Cardinals center fielder Michael Siani probably couldn’t have had a better, more detailed understanding of an opposing player and the intricacies involved in a particular play than he had when he tagged up and scored the game's only run in the third inning on Friday night.
Alec Burleson’s swing got underneath a 1-2 fastball and sent a high fly ball toward the middle of the field. The Cincinnati Reds dynamic shortstop Elly De La Cruz tracked the ball off the bat and broke back and toward center field immediately.
As the ball carried and De La Cruz drifted, Siani retreated to third base and waited, poised to test De La Cruz’s ability to make an a strong, accurate, flat-footed throw toward home plate with his body’s momentum taking him in the opposite direction.
According to MLB Statcast data, the ball traveled an estimated 222 feet from home plate, De La Cruz made the catch with his left hand, his feet nearly perpendicular to home plate, his back turned toward the left field side of the field and Reds center fielder Stuart Fairchild having charged in and pulled up to avoid a collision.
People are also reading…
Cardinals third base coach Ron “Pop†Warner gave Siani the green light, and Siani made the mad dash to the plate. De La Cruz had to spin and throw home. The throw tailed slightly up the third base line as Siani slid into the plate safely without a tag. De La Cruz’s one-hop throw appeared to clip Siani in the midst of his slide.
Siani’s run, on a sacrifice fly to shortstop, held up as the lone run in a 1-0 win against the Cincinnati Reds in the second game of a four-game series in front of an announced crowd of 40,220 at Busch Stadium on Friday night.
“Gosh, you’ve got one of the best arms in the game catching the ball,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “I didn’t think a sac fly to the shortstop would hold and win the ballgame.
"But back towards where he has to throw, gather himself. Regardless of how good of an arm, that’s a tough play to also throw it on the money and get a tag. Siani is pretty quick, so we took a chance there. Good sent by Pop.â€
Each side had four hits in the game. The Cardinals (42-39) went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, while the Reds (38-44) went 1 for 10 in those same situations. The difference in the scoreboard was Siani and Warner taking an aggressive approach at an early stage of the game.
Siani lined a 1-0 fastball from Reds starting pitcher Frankie Montas off the right field wall for a leadoff double in that inning. Siani advanced to third base on Brendan Donovan's grounder to the second baseman. That put him on third base with one out.
That brought Burleson to the plate for the second time in the game. He’d fouled off six pitches from Montas in the first plate appearance before he ultimately drew a walk. This time, Burleson put the ball in play.
Siani, drafted by the Reds in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Draft, spent his entire professional career in the Reds organization until last September when the Cardinals selected him off waivers from the Reds.
That meant Siani had spent plenty of time roaming center field as a Reds player in the minors and majors, including time on the field with De La Cruz.
“I’ve played with Elly. I know how far out he can get,†Siani said. “I know how far he’ll run into center field, and how talented he is at doing that. So I see him take off, and I know he’s going to go after the ball. Pop is in my ear the whole time. ‘Check him. Check him. Check him.’
“His back is turned to me when he catches it, and I know he’s probably pretty far out there. So in that spot, take a chance. Go. I mean, he’s got to make a perfect throw to get me out.â€
Siani said he’d been in similar situations as a center fielder on the same team as De La Cruz “a bunch of times.â€
The Cardinals pitching staff, which has been so taxed in recent days that they’ve reached down to Triple-A Memphis to get reinforcements in the form of right-hander Gordon Graceffo, guarded that one-run lead as if it were gold.
Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (4-3) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowed four hits and three walks. The right-hander also struck out five to earn the win.
Pallante navigated through a potential game-changing fifth inning, and stranded the bases loaded.
With one out in the frame, Pallante walked Will Benson and gave up a bloop single to Stuart Fairchild. After a shallow fly ball for the second out, Pallante pitched very carefully to Reds leadoff hitter Jonathan India.
India, who had hits in each of his previous two at-bats in the game against Pallante, walked and loaded the bases. That brought the switch-hitting De La Cruz to the plate.
Pallante came into the night having held left-handed hitters to a .185 batting average this season. De La Cruz grounded to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who flipped to Pallante covering first base for the third out of the inning.
In the sixth, Pallante hit Spencer Steer with a pitch and then walked Nick Martini. Pallante then got Noelvi Marte to hit a soft fly ball down the left field line for the first out of the inning.
Rookie reliever Ryan Fernandez, who pitched in the ninth inning on Thursday night, then entered the game with two men on and one out.
The first batter Fernandez faced, Santiago Espinal, hit a deep drive to the warning track in left field. The ball tailed away from Donovan, but he made a leaping catch on the run just in front of the wall headed toward the left field corner.
Donovan’s catch was the second out of the inning, and Fernandez struck out Will Benson to strand both of the inherited runners on base and keep the one-run lead.
“That’s so important when the bullpen can pick you up like that,†Pallante said. “I’m trying my best to go as deep in this game to keep them fresh. Then when I don’t go deep as I need to, having (Fernandez) come up and dominate like that is huge. He’s been so good for us, and I want to see him keep doing well.â€
Fernandez pitched 1 2/3 innings and didn’t allow a batter to reach base.
The Cardinals three-headed relief pitching monster of JoJo Romero, Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Helsley all contributed to shutting the door in the final two innings with the slimmest of margins for error.
In the eighth inning, the fleet footed De La Cruz walked against Romero, stole second base and then tagged up and advanced to third base to put the tying run 90 feet away.
With the right-handed hitting slugger Noelvi Marte up with two outs, Marmol turned to Kittredge for the righty-righty matchup. Kittredge struck out Marte, swinging, on three pitches — the last a wicked slider — and stranded De La Cruz at third base.
Helsley retired the side in order in the ninth, but Donovan made a leaping catch at the wall in left-center field to record the final out of the game on a high drive by Fairchild. Helsley registered his 29th consecutive save. His 29 saves lead MLB.
“I knew he hit it hard,†Donovan said of the final play. “I knew it was high. So I was just trying to get back to the wall and kind of get my footing in case I did have to jump.
"I went back and watched it. My glove height was above the fence. I don’t know if it was going to come down and hit the top of if it was going to come in or whether it was going to go over, but I knew it was close. Once I felt it hit the leather, I was just like just squeeze this thing as hard as you can so you don’t’ dump it in the bullpen.â€