SAN DIEGO — As a younger pitcher, one still looking for that steady pulse to go with steadier results, Kyle Gibson listened to a chaplain discuss how anxiety and thankfulness are conflicting emotions. It’s not reasonable, the explanation went, to be worried about what’s to come and thankful for what’s happened, just as it’s not productive to worry about what happened and also be thankful for the opportunity ahead.
Gibson took that thought to heart.
Then he took it to the mound.
“I’m just not going to give one inning away,†the Cardinals’ veteran right-hander said. “Worry is something in my mind that is similar to fear. You can’t go out there pitching worried about this, pitching fearful about that. There’s enough going on already. It’s literally not worth it.â€
Unfazed by when he made his first start of the season and unbothered by what happened the four days before he got his turn, Gibson was unyielding with seven substantive innings for the Cardinals in a 6-2 victory against San Diego late Monday night. In his Cardinals debut, Gibson allowed two runs, both on solo homers, and left the bullpen only six outs to retrieve to finalize a win. The last of the Cardinals’ current five starters to pitch this season, Gibson was the first to provide a quality start — exactly as the Cardinals imagined when they signed him.
People are also reading…
A day after a diluted bullpen lost a lead late at Dodger Stadium, Gibson provided what the Cardinals so rarely had in their mad scramble for innings and dependable starts a year ago.
They know that anxiety.
They are thankful for his calming presence.
“That was our hope in signing the guys that we did — they would do that,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “What Lance (Lynn) did in LA was tough. What (Gibson) just did here against a really good lineup that has put up some big runs — that’s tough. Yeah, we chose them for a reason, and thankfully they wanted to pitch here. For this exact reason we saw. ... This is a guy who has been around awhile, just is very comfortable in his own skin and knows who he is. He knows what gives him success, and when you hand him the baseball, he’s going to go out and do his job. He’s as pro as they get.â€
By the time Gibson finished his seven innings, he had faced 25 batters and collected 21 outs. The Cardinals had a reliever in the bullpen warming to complete the seventh inning if necessary, and that was when Gibson got a double play to end his evening.
Using a mix of six different pitches and leaning into his sinker, Gibson became the first Cardinals starter this season to get through the sixth inning, let alone pocket an out in the seventh. He struck out four, allowed four hits and never threw a pitch with less than a two-run lead. The Cardinals offense, so pedestrian during the four-game visit to LA, provided home runs from Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan. The lineup had 14 hits by the end of the eighth inning, five different starters had at least two hits and Donovan’s home run in the sixth inning left him a triple shy of the cycle.
Contreras’ home run in the first inning put the Cardinals ahead by three runs before Gibson took the mound for the bottom of the inning.
“It means everything. It means everything,†said Gibson, a Mizzou alumnus who called the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area home several years before he signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals. “Being able to go out there and use the defense we have is important, being able to go out there and not worry about a solo homer or even a two-run homer making the game close. It’s just not a worry at that point. It allows Willy (Contreras) and me to really go to work and not be too worried about hard contact. Every starter will tell you mentally you don’t think about it when your team is putting up zeroes. I think you think more about it when your team puts up runs early and you understand what that does for you.â€
What it did for Gibson is what he could do for the Cardinals.
At the root of the Cardinals’ lousy, last-place season was poor, inconsistent and inefficient starting pitching. The rotation bogged down the bullpen with leftover innings, and series to series, it became a question for the Cardinals on where the innings were going to come from. They didn’t get through a five-game turn of the rotation often enough without concerns, and those compounded each and every turn.
The ripple effect, to borrow a phrase from the manager, was real. The bullpen felt the brunt. The offense played from behind. The season caved in.
What they did to mend last year’s pothole was sign Gibson and Lynn, two veteran right-handers who crank out the innings and can provide known-quantity work with a healthy dash of quality starts. The benefits are already on display. Lynn allowed three consecutive singles to open up his first start of the season and then struck out the side. Only a rain delay kept him from snowplowing deeper into Saturday’s game and perhaps saving the bullpen to be better prepared to secure Sunday’s game.
Gibson’s seven innings Monday meant relievers JoJo Romero and Ryan Helsley only had to throw a combined 14 pitches to get six outs. Helsley faced the nucleus of the Padres’ order and finished a scoreless ninth in six pitches.
That likely means they’re both available Tuesday to hold a lead.
“Exactly what we needed,†Marmol said.
Not at all like how Lynn got there. Against a Padres lineup that led the majors in runs before Monday night, Gibson was methodical and efficient, where Lynn against the Dodgers was furious and emotion. Gibson greeted teammate Jordan Walker at the dugout with a fist-bump after Walker’s diving catch in right field ended an inning. Lynn put the Dodgers on notice with a salvo of curse words to note their lack of success with the bases loaded against him.
“I’ve known Lance a long time, and those are some of the fun conversations we can have,†Gibson said. “He uses emotion and he uses fire and competitiveness similar but different. Outwardly, there are some differences. Inwardly, we both have a big fire. He feeds off of stuff. I’ve seen it for so long. He feeds off that stuff. And if he thinks the team is not respecting him, he feeds of that. For me, I’m going to be competitive. I’m going to be fired up to get a big out or the defense turns a double play. But I’ve got to move on.â€
Even-tempered and even temperament, that’s how Gibson went through spring training. He had an outing where his stuff was flat, his breaking ball ornery and his line unpalatable. He was unworried. Between starts, he found the timing for his delivery, and in his next outing, he took advantage of a nice strike zone and the Cubs for nine strikeouts. He waited without any anxiety for the Cardinals to give him a heads-up on when he would make his regular-season debut.
They announced Sonny Gray as the opening day starter, then pivoted to Miles Mikolas when Gray injured his hamstring. They set the schedule specifically for Lynn to get the home opener Thursday at Busch Stadium.
They moved lefty Zack Thompson into No. 2 so that Steven Matz could get an extra start in spring and be better prepared for his first regular-season start.
There was no fanfare for Gibson’s start, no rearranging of his schedule.
There wasn’t the glitz of debuting in Cardinals red against Dodgers blue.
There was just his day, his seven strong innings, his first win and no worries.
“I’m too old for that,†Gibson said. “Just go out there. When the team gives you the ball, go pitch and be the best you can be.â€