All the Cardinals relievers could count on for sure was if it was a close game Thursday, there would be no bells ringing, no AC/DC playing to herald the arrival of closer Ryan Helsley, and that it would be a close game.
Because they all inevitably are these days.
“Business as usual,†setup man Andrew Kittredge said.
A homestand that featured seven games all decided by four or fewer runs and three losses by a combined three runs reached its predictable conclusion with another tightrope for the bullpen to walk. Only, due to his recent usage, it would perform this high-wire act without its headliner, Helsley. The stage belonged Thursday to the understudies — and they shined.
Five relievers, including two rookies, pitched 4â…” scoreless innings to first stall the Pirates and then preserve a 4-3 victory against Pittsburgh at Busch Stadium.
Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer in the third for the early lead that was misplaced. Brendan Donovan’s tie-breaking solo home run in the sixth made a winner of rookie Chris Roycroft for the first time in the majors, just two years after the former college basketball player was pitching in an independent league. Kittredge closed out the ninth for his first save as a Cardinal a day after collecting his 18th hold.
The vulcanized bullpen secured a series win for the Cardinals against the Pirates for the first time since 2022 and bound it tight with the narrative thread of 2024.
The Cardinals improved to 10-9 in one-run games and played in their 53rd of 67 games decided by four runs or fewer. Of their 33 wins, 30 have come by four runs or fewer.
Close games mean a busy bullpen.
The relievers may have changed Wednesday. Their task did not.
“It makes you better for when it matters,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “It allows you to learn how to play in close games. And when you go down the stretch, that’s what matters. Your ability as a team to not panic when you’re down one or down two or you have to hold a one-run lead from the fifth inning on. I think it does build character, and we will benefit from that here in the next several months.â€
Certain they would avoid Helsley and wishing to go a day without needing lefty setup man JoJo Romero, Marmol, pitching coach Dusty Blake and other members of the staff discussed before the series finale the different scenarios and “lanes†for available relievers.
Marmol has been gradually ratcheting up the pressure of Roycroft’s appearances because of how intrigued the coaches are with his stuff. Opponents, too. Houston’s Alex Bregman asked Roycroft “who he is and where he’s coming from because he’s gross,†said lefty Matthew Liberatore.
Ryan Fernandez, the Cardinals’ Rule 5 pick plucked from Boston’s organization, and Liberatore would have a prominent late-inning spots.
The preference was for starter Lance Lynn to pitch so deep he made those decisions.
“Left a decent outing on the table by not getting out of the fifth,†the veteran starter said after his third consecutive start without completing the fifth inning. His outing ended a streak of four consecutive quality starts for the rotation. “Bullpen picked me up, like they’ve been doing all year.â€
Lynn did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and had the Pirates scoreless going into the fifth. Walks to the Nos. 7 and 9 hitters began to unravel the inning, and by the time one ball became an RBI single when it hit him, Lynn’s outing was at its end. The Pirates had a run in and the bases loaded for No. 3 hitter Oneil Cruz. The choice was to reach into the bullpen in that moment and pull out lefty John King to face the left-handed-hitting Cruz, who greeted the lefty with a two-run single and a tie game, 3-3.
The ex post facto question was posed by the manager after the game.
“If I’m being completely honest, I wish I would have let him work through it and see what that looked like,†Marmol said of Lynn. “I felt like he could have walked off the mound himself with the score still in our favor. But I don’t mind the matchup of a high-ground-ball guy in King getting the double play there. That’s a spot there where there’s an argument for letting him work through it.â€
The Cardinals’ innings-eating rotation has been decidedly average when it comes to ingesting its helpings. A handful of short starts and an abundance of close games have shifted much of the leverage to the bullpen. Cardinals relievers’ total innings are slightly below average in bulk and their 49 holds — the save equivalent for middle innings — are the most in the National League. There are only three relievers in the majors with more than 17 holds this season. Romero (19) and Kittredge (18) are two of them.
Of the ways to keep a bullpen fresh and vital and avoid ruptures, the most obvious is more innings from the starters. But alternatives exist. A bullpen with interchangeable talent that does not have to rely on a three-man recipe for late innings, that doesn’t encounter turbulence when relievers must try new roles can help save its peers.
When the show must go on, understudies are essential.
“That’s the goal because you don’t want it to be sects of the bullpen,†Kittredge said. “You want it to be one unit and everyone is pulling for everyone no matter what the situation is. I think when you get guys who can get into the experience of leverage, it makes the whole unit so much better because it doesn’t have to be a certain way. A lot of times, games don’t go the way you plan them to. It helps when guys have had that opportunity to pitch in those situations when they’re asked to do it again.â€
After King allowed two of his inherited runners to score and knot the game, the Cardinals bullpen barely blinked again.
Assigned the eighth inning of a one-run game, Fernandez walked the third batter he faced, but he struck out the other three. Once King got an inning-ending double play in the fifth and Roycroft (1-0) came in for the sixth, the Bucs did not get a runner safely to second. And not a pitch was thrown by Romero or Helsley.
“We have everybody down in that ’pen who can get in any of the situations that we put them in,†Fernandez said. “All the guys are throwing really well down there. We’ve got a lot of dogs down in that bullpen. We’re backing it up.â€
Said Donovan: “I’m just glad I’m one of the ones playing behind them and not the one in the box. You’ve got some funk. You’ve got some power. It’s just a different look from each guy.â€
It’s so much of the same look from each game.
The Cardinals finished the homestand 4-3, with their wins coming by one-, two-, three- and four-run gaps. Through 67 games and back again on the precipice of .500, the Cardinals have the smallest average margin of victory in the National League at 2.53.
They’ve played 48 games (71.6%) decided by three or fewer runs. That ties for the most in the majors with ... the Cubs, who host the Cardinals for three-games this weekend at Wrigley Field. Where close can be a given.
Confines is in the place’s nickname.
Maybe the practice can pay off.
“Yeah, if we win them,†Goldschmidt said. “Hopefully, (in) some of these close games we can find a way either to come back or open them up. We are getting used to it. It’s not by design. Tight game is something we’re definitely getting used to.â€
First pitch set for 1:20 p.m. Saturday as the Cardinals continue their road series against the Cubs.
Cardinals relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge beats Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal to first base for an out during the ninth inning of a game Thursday, June 13, 2024, at Busch Stadium. Kittredge earned the save in the Cardinals’ 4-3 win.
An RBI single hit by Pirates designated hitter Bryan Reynolds hits Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn on the foot during the fifth inning of a game Thursday, June 13, 2024, at Busch Stadium.
Cardinals relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge, right, hugs catcher Pedro Pages after defeating the Pirates in a game Thursday, June 13, 2024, at Busch Stadium.