Smith and Ryan Howard.
Gerald Early, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, is a lifelong baseball fan and author who was a curatorial consultant on the exhibit in Cooperstown, New York. He was asked what it means to have all of these events, though not officially connected, come together.
“If you want to have a larger theme — it’s all about reconciliation,” Early said. “This country’s past has been marred by segregation and racism, and to have these things happening as they are I think is a great thing as far as coming to grips with our history. It is a very good thing that Major League Baseball is creating this recognition — this well-earned recognition. … All of these things coming together are a way for us as Americans to learn our history, to learn to live with this history, and by learning make us better.”
Early’s forthcoming book, “Play Harder: The Triumph of Black Baseball in America,” will be published next spring in association with the Hall’s exhibit. Early was approached by the Hall to help create the exhibit, one of the most technologically modern at the Hall.
Work began in June 2022 for a group that included former players, Hall of Famers, historians and others, and it often took Early to Cooperstown. The exhibit includes artifacts like Cool Papa Bell’s cleats. To tell the stories beyond the items, Early and others mined quotes from players, owners, fans, newspaper coverage and writers because he felt it was important to give voice to the history.
The Post-Dispatch spoke with Early recently about the exhibit, his book, the Rickwood game and more, with all these historic threads coming together to strengthen the connection between today’s game and all the leagues that helped create it. The conversation is published here in chronological order, with the exception of the above quote, and it is edited only for length and clarity.
Question: When you described going beyond the stats and artifacts to sharing a “view of baseball” and its cultural significance in the exhibit, could you expound on that goal?
Answer: Baseball is a game that has meaning for people who are hardcore fans of the performance, of the players, of the performance of the teams. But baseball has a wider significance to the culture, a wider significance to our country beyond the fans. It means something to people who are not even fans. That is what I mean by a larger kind of story, or a larger kind of view.
What does this game mean to the country itself?
What does it mean to people who have no engagement with this game, and how has this game affected the country? Because this game has affected the country beyond the people who follow it.
I wanted to make sure that story got in there. Particularly for the Black people playing baseball because Black people played baseball for a long time under a certain kind of duress, you might say, a set of disadvantages. And that means something that the game was that important to a minority group of people to want to be engaged in this game and to play this game with the persistence that they do.
Q: And that is true for so many, from players, fans, to owners …
A: Yes, it goes beyond the players. It goes to the owners who wanted this to happen. It goes to the Black press that was supporting it and promoting it. It goes to other Black businesses in the Black community that were also promoting it and supporting it and trying to create a fan base for the game. The fact that they were able to work these elements to bring (the Negro Leagues) about is a very impressive story. I think it’s a story that all Americans — it shouldn’t matter what race you are — all Americans should be proud of that.
That this game meant that much to these people to put that amount of effort in.
Q: How does the exhibit share that?
A: The exhibit does it by zeroing in on certain personalities connected to the game so that you get a sense of the people who were important to the game. Of course, Jackie Robinson, obviously, but also people like Effa Manley (Newark Eagles’ owner and Hall of Famer), and earlier people like Rube Foster (Hall of Famer nicknamed the ‘Father of Black baseball’), Bud Fowler (groundbreaking player in 19th century and Hall of Famer). The commitment by these people to want to play and want to organize — that’s the key word. They wanted to organize something.
Q: The title of your upcoming book, ‘Play Harder,’ comes from a description Leon Wagner (a Cardinals outfielder in 1960) gave for how he reacted in the minors to racism and threats. Why choose that phrase?
A: That expression, ‘play harder,’ was something in my research I discovered many Black players said this. They felt they had a certain kind of challenge, of having to prove themselves to play this game. Which is why the saying of ‘play harder’ became almost a motto among people. The inspiring thing about this is people didn’t let the adversities stop them. They just said, ‘OK, fine. I’m going to go harder to overcome.’ I think it’s a story that is actually inspiring in that way.
Q: When you discuss how baseball’s history is far-reaching beyond players and fans of the game, you have used the word ‘citizenship’ — if you’re a part of the national pastime, it’s a way to be a part of the nation. Am I saying that right?
A: I think that’s pretty much the point. Black people wanted to play the game because they liked the game and felt here is a way for us to show we’re Americans, to show we are a part of the nation, that we’re playing this game, and that we’re good at playing this game. There was a pride in that to show a mastery of the game. This is the American game, and we’re going to show that we can play as well as anyone else. It had a lot to do with citizenship. It had a lot to do with belonging to the nation.
Q: In that way, what does it mean for the Negro Leagues to be, officially, a Major League?
A: One of the reasons why the Negro Leagues started — Rube Foster got it off the ground — was they saw it as a proving ground. He said, ‘Oh, I’m preparing people who will ultimately play in the major leagues.’ The goal was always to get Black players to play in the major leagues.
So, I think this latest recognition of the Negro Leagues is long overdue, and the Negro Leagues deserve this recognition because they operated under a lot of disadvantages. And they persevered. I believe this recognition of them as a Major League is something that those men and women who were involved in that league — they’re owed that.
It should make everybody in the country happier to know Black baseball is getting its recognition and Black baseball produced such an excellent product.
Q: The exhibit is a walk through history, Josh Gibson’s statistics are historic, but the game at Rickwood is something present — it will impact this year’s standings. How powerful could this event be by highlighting history but then making history on that field with a modern game?
A: That’s a good point. It’s very important that Major League Baseball is not just having a historic game or a re-creation game. They’re having an actual, live game that counts in the standings. It’s an important way for Major League Baseball to pay homage to the Negro Leagues as well as to show that, by having the game there, there is a continuity between what happened before and what we have now.
There is continuity. There is connection.
And we’re part of a tradition.
What happened with the Negro Leagues is part of our traditions with baseball right now. That is important for people to understand, and it makes Major League Baseball that much richer understanding that Negro League baseball is part of its tradition. To have a real game, that’s the importance. It makes it a kind of living history. We’re not just trying to replicate the past. We’re also trying to show this history is part of what we do today.
Q: How did this research, this work, change your relationship with baseball?
A: Well, I was a fan. I always enjoyed baseball. I like baseball a lot. The whole thing with this book and the whole thing of being involved with the exhibit for me was a way of giving back, of showing my appreciation by doing this work and also a way for me to kind of contribute something. It’s a small contribution, but I hope that it might have some meaning for people. As I said to people: I have a connection with the Hall of Fame. When I was a kid, I thought I might make the Hall of Fame. I was 8 or 9 and, ‘Oh, I’ll make the Hall of Fame by being a great baseball player.’ Of course, I turned out to not be a great baseball player.
But to find this connection for the Black players and the ex-players and (have them) show so much appreciation for the exhibit, that is extremely gratifying.
It’s made me feel an even deeper connection to baseball, to feel even more than that — that baseball is something that’s important to our culture. It’s done that for me.
Q: I wondered if it’s possible researching and telling these stories about baseball, and its flaws, strengthened your fondness, your fandom.
A: Yeah, I think so. I’ve always gone to games. I was a Cardinals season ticket holder for a while. I’ve really always enjoyed the game very much. All this research, all this work, all these books by people gave me a deeper appreciation of it.
I’m certainly a more informed fan.
I really think I’m a better fan now.
Death of baseball great Willie Mays announced at game in Alabama. (Associated Press/ABC 33/40 video)
Cardinals prospect Won-Bin Cho continues June surge with two doubles: Minor League Report
Cardinals outfield prospect Won-Bin Cho continued his bounce-back performance in June with two extra-base hits on Wednesday for Class High-A Peoria.
Fresh off a two-hit game on Tuesday, the 20-year-old went two-for-five with two doubles and two runs scored in Peoria’s 7-0 win over Cedar Rapids. The two-hit effort gave Cho back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time this season. He improved his average to .219 and a .621 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).
In his first season in High-A, Cho finished May with a .172 batting average and a .250 slugging percentage in 64 at-bats. The native of South Korea struck out 27 times in that span and produced three extra-base hits — two doubles and a home run — in 19 games across his second month with Peoria. The troubles left him with a .204 average and a .563 OPS through his first 38 games.
Over his last nine games since the start of June, Cho has hit .281 and slugged .531. His improved average and power numbers at the plate include three doubles, a triple, and a home run in 32 at-bats. Cho has reached base safely with a hit in six of the last seven games he’s played in.
Here are other performances from around the Cardinals farm system:
Catcher Willson Contreras, Class AAA Memphis (rehab assignment):In his second minor league rehab game, Contreras caught five innings, as planned, and took two at-bats before being replaced by Nick Raposo in the sixth inning of Memphis’s 3-2 against Jacksonville. Contreras went hitless and earned an RBI on a groundout to shortstop in the first inning that scored infield prospect Thomas Saggese from third base. The next step in Contreras’s rehab assignment has not been determined. Contreras has been on the injured list since May 8 after suffering a fractured left arm.
Right-handed pitcher Gordon Graceffo, Class AAA Memphis:Forming a battery with Contreras, Graceffo threw five scoreless innings, allowed four hits, one walk, and struck out four batters on 92 pitches (58 strikes). Graceffo improved to 8-5 on the year and lowered his to 3.84. The scoreless start was Graceffo’s second consecutive scoreless outing. All four hits allowed by the 24-year-old were singles — three of which had exit velocities below 80 mph, per Statcast. Graceffo, who has had dips in velocity, averaged 93.1 mph with his fastball and touched 96 mph. He landed his fastball for nine called strikes and had three swings-and-misses on the pitch.
Left-handed pitcher Pete Hansen, Class High-A Peoria:Six scoreless innings against Cedar Rapids helped Hansen earn his first win of the season after he had gone 0-5 through 11 starts. The former third-round pick from the 2022 MLB draft entered Wednesday with a 5.03 ERA but shaved it down to 4.53 with his third quality start. Hansen, who struck out five batters and walked two, limited Cedar Rapids to four hits, all of which were singles. After beginning May with a 7.58 ERA, Hansen has maintained a 3.10 ERA across his eight most recent starts. He’s struck out 36 batters and walked 14 in that stretch.
Right-handed pitcher Darlin Saladin, Class Low-A Palm Beach:Saladin, the Cardinals minor league pitcher of the month for May, logged his third consecutive quality start as he completed six innings and allowed two runs against Tampa. The only two runs the righty allowed came on a two-run home run in the first inning of Palm Beach’s 3-2 loss. Saladin walked the first batter he faced on Wednesday after he got ahead, 0-2, in the count. A 90.5 mph thrown middle-low in the strike zone to the next hitter, Tampa’s George Lombard Jr., was lifted to right-center field for the first home run Saladin has allowed in 11 games (10 starts) this season. Before the home run from Lombard, Saladin had completed 54 innings without giving up a home run. Over his last three outings, Saladin has a 1.89 ERA. He’s maintained a 1.95 EERA and 1.02 walks and hits per inning (WHIP) across 60 innings for Palm Beach.
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'Wonderful Wille Mays' had some of his best games in Ƶ
Willie Mays will forever be remembered as one of baseball's best, and Cardinals fans of that era may have even more vivid memories of his greatness.
When the "Say Hey Kid" came to Ƶ, he certainly was great.
Baseball's oldest living Hall of Famer until his death Tuesday at the age of 93, some of Mays' better performances came against the Cardinals here.
He swiped a career-best four bases on his 25th birthday, May 6, 1956, in Ƶ, his legs allowing the New York Giants to a steal a win in the nightcap of a doubleheader that day.
One of his three career three-homer games came in Ƶ.
Three of his 16 career games with five or more RBIs came here, his highest total at any visiting park.
His 1.076 OPS at Sportsman's Park/Busch Stadium I was his second-best at any ballpark where he played more than 60 games.
During one stretch, he recorded hits in 13 straight appearances here between 1956 and 1957.
His OPS vs. the Cardinals in Ƶ (1.017) was far better than he fared vs. the Redbirds at home (.901).
Below is a collection of Post-Dispatch coverage from some of those great Mays games in Ƶ.
Stan Musial, right, former Ƶ slugging star, presents ornate “All Star” trophy to San Francisco’s Willie Mays before game on August 17, 1966 in San Francisco at Candlestick Park in which Mays hit his 534thhomer to tie record of Jimmy Foxx. Trophy was gift of Louis Lewyn of Garden Grove, Calif. Mays may be hard put to find room for this big one among the many awards he has collected during his years in major league baseball. (AP Photo)
Robert Klein
By Bob Broeg
From the Post-Dispatch's Monday, May 07, 1956, edition recapping Mays' three-steal game:
Just when a fella gets enthusiastic enough to rush out and price World Series tickets, wonderful Willie Mays and the doggoned New York Giants have to remind him that it's not only a six-month season, but a nine-inning game.
If the Cardinals didn't have to play the ninth inning, they'd be far in front in the National League, rather than a close third in a six-club scramble. On the other hand, so slender is the margin between victory and defeat in this multiple hassle that without Ellis Kinder the Redbirds would be:
Well, if you want it just the way Manager Fred Hutchinson snapped it off, they'd be "dead."
Hutch was annoyed and discouraged, understandably so, after yesterday's Busch Stadium doubleheader in which the Cardinals took the league lead on Stan Musial's eighth-inning homer in the twinbill opener, 5 to 4, then blew the nightcap in the ninth by the same score.
"Pitching, my foot," the former hurler growled. "Just two complete games in 16!"
Is It a Complex?
Mr. Hutchinson, it is apparent, is torn between two conflicting desires that just had clashed in the final frame of a game that knocked the Redbirds off the pinnacle. Instinctively, the manager would like to rush the reliable 41-year-old Kinder to the rescue on a preventive basis, but he knows there's a limit to even the most resilient arm. And, besides, he's eager to develop a start-and-finish habit among younger front-line hurlers who could be whomping up a first-rate last-inning complex.
Take Vinegar Bend Mizell, for instance. Three times before yesterday he'd gone into the ninth and then staggered. With Mays leading off the ninth, there was, therefore, a good reason to wonder whether Kinder's ancient right arm again could succeed where the tiring young left one might fail. And, moreover, if Wonderful Willie so much as bunted safely, it would be as good as a ground-rule double, the way Mays automatically had swiped bases off the slow-winding southpaw.
But, as mentioned, Kinder had saved one game in the 90-degree temperature and there was that strong desire to get the young'uns to finish what they started. So Mizell pitched to Mays, Willie singled and, sure enough, took off for second base and stole it for the third time in the second game. That's nothing, though. One time the swift, strong-armed Giant center fielder stole both second and third, giving him four thefts, one short of the National League record.
With Mizell watching one way and trying to pitch another — nice if you can do it, look at second and hurl home — Daryl Spencer whacked a game-tying double. Now Kinder came on, but, unfortunately, the old gerit hadn't been allowed any margin for error. As a result, following a sacrifice bunt, Dusty Rhodes' single drove home the deciding run.
Sorry Windup for 25,466.
So there was a sorry wind-up to an exciting six hours of baseball for a 25,466 crowd that had seen Musial dissolve a 4-all tie with his fifth homer in the eighth inning of the first game and Ken Boyer apparently give the Cardinals another close-to-the-vest triumph with his fifth circuit smash in the sixth frame of the nightcap.
The Ƶ standouts in the see-saw twin bill, in which the Giants collected 23 hits to the Cards' 18, with the Redbirds drawing nine walks to the visitors' four, were Wally Moon and Rip Repulski. Moon had five blows in eight official trips, driving in four, and Repulski four for seven and an RBI.
The Ripper, setting a hot hitting pace since he returned to the regular lineup, took a two-run extra-base hit away from Mays with a leaping catch against the left field concrete in the third inning of the opener, in which Harvey Haddix again failed. And in the second contest Repulski collared Spencer's drive to the left-center field wall In a near-collision with Bill Vlrdon.
And Hutch Was Booed.
So Hutchinson was booed for the first time in his first month as Redbird manager when he sent up Solly Hemus to pinch-bat for Repulski in the home half of the nightcap ninth. The strong-jawed skipper doesn't play to the stands, though. He just had seen fast-firing right-handed Steve Ridzik handle Boyer with sidearmed pitching and, in addition, he said he thought Hemus might work the wild Ridzik for a leadoff walk. Hutch's thought apparently wasn't backed by ball-and-strike control, however, for Solly took one pitch off the plate, then hit the next one up on the infield.
Two base-runners later Hoyt Wilhelm hauled his knuckler from the New York bullpen, retired the side and halted a premature notion about running out and pricing World Series tickets. Shucks, we gotta first get another Kinder or a new eight-inning rule for Mizell and the rest of a staff that wears long pants, but suffers from short breath.
…
From the Post-Dispatch's Redbird Notes in that same edition:
Willie Mays not only stole four bases in one game on his twenty-fifth birthday, but robbed Red Schoendienst of an extra base hit with a sensational catch, though his strong arm also gave the Cards a run with a wild throw. … "I guess 26,000 people will think I can't throw," said unhappy Bill Sarni, Redbird catcher, but Mays stole each time on Mizell's slow, exaggerated delivery. Willie, by the way, has been thrown out only three times in 32 tries the last two seasons.
One of Mays' three career three-homer games came in Ƶ, a 6-4 San Francisco win on Sunday, June 2, 1963.
Below are excerpts from Neal Russo's coverage in the following day's Post-Dispatch:
For only the second time on this home stand, the bullpen faltered. Bob (Side-Saddle) Humphreys, after stopping the mighty Giants for two innings, was tagged for Mays's home run that hit the middle of the scoreboard, then an opposite-field home run by the next batter, Orlando Cepeda. Mays, who hit his first four-bagger of the day, off starter Ernie Broglio, got No. 3 off Bobby Shantz in the ninth.
"You can't expect the relievers to stop them every time, and if they could, we'd be starting them," said Cardinals manager Johnny Keane.
On Saturday, August 7, 1965, Mays homered twice, driving in five in one of his last few games at Busch Stadium I. He earned his second MVP award for his work that season.
Here's an excerpt from Neal Russo's coverage in the following day's Post-Dispatch:
The San Francisco Giants are sneaky fellows. They came to town with fewer runs than all National League clubs except the Mets and the Astros, but led by Willie Mays' two home runs and five runs batted in, they bombarded the Cardinals yesterday, 10-4.
Mays could hardly prefer the new downtown ballpark to Busch Stadium. He is batting (.471) on 16 for 34 this season at the Cardinals' old park. He has five home runs and 12 RBIs here. By contrast, Mays has not had a hit in his 13 times at bat against the Cardinals at Candlestick Park.
Editor's note: After a strong series finale the following day that included another homer, Mays finished .500 for the season at Busch I in 1965. He tallied a then-NL record 17 home runs in August.
Willie Mays made his comeback to the New York Mets on May 29, 1976. Mays kids in with Ƶ Cardinals Reggie Smith and Lou Brock enjoying a laugh with Mays. Mays is coach and problems regarding his duties kept him out of uniform. (AP Photo)
Death of baseball great Willie Mays announced at game in Alabama. (Associated Press/ABC 33/40 video)
Matthew Liberatore steps in for Kyle Gibson, but Marlins scratch out walk-off win vs. Cardinals
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MIAMI — Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore may have redefined what a “spot start” means after being pressed into duty as the club’s starting pitcher just minutes before first pitch.
Liberatore and a worn-down Cardinals bullpen — they’ve played four consecutive one-run games, including a pair of extra-inning contests — came up just short as the Miami Marlins pulled out their second consecutive walk-off win and handed the Cardinals a 4-3 loss in the series finale Wednesday afternoon at loanDepot Park.
In the ninth inning, Cardinals rookie reliever Ryan Fernandez gave up a two-out single to right field by the Marlins’ Otto Lopez, and Tim Anderson scored from second base without a play at the plate as right fielder Alec Burleson mishandled the ball as he went to take it out of his glove to throw home on the play.
Burleson dropped the ball when he attempted to transfer to this throwing hand, and after he recovered it, the ball slipped out of his hand when he tried to make a flat-footed throw. The ball hit the turf again as Anderson rounded third and scored the winning run.
Burleson did not speak to reporters after the game.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol summed up the final play, saying, “He came through the ball, rushed it, couldn’t make the throw.”
The Cardinals (36-37) lost the series with Wednesday’s loss and fell back below .500 for the season. The Marlins (25-49) entered the series with the National League’s worst record.
Liberatore allowed two runs on three hits and one walk in 3⅔ innings after he found out during the national anthem that he’d be the starting pitcher.
“He went out there and, I thought, did a pretty good job for being called on minutes before first pitch,” Marmol said of Liberatore. “The first two guys got him. He settled in and gave us a chance after that.”
The game started with right-hander Kyle Gibson being scratched from his scheduled start within minutes of the Marlins taking the field, and the game ended with Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado leaving the game in the eighth inning after he was hit by a pitch from Marlins right-hander Huascar Brazoban.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever had it happen like this in my entire career,” Gibson said. “I did our advance meeting. I felt really good. At 11:30, I was still doing my stretching, and I did something during stretching to just aggravate the left hip.
“By the time it was 10 minutes later, I was in the trainer’s room, and I couldn’t bend down to touch my toes. (Head athletic trainer) Adam (Olsen) did a lot of work on it, tried to loosen it up a little bit.”
Gibson struggled his way through most of his pregame routine, but he gave assistant pitching coach Dean Kiekhefer a heads-up that he might not be able to go.
After Gibson threw about 10 pitches off the mound in the bullpen he realized his body wasn’t going to allow him to pitch effectively.
“Any time I put weight on that left hip, it just wasn’t letting me rotate through and do what I needed to do,” Gibson said. “It’s probably the first time in my career I went down to warm up and didn’t pitch the game. It’s frustrating. The bullpen did a great job of picking me up.”
The Cardinals activated Gibson from the bereavement list on Wednesday morning in advance of the start. They optioned relief pitcher Ryan Loutos to Triple-A Memphis in a corresponding move.
With Loutos gone and the Cardinals coming off of back-to-back extra-inning games, the pitching staff turned to Liberatore to fill the void left by Gibson’s absence. Liberatore pitched in relief of Lance Lynn in Tuesday night’s game.
“I went out for the anthem and got called back in and told I was starting,” Liberatore said. “That was basically it. I came back in here, grabbed my glove, went out and started playing catch. It was about a three-minute process.”
Liberatore gave up back-to-back home runs to the first two Marlins batters of the game, including a first-pitch leadoff home run by Bryan De La Cruz that traveled 429 feet to center field.
Following De La Cruz’s 13th home run of the season, Jesus Sanchez bashed a 1-2 sinker from Liberatore to center field and gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead before Liberatore recorded an out.
“These guys love to swing the bat, so they came out and they did that,” Liberatore said. “Unfortunate that he got me on the first pitch. I’ll take my chances there being in the zone against him early versus falling behind 1-0.
“Then I left a pitch over the middle with two strikes that I beat with better stuff the night prior. I expected him to be on time for that fastball, and I knew I needed to get it inside. I just didn’t.”
The next batter, Josh Bell, doubled to left field to give the Marlins three consecutive extra-base hits to start the game. Ƶ native Jake Burger then walked as the first four batters reached against Liberatore, but Nick Gordon grounded into a double play to stop the offensive avalanche.
Marlins shortstop Anderson then hit an inning-ending fly ball as the Marlins left Bell stranded on second base.
The Cardinals got the two runs back on a Nolan Gorman solo home run and a Brendan Donovan RBI single in the second inning.
Liberatore retired the side in order in the second and third innings, and he also retired the first two batters of the fourth before Chris Roycroft entered the game. Liberatore did not allow a batter to reach base after the first four batters of his outing.
Roycroft retired the first three batters he faced before he gave up a single to Nick Fortes with two outs in the fifth inning. That hit was the first for the Marlins since the first inning, and it snapped a streak of 13 consecutive batters retired by Cardinals pitchers.
Roycroft, who took the loss in the 10th inning on Tuesday night, pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings. The Marlins took a brief advantage when reliever John King gave up a walk, a hit and a one-out sacrifice fly that gave the Marlins a 3-2 edge in the sixth.
The Cardinals took advantage of a fielding error by Burger to tie the score again in the top of the seventh. Rookie shortstop Masyn Winn (1 for 5) scored from first base when Burger failed to field Paul Goldschmidt’s grounder up the third base line.
Arenado’s departure came in the eighth inning after a 94.6 mph sinker that rode up and smacked into his right elbow. Jose Fermin entered the game as a pinch runner.
“It got me on kind of the nerve area of the elbow,” Arenado said. “It didn’t get the bone, which was good. There’s no break. It kind of got me on the nerve, so my hand kind of went into a claw. It’s kind of hard to move my fingers right now.”
The bruise is on Arenado’s throwing arm. While he seemed hopeful he can avoid a stint on the injured list, he expected to be sore on Thursday. The team does have a scheduled day off on Friday following its game in Birmingham, Alabama, so the Cardinals could choose to maximize Arenado’s rest by giving him Thursday off going into the scheduled day off.
Arenado went 2 for 3 at the plate and registered his first stolen base of the season before he left the game. The Cardinals had 10 hits, but they were just 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
“Libby has done a really good job for us out of the ’pen,” Arenado said. “I know it’s tough to get a call and be like, ‘Hey, you’re starting.’ He did a good job. Our bullpen has been so good for us. We just wish we could gave him a little bit more runs.”
The score stayed tied 3-3 until the bottom of the ninth.
“I saw a team that came into this series already down a couple guys in the bullpen and ended up losing a starter, and we showed a lot of toughness and resilience this series,” Liberatore said.
“There’s a lot of times when we could have caved in and given in. Things could have been a lot worse than they were this series. I try to look at the positives, and that’s what I’m going to take away from this series.”
Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon see places the Cardinals could improve -- but what should they be willing to surrender? And would any team be interested in it?
