Matthew Liberatore's focus where it counts has him leading MLB in walk rate: Cardinals Extra

NEW YORK �� On the pages of what he called his �쐃xecution journal,�� Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore meticulously tracks, start by start, what type of pitch he throws and how well he executes it with every 0-0 or 1-1 count �� the counts a pitcher can win to take advantage in an at-bat.

The bookkeeping is all part of a shift in mindset by Liberatore to trust his stuff in the strike zone even at the highest level.

He was asked how that shows up in the results.

�쏦ow about three six-inning outings in a row?�� the lefty said. �쏽ou can�셳 do that unless you�셱e super-efficient.��

There is another tangible benefit, and it�셲 an important statistic that Liberatore, in his first season as a full-time starter in the bigs, leads the majors. The young starter will be updating his journal Saturday night after his fourth start of the season, and into his appearance against the New York Mets Liberatore takes the lowest walk rate of any pitcher this season with at least 12 innings pitched. Liberatore has one walk in 18 1/3 innings for a 1.4%, just below the second-best of 1.5% by Baltimore�셲 Zach Eflin. Colorado Kyle Freeland is third at 2.0%

The 51붚죕 Cardinals host the Philadelphia Phillies — Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore sits in the dugout in the fourth inning of game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, April 13, 2025, at Busch Stadium.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch

Liberatore also has the lowest walks-per-nine rate of any pitcher with at least 12 innings thrown so far this season. His 0.49 BB/9 is just below Eflin�셲 0.50 BB/9 and well ahead of third-place Nathan Eovaldi�셲 0.73 BB/9.

Liberatore traces his success not throwing a fourth ball to getting that first strike.

�쏧 kind of went through last year and spent a lot of time trying to be perfect and execute perfect pitches, and when you do that you have to get back in the count somehow,�� Liberatore said. �쏶o I was throwing a lot of what I should be throwing 0-0 instead at 2-0 counts and 3-1 counts or 2-1 counts when guys are sold out to those exact pitches. Instead of letting the hitter know that is what�셲 coming and letting him sell out to it, how about I do that 0-0 and take my chances of letting him clip me in the zone? There is a stat that 92% of first-pitch strikes favor the pitcher in the outcome.

�쏧f I go through 100 first-pitch strikes and eight times that puts a ball in play let alone the 2% it�셲 a home run or extra-base hit �� that�셲 pretty good odds right there.��

Liberatore could recite the numbers because pitching coach Dusty Blake has emphasized to all pitchers the value of strike one and what he calls the �쐒ace for strike two.�� At times, the Cardinals�� resolute bullpen kept track of first-pitch strikes as a form of competition. Former pitching coach Mike Maddux presented statistics to the pitching staff about the batting average and slugging percentage on first-pitch strikes and how radically it shifts an at-bat.

�쏷he last step,�� Liberatore said ahead of his start vs. the Mets, �쐗as me really buying into it. I don�셳 care if I get hit 0-0, I�셫 going to come at you anyways.��

He had the numbers noted for what happened when he didn�셳.

In 2024, when Liberatore made a few starts and more than 50 appearances in relief for the Cardinals, opponents hit .186 and slugged .287 against the lefty when he got ahead 0-1. When batters got ahead, 1-0, they hit .324 and slugged .528 for an .962 OPS against him. The difference between 2-1 and 1-2 was a .529 slugging percentage and .253 slugging, respectively. In short, the game. This season, the small sample sizes and his overall success skew the numbers closer together, but he�셲 gotten ahead of more batters 0-1 than fallen behind, 32 to 28, and same with 2-1 and 1-2. (He�셲 also yet to give up an extra-base hit when the batter is ahead.)

�쏧t�셲 an overarching message to the staff,�� manager Oliver Marmol said. �쏦e�셲 got good enough stuff to get you out in the zone and then put you away out of the zone. It�셲 nice to know you can do it without getting chase.��

Two of Liberatore�셲 three starts so far this season have been quality starts. It is the first time that he�셲 authored three consecutive six-inning starts since he was in Class AAA. In his previous two before Saturday�셲, Liberatore struck 14 batters and allowed 11 hits in 12 1/3 innings. The one walk �� his one walk so far of the season �� came in the first inning of his most recent start, and he ended that trouble with a strikeout on the way to six shutout innings against the Phillies.

He did have to come back from a 2-0 count for that strikeout.

That would be one in the journal where the execution was off.

�쏧 think it�셲 just mindset, honestly,�� Liberatore said. �쏧f you can throw your breaking ball for a chase, you can throw it for a strike. Same thing for the fastball. If you can throw it above the zone for chase, you can throw it in the zone. Where do I need to aim to give you the greatest opportunity to be in the zone, and then you start thinking about expanding or painting the corner or trying to dot a gnat�셲 (butt) with something.��

Dean�셲 welcome advice

A day before he got to put the advice into action in front of thousands of Mets fans, Matt Svanson got a tip from assistant pitching coach Dean Kiekhefer about making his major-league debut.

�쏱ick up the catcher so you�셱e not paying attention to anything else,�� Svanson repeated. �쏧t felt just like baseball at the time.��

In a fitting twist of the schedule, Svanson made his big-league debut Thursday night with a scoreless seventh inning against the Mets and Citi Field. He had family in attendance, and the game was close enough for his coach from Lehigh University to drive up from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and be present for the debut of the 6-foot-5 right-hander who had 27 saves this past season at Class AA Springfield. Svanson�셲 inning ended with Nolan Arenado snagging a liner that would have produced a run but instead was the third out.

Svanson, 26, bombarded the Mets with his sinker, averaging 96.2 mph with it. He touched 97.3 mph on the sinker.

As a souvenir, the Cardinals did snag the baseball from Svanson�셲 first big-league out.

�쏯inety-six, 97 (mph) with good sink,�� Marmol said. �쏛 guy who fills up the zone. Make your debut here, this is a good environment for it and he seemed under control. Definitely usable.��

Winn starts rehab, etc.

As advertised, Masyn Winn (sore lower back) began his rehab assignment with Class AAA Memphis on Friday and played six innings in the field at shortstop. He struck out in all three of his at-bats. Winn is set to play for the Redbirds through the weekend and prepare to join the Cardinals, if healthy, in Atlanta on Monday. He’s eligible to come off the injury list Tuesday. … Victor Scott II appeared on MLB Network’s “MLB Central” and spoke about the speed element of his game and his approach at the plate with former Cardinals infielder Mark DeRosa. He’s the first Cardinal with seven stolen bases in the team’s first 18 games since Ray Lankford had 10 in 1992. … Adam Wainwright is set to be part of the broadcast on FOX for Saturday’s game against the Mets at Citi Field. … The Cardinals’ annual 5K run originally scheduled for Saturday has been postponed to May 31 due to the forecast for soggy, angry weather. Rescheduling the race reopens registration for it on the team’s web site, .

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Cardinals saw opportunity to �쁞e aggressive�� with bullpen, but lacked one key thing: the lead

NEW YORK �� Wise to the fact the New York Mets would likely let the trumpets catch their breath for an evening and not cue the fanfare for closer Edwin Diaz or either of their lockdown, late-inning relievers, the Cardinals had a plan. The night New York rested its best from the bullpen, the Cardinals aimed to be aggressive with their relievers, if possible.

They had them ready.

They had their assignments.

They had available arms for Saturday.

All they lacked was the most important thing they needed.

The lead.

An early two-run lead cobbled together out of five singles vanished from the Cardinals in the middle innings, and by the time they got their bullpen engaged they were holding tight to a tie or chasing from a deficit. A seesaw game that Brendan Donovan tied with a leadoff homer in the top off the ninth ended with Francisco Lindor�셲 walk-off homer to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Lindor drilled an errant cutter from Ryan Fernandez for a 5-4 victory at Citi Field, and finalized a box score rich with material to mine. There was a walk that offset an assignment, an error that effectively erased a dynamic defensive play, and there was the cutter crushed by Lindor. Any of those moments were part of the clockwork that led to a loss.

Cardinals Mets Baseball — The Mets�� Francisco Lindor gestures to teammates as he runs the bases after hitting a walk-off home run during the ninth inning against the Cardinals on Friday, April 18, 2025.
Frank Franklin II, AP

Where the discussions begin is how the Cardinals wanted to engineer the game�셲 end with an urgent use of a bullpen that understaffed by one arm.

�쏽ou can be aggressive with the �쁯en on a day like today and try to snatch a win,�� manager Oliver Marmol said late Friday night in his office. �쏫nowing they had both of their eighth and ninth inning guys down �� see what happens when we�셱e able to tie it up. You can be aggressive and you try to keep the score for as long as possible, hoping you can take the lead and then (Ryan) Helsley has the ninth. Unfortunately, it was tied at that point.��

The roots of the Cardinals�� intent to �쐀e aggressive�� with their relief use reach back to Thursday night�셲 game and the Cardinals holding fast for a close game. With no late ruptures, the Cardinals held the Mets to a three-run lead and that brought Diaz and setup lefty A.J. Minter into the game. Both had pitched an inning the night before, effectively ruling them out for Friday.

The Cardinals felt that would give them better matchups in the late innings, and they got one when Donovan greeted Huascar Brazoban with a homer to tie the game, 4-4, in the ninth.

�쏷he thing is everybody has good stuff and everybody is throwing with conviction,�� Donovan said. �쏦ow can we execute our game plan? Try to take the name out of it. Look at the stuff. What does he throw? Where does he like to throw it? Where do we want to get it and where do we want to hit it? What�셲 the stuff and how do I attack it?��

What that late innings also meant for Marmol and his staff was a chance to reverse-engineer the game from Helsley to close it all the way into the fifth inning where John King would be available to hold it.

He would enter the game to set up lefty JoJo Romero later in the game.

Starter Miles Mikolas held the Mets scoreless through four innings. In the fifth, the raucous started. Brett Baty led off with a double, and he scored when No. 9 hitter Tyrone Taylor connected for a trip that skipped past center fielder Michael Siani. Juan Soto delivered the RBI single to tie the game, 2-2, and that was the first inflection point of the evening. The Cardinals stayed with Mikolas to face the left-handed-hitting Soto instead of going to King. The goal was to get Mikolas through the fifth because, as Marmol said, �쐃very out is important.��

Soto is an equal opportunity superstar with the eagerness to pounce pitchers from either side of the mound. He had a .550 slugging percentage against lefties this past season and a .578 slugging percentage against right-handers with Aaron Judge looming their behind him. Going to King might have kept Soto on the ground, but it invited the matchup the Cardinals did not want �� King vs. right-handed batter Pete Alonso.

Sticking with Mikolas through Alonso also meant using Romero at a spot in the seventh that would prove valuable to dictate the Mets�� choices.

So Mikolas got Soto and gave up the RBI single.

Mikolas retired, and in came King to finish the fifth vs. Jesse Winker.

�쏫ing is a headache for lefties,�� Mikolas said. �쏷hat lefty on lefty with his sinker.��

That inning was also where the current depth of the Cardinals�� bullpen surfaced. With Steven Matz in the rotation, the lefty wasn�셳 the eighth member of the bullpen to pitch that inning. Limited to 13 pitchers on the active roster, the Cardinals move to a six-man rotations means, by rule, only seven pitchers are available in relief.

While they planned to be aggressive assignments, they wanted to be judicious with use.

�쏽ou try to stop the bleeding quickly and then use your guys appropriately,�� Marmol said. �쏽ou can be aggressive on a day like today knowing that you�셱e going to have a shot at the end with their best guys not being able to pitch.��

Rather than have King return for the sixth, Marmol called on right-hander Kyle Leahy for the back half of the Mets�� lineup. Leahy in that spot �� or �쐋ane,�� as Marmol calls them �� would set up Romero when the leadoff spot came back around. The Cardinals had just retaken the lead on Nolan Arenado�셲 RBI single to score Willson Contreras. The bullpen had a lead to hold �� until it didn�셳. As quickly as Arenado claimed it, the Mets overcame it. Leahy allowed a leadoff homer in the sixth to the first batter he faced �� Mark Vientos �� and that leveled the game, 3-3.

Leahy got the game to Romero in the seventh, but not the lead.

Saving the lefty Romero for that inning meant he could enter to face Lindor, then face Soto, and then give the Cardinals the chance to dictate who hit cleanup for the Mets. By design, Romero�셲 three-batter minimum would be over by the cleanup spot, so if the Mets opted to lift Jesse Winker for a better matchup against the lefty Romero the Cardinals would counter with a right-handed reliever.

Romero walked two Mets to continue to the unraveling of the plan.

Romero�셲 walks brought right-hander Phil Maton into the game an inning early for one out more than planned. He did the right-handed pinch-hitter when Sterling Martin pinch-hit for Winker, and Maton retired him to end the seventh.

Arenado�셲 deft play to recover and tag out a pinch-runner who slipped past the bag gave Maton a grasp on the eighth. That was before a pickoff throw slipped away from him. The error allowed a runner into scoring position shortly after Arenado�셲 play had retired a runner at third. Brandon Nimmo scored easy for a 4-3 lead on Luis Torrens�� double off Maton.

�쏻e did everything possible to get to that point while keeping the score,�� Marmol said.

Seven innings after he extended his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games, Donovan yanked the Cardinals back into Friday night�셲 game when he tagged Brazoban�셲 changeup for his third homer of the season. The Cardinals had close Helsley loosening but as the road team the only place for him in the ninth was if they had a lead. With no save to secure, they would hold Helsley for extra innings on the road and the need to have him close there. All they needed was the one thing they had not had since the fifth �� a lead. That thrust Fernandez into the bottom of the ninth.

He made three pitches, and Lindor created a souvenir of the third.

�쏽ou want the lead and you want Helsley in the ninth,�� Marmol said. �쏻e needed one more.��

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51붚죕 Cardinals

Andre Pallante found his footing eventually, but Cardinals offense never did in loss to Mets

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Photos: Cardinals battle the Mets in New York

What midgame correction says about Andre Pallante�셲 accelerating learning curve as starter

NEW YORK �� The book Andre Pallante always keeps handy and is often thumbing through on the days he starts �� or even the days he doesn�셳, reading and re-reading passages �� focuses on the mental skills required for pitching, and it discusses the evolution of adjustments.

There are the routine adjustments between starts when there is time to marinate, scrutinize, and experiment, and there are the adjustments between innings that are quicker and demanded to survive in the big leagues.

Finally there are the adjustments between pitches that are necessary to thrive.

Stung for four runs by the New York Mets in the second inning and not feeling or seeing the same zip on his fastballs, Pallante made an adjustment between innings to find traction Thursday night and turned what could have been a crater for the Cardinals into a bridge forward for Pallante. Next up: adjusting between pitches.

�쏧f I make the adjustments in between pitches, maybe I would have had a great day,�� the right-hander said late Thursday night at Citi Field. �쏮ake them within innings and helped the team.��

The Mets scored all of their runs in one inning for a 4-1 victory at the start of a four-game visit to Queens from the Cardinals. Pallante allowed seven hits, but just one of them came after the second inning. He retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced to get the Cardinals through six innings and wait for an offensive revival that never happened against Mets�� right-hander Griffin Canning.

The Cardinals upshifted to a six-man rotation as a proactive move to avoid straining the rotation. The tradeoff is a limited bullpen, and one short start without a pair of long relievers available would have ripple effects for games and roster moves to come.

As the Mets sent a sixth hitter and a seventh hitter to the plate in the second, as they got their third and fourth run of the inning, as his pitch count climbed and his pitch effectiveness waned, leaving the bullpen a mess to shoulder was on Pallante�셲 mind.

�쏧 can�셳 go four there,�� he said, referring to innings. �쏧 can�셳.��

That left him to figure out, in media res, what he could do.

He could adjust.

He�셝 done it year to year and start to start and even inning to inning before, and he would have to again Thursday night.

Pallante reinvented himself almost a year ago, leaving the Cardinals�� bullpen for a demotion to Class AAA Memphis but with a request �� that he would get a chance to start. Since that opportunity and a plan hatched by Pallante and pitching coach Dusty Blake, the right-hander has been on an accelerated learning curve with strong results to only hasten it. He was, by several measures, the Cardinals�� best starter in the second half of 2024. That earned him a spot in the rotation to open 2025, and with the Cardinals advertising a commitment to youth, the club�셲 stated goal was to see what Pallante did with a full year as a starter.

Let him learn the rest on the job.

That�셲 where he was after the second inning Thursday night at Citi Field, huddling with catcher Pedro Pages and Blake to plot a way to get deeper into the game �� and not wait for between games to figure it out.

�쏷hat midgame doesn�셳 take place and he gives up more runs,�� manager Oliver Marmol said. �쏷hat is what you want to see. That�셲 what the big leagues are about. Minor leagues �� you don�셳 make adjustments till your next outing. Up here, guys are able to make adjustments in between innings, pitch to pitch, and not let it linger much longer than that. He was able to do it.��

The first 10 Mets to bat got six hits off Pallante. Leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor had two singles before Pallante (2-1) got his sixth out of the game. Mark Vientos�� solo homer to lead off the second started the rally and a poor decision on defense for the Cardinals ended it with the fourth run scoring. In between a bloop single led to another run. The whole time, Pallante was routinely falling behind in counts.

He started the game with three balls to Lindor, and Pallante was behind in the count to five of the seven batters he faced in the decisive second inning. Vientos tagged a 90.4-mph fastball, and the flair single was on a 90.7-mph fastball.

In the first two innings contact came on pitches all below his average velocity.

�쏤elt like my first two innings you could have pulled out of 2023 for me and been like, yep, that�셲 who he is,�� Pallante said. �쏛nd the last half of that game was like, OK, this is what he�셲 been doing. It�셲 in there. If I had started off a little bit stronger, I could have had a really good day.��

What shifted began in that midgame conversation �� and it yielded this midgame adjustment: He had to change the order and choice of his pitches.

The slider had to be a factor.

He needed to show the curveball.

He had to get ahead in the count.

The team needed him to get deeper in the game.

Pallante started utilizing his slider more to nudge the Mets away from hunting his sinker. More than half of his 95 pitches in six innings were the sinker, but as he got more swings and misses on the slider (four) the sinker defied hitters, too. He also loosened in the chill and his velocity climbed, touching 94.7 mph on his four-seam fastball and 95.3 mph on the sinker.

Pallante got 12 groundouts total �� eight after he shifted his pitch use.

�쏧 think I have so much sample size now that I have periods of really good success and seeing what I�셫 doing,�� he said. �쏧 have periods of failure and I see what I�셫 doing wrong. When you have stuff like that, you get to figure yourself out. When you first come up (to the majors), you don�셳 really know what is going to work and what isn�셳 going to work. Definitely a little wiser going through it.��

He meant the regularly scheduled role of starter.

But he also could have meant, well, Thursday.

He was wiser having gone through it.

Pallante allowed only a single to Lindor in his final four innings, and 11 of his final dozen outs came without reach of an infielder or the catcher. He saw the returns of his shift in pitch use after the second inning, and he left the ballpark thinking about that next step as a starter, the one right there in the pages of the book shelved in his locker: What if he made the shift during the second inning?

�쏣verything got sharper there at the end,�� Pallante said. �쏽ou�셶e got to come out like that. You can�셳 come out slow in the big leagues. It makes it pretty clear. You see that�셲 not where I need to be to have success at this level.��

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Worthy: Steven Matz's mature approach benefited Matthew Liberatore, entire Cardinals staff

Sure, we�셝 all like to think or believe that we�셝 take the high road, react maturely and unselfishly when faced with a potentially emotional situation that has future ramifications.

However, the reality in the moment for Steven Matz at the end of spring training was the Cardinals prioritized Matthew Liberatore�셲 success ahead Matz.

From a business standpoint, that�셲 made perfect sense. Matz had been the subject of trade speculation this winter, and he�셲 wrapping up an injury-plagued and admittedly frustrating four-year pact with the club.

So the veteran left-hander decided he�셝 place his emphasis this year on enjoying the season, enjoying the competition and enjoying that fact that he feels healthy.

A 33-year-old who has spent the better part of 10 seasons as a starter in the majors, Matz entered this season with free agency on the horizon next winter. He wants to continue pitching after this season, which makes this year important for selling his services to potential suitors next offseason.

Despite that backdrop, Matz found a way to embrace taking a backseat to Liberatore, 25, for the second time in three years.

�쏤or me, I think 2023 was really a tough year,�� Matz said. �쏧 think coming out of the bullpen and coming back to starting really kind of helped me with this transition this year because I came out and I had a really good stretch of starts before I got hurt.

�쏶o I think that experience �� the more years you log in this game, you just deal with different things. It just prepares you to handle more things.��

In case you don�셳 remember that 2023 season Matz referenced, he struggled badly out of the gate, and the Cardinals demoted him to the bullpen in late May after 10 starts and a 5.72 ERA with opponents batting .324 and slugging .505 against him.

Matz stayed in the bullpen until the final game before the All-Star break.

And who did the Cardinals bring up from the minors and insert to take Matz�셲 place? Liberatore. Though Liberatore finished the 2023 season having made as many relief appearances as starts in the majors that year (11 each).

Now, coming off a season when injury limited Matz to seven starts and Liberatore found success as a full-time relief pitcher, the club�셲 move was to push Matz aside again in favor of revisiting Liberatore as a starter.

You wouldn�셳 blame Matz if he raised his eyebrow as well as several objections upon hearing this scenario.

Manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake explained why they were doing what they were doing, pushing Matz out of the rotation and into a bullpen role for the first three weeks of the season in order to create a stable and steady runway for Liberatore.

Marmol even acknowledged that Matz pitched well enough in spring training to be a part of the starting rotation.

Yet, the club�셲 need to sort through its future pitching options meant that Matz�셲 springboard into free agency season started with him as the long man in the bullpen.

�쏻e�셶e done that with Libby �� we�셶e bounced him back and forth �� and if we really want to find out about Libby, then the best thing to do out of fairness is say, �쁚ou�셱e in the starting rotation.�� Not, �쁇ey, you�셱e going to be in the �셮en and then on the 16th you�셱e going to be in the rotation and after that we�셪l see where we�셱e at,�쇺�� Marmol said.

�쏷hat would defeat the purpose of what you�셱e trying to do with someone like him. Allowing him to say you�셱e in the rotation, go get it, and this isn�셳 a tryout �� like we said in spring �� allows him to drop his shoulders, be himself and go get better every outing. Matz understood that part of it as well, which was good.��

So what kept Matz from taking a selfish stance in this case?

�쏮y main emphasis is to enjoy this year, enjoy my teammates,�� Matz said. �쏬ibby is a young, really good pitcher. I want him to have success, and I think that only helps what we have going here if I have that attitude.��

That outlook from Matz stands out as more impressive than Matz�셲 first start of the season, and his start proved just what the doctor ordered on Wednesday.

By the way, Matz made that start following a 46-pitch relief outing on Saturday.

Back-to-back singles that started the game for the Houston Astros were the only hits Matz allowed in five innings. The Astros�� lone run came on an Isaac Paredes grounder to second base, the first of 15 consecutive batters retired by Matz.

He�셝 entered the day on a pitch count limit or roughly 65-70 pitches. He made it through five scoreless innings on 71 pitches, and he struck out five without a walk.

Matz�셲 five innings worth of work also took pressure off a bullpen that will be short-handed going forward, now that the Cardinals will use six starting pitchers.

Matz had been a stopgap out of the bullpen. Four of his first five outings had gone more than one inning (three outings of more than two innings), and his lone one-inning outing was the second of his appearances on back-to-back days.

The memory we�셪l likely have of Matz�셲 time with the Cardinals will be injuries and underperformance. At this point, that�셲 fair. It�셲 also fair to recognize that Matz played a big part in putting the Cardinals pitching staff in a good position to start this season.

Perhaps that will also help him extend his career.

�쏧 think that adds some value to what I�셫 able to do now,�� Matz said. �쏧 think pitching 46 pitches and coming back on not a normal starter�셲 rest and being able to go five innings, being able to go back-to-back. I think, you know what, that�셲 going to only help me continue to pitch �� the more I�셫 able to do at this point.��

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Andre Pallante found his footing eventually, but Cardinals offense never did in loss to Mets

NEW YORK �� Cardinals starter Andre Pallante was able to find traction and overcome a second inning that boiled over into a four-run mess.

The offense at his back never could.

Mets starter Griffin Canning whisked through the Cardinals�� lineup in the middle innings, and what he started closer Edwin Diaz finished for a 4-1 victory Thursday night at Citi Field. One of April�셲 most productive offenses was limited to three hits and one run by four Mets pitchers. Immediately after the Mets took a lead with a four-run inning against Pallante (2-1), Canning (2-1) went through the Cardinals�� lineup for a second time and struck out seven of the nine batters faced.

Deceptive with his release, Canning struck out eight total in his six innings.

Diaz walked the first batter he faced in the ninth, but never faced the potential tying run at the plate by retiring the next three batters. The Cardinals struck out 11 times in the game.

The Mets had several hits foiled by the reach of Gold Glove-winner Nolan Arenado.

The Cardinals third baseman made a series of plays �� well, call it a clinic because he showed a variety of different ways he could steal a hit. In the third inning he raced across the infield to barehand a grounder and make the throw in time for the final out of the inning. In the fifth, a backhand play on a hotshot from Juan Soto ended the inning.

And in the seventh, Arenado made sure a rookie�셲 major-league debut was a scoreless one by jabbing to his right to snag a liner and keep a run from scoring.

The play against Soto kept the Mets�� $765-million man in an early-season funk that deepened during the Mets�� recent road trip. Soto walked in the eighth inning but remained hitless for the game. He�셪l take a 3 for 25 doldrum into Friday night�셲 game.

Pallante gets a second wind

It�셲 supposed to be the third time through a lineup that gives a starter the fits, but Pallante flipped the statistics and decided to get the mayhem out of the way earlier.

The Mets�� first look at the Cardinals�� right-hander on Thursday evening, the lineup five hits, two for extra-bases, and Francisco Lindor came around for a second crack at Pallante he singled again. By the end of the second inning, the Mets were 6 for 10 against Pallante with four runs scored and a home run. Mark Vientos stirred the four-run second inning against Pallante with a leadoff home run �� his first home run of a season.

Once he escaped the second, Pallante thrived.

He retired 12 of the next 13 Mets he faced after the mayhem in the second. Of those dozen outs, only one of them came beyond the reach of an infielder or the catcher. Lindor�셲 two-out single in the fifth for a third hit against Pallante went nowhere because Pallante retired the three Mets around Lindor on groundouts. Two were meek. The third lost its hope to be hit in the glove of Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.

The hairpin turn to Pallante�셲 results �� from five hits in one inning to one in the next four innings �� saved the bullpen from excess innings and bought time for a rally, if the offense could muster one. Shifting his use of pitches, Pallante provided six innings and all of the four runs he allowed came in the sixth. He struck out two and did what that fastball of his usually does.

Twelve of his 18 outs came on groundballs.

With the way it started, it could have been worse.

It also should have been better ��

Lindor lures Cardinals

The fourth run that Pallante allowed in the second came long after he threw the pitch that began the play and right as the Cardinals�� defense made the mistake of biting when Lindor baited them.

The Mets�� shortstop, who finished runner for the National League MVP this past season, singled to score teammate Brett Baty with two outs in the second. That opened up the Mets�� lead to 3-0, but Lindor saw the opportunity to try and steal an additional run. He singled to right field, and he took an aggressive turn around first base to draw the Cardinals into a rundown.

Once he did, he waved teammate Tyrone Taylor home for third.

Instead of giving Lindor second, the Cardinals turned to run him down for the third out, but that cost them time �� and gave it to Taylor to score the fourth run.

Svanson makes MLB debut

Brought up to provide coverage in case of need Wednesday, Matt Svanson made his major-league debut with a scoreless seventh Thursday. The strapping right-hander earned a spot on the 40-player roster this past offseason with 27 saves at Class AA Springfield, and through his limited work in Triple-A Memphis this season he had a 1.59 ERA in 5 2/3 innings.

Svanson challenged the Mets with a sinker that touched 97.3 mph and averaged 96.2 mph. He got a groundball from the first batter he faced, and he allowed a double to the third batter he faced. The inning ended for the right-handed rookie with a lineout.

Donovan streaks to career high

An infield single that brought in the Cardinals�� first run also extended a hitting streak beyond a previous career high for Brendan Donovan.

The Cardinals�� starting shortstop Thursday, Donovan hit a hard grounder up the middle that Lindor reached to smother but not pick clean. The base hit drove home Victor Scott II to end Channing�셲 scoreless outing. It also extended Donovan�셲 hitting streak to 13 games, a new career high for the Cardinals�� infielder.

It remains the longest active streak in the majors.

Through that at-bat, Donovan was 23 for 48 during his hitting streak. He started Thursday�셲 game leading the majors in hits and one shy of the Cardinals�� record for most hits through the first 18 games of the season. Matt Carpenter had 28 in 2015 to Donovan�셲 27.

Donovan also increased his hitting streak against the Mets to 11 consecutive games, and in that span the infield single was his 19th hit.

Donovan�셲 single to score Scott came with two outs and after two strikeouts. The inning didn�셳 go anywhere from there, and Channing retired 10 of the next 11 Cardinals he faced. Five of those outs were strikeouts.

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As Masyn Winn takes stride back toward lineup, plan begins to keep him in it: Cardinals Extra

Cards, Phillies at Busch — Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn, on the injured list because of back pain, walks through the dugout as the Cardinals play the Phillies on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Busch Stadium.
Robert Cohen, Post-Dispatch

NEW YORK �� Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn will move a step closer Friday to returning to the lineup, along with a plan to keep him in it.

Winn will begin a rehab assignment Friday with the Cardinals�� top affiliate, Class AAA Memphis. After a week off to address recurring spasms in his lower back, Winn could have three days in the field and a handful of at-bats with the Redbirds as they host Jacksonville. If the weekend goes well, the second-year shortstop will join the Cardinals in Atlanta. He�셲 eligible to come off the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Part of his return is a regimen to treat and maintain his back�셲 health.

�쏝uilding different things into his routine,�� manager Oliver Marmol said. �쏯o different than the other guys who have to pay attention a certain body part. Nothing too crazy or out of the norm.��

Winn, 23, was batting .370 during his previous eight games before back pain forced him out of a game. Winn said he felt discomfort for several days leading into the first inning on April 11, when a play on a grounder caused him to twist and trigger the back spasms that forced him out of that game. The shortstop was adamant about not going on the injured list, but the team felt going two or three days without their starting infielder would leave the bench challenged.

The Cardinals also wanted to give Winn and a longer break than the minimum in order to avoid the backache becoming a chronic or prolonged issue.

Winn began last season with back soreness as well, and the Cardinals responded with the addition of a veteran shortstop, Brandon Crawford, and a measured approach to the workload for their young shortstop. This year, the Cardinals lean the other way �� choosing to go without a backup shortstop on the opening day roster and counting on Winn playing �� in his words and others�� 쏿 lot.�� The recurrence of back pain for Winn reemphasizes the proactive work he�셪l have to do away from the field, not just reactive treatment when there is an issue.

�쏬ast time, he still had (to factor) limited pregame activities into it to feel good enough to go,�� Marmol said. �쏧t�셲 too early for that. We�셪l see when he returns how he�셲 feeling.��

In Winn�셲 absence, Brendan Donovan and Thomas Saggese have split starts at shortstop. Donovan extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games with an RBI single Thursday night. As a duo, Saggese and Donovan were batting .500 (9 for 18) while playing shortstop.

Scott freestyles in famous studio

On Thursday morning, Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II, who moonlights as recording artist Argo, visited the famous Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan. He said he entered with no lyrics, nothing written, and left with new track, �쏡reams Are Running.��

�쏧 freestyled a lot of that song,�� said Scott, who singled and stole a base in the third inning Thursday night at Citi Field. �쏧 had something about hard worker and work ethic. I haven�셳 made a song in a while, and it took me about an hour for me to make.��

Quad Recording Studios, located in Times Square and a fixture in history and development of hip-hop, has been used by Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Tupac, as well as Michael Jackson. This past season, Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler visited Quad, received a tour and left with a recording he made in the studio. Scott approached a contact with Major League Baseball about doing the same thing.

His visit comes a few days after his latest album dropped.

As Argo, Scott released �쏯ot Your Average Rapper�� about a week ago. The 13-song album was recorded and produced during the offseason in Atlanta, and there are elements of the songs inspired by this past year, when he made his major league debut.

Scott said during his time in the studio at Quad he freestyled lyrics, at one point linking a love for European cars with the Euro-step basketball move. He was thrilled by the final track.

�쏽ou might hear that one soon,�� he smiled.

Wetherholt surging for Springfield

The Cardinals�� top prospect, infielder JJ Wetherholt, hit his first Class AA home run Wednesday night as part of a 3-for-3 night that also included a double. Wetherholt�셲 four RBIs doubled his total to eight so far this year with the Cardinals�� Double-A affiliate Springfield (Missouri).

The seventh overall pick in this past summer�셲 draft, Wetherholt went without a hit in his first four games at the Class AA level. Since, the 22-year-old has gone 14 for 27 with four doubles, eight runs, that .518 average and .778 slugging percentage in his past six games. Thursday was his third three-hit game of the season.

Marmol, etc.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol moved into 14th place all time with his team�셲 256th win under his guidance. He jumped ahead of Hall of Famer and manager/player Roger Bresnahan, who ran the Cardinals from 1909 to 1912. With five more wins, Marmol will surpass Eddie Stanky for 13th. �쏷he Brat�� was also famously a player/manager in the early 1950s.

Scott will appear on MLB Network's morning show Friday.
The Cardinals will rock the blue uniforms this weekend in Queens for the first time this season. The club�셲 Saturday road victory-blue uniforms were delivered this past week.
Mets great Darryl Strawberry, who calls the 51붚죕-area home now, caught the ceremonial first pitch Thursday night as part of the Mets�� Black Legacy Game, a celebration of the Black players in Mets history.

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Hochman: Donnie Baseball? With hit streak, Cardinals�� Brendan Donovan �쁳aking it to the next level��

Cards, Astros open series at Busch — Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan runs on a single hit in the fourth inning of a game against the Astros on Monday, April 14, 2025, at Busch Stadium.
Robert Cohen, Post-Dispatch

Donnie Baseball.

So far, anyway, Brendan Donovan has produced like another almost-6-foot-tall lefty �쏦it Man,�� that being the great Yankee Don Mattingly.

Longest current hitting streak in Major League Baseball?

Brendan Donovan.

Most hits, entering Wednesday, in Major League Baseball?

Brendan Donovan.

Look, we�셶e made a big deal for 2025 about the Cardinals�� young guys getting a runway to play. But how about the Cardinals now-in-their-prime guys manufacturing big time? Well, 27-year-old Lars Nootbaar (.885 on-base plus slugging percentage) is hitting the heck out baseballs �� he smashed a three-run homer at home against Houston in Wednesday�셲 win. And the 28-year-old Donovan has the National League�셲 highest batting average (.380), along with his 12-game hitting streak, tying a career long.

�쏰ffensively right now, he�셲 taking it to the next level,�� Nootbaar said of Donovan, his longtime teammate in the majors and minors. �쏝eing able to watch him take professional at bats, hit the ball hard and hit them in good spots, I think he�셲 doing a really good job of really taking the next step. Also in terms of getting the ball in the air, pulling some balls, taking some shots when he has to, and then also taking his hits. It�셲 really cool to see. ... When you can go in the bullpen in Boston, you know you�셱e swinging the bat pretty good.��

Indeed, Donnie drove a ball 106.1 mph off the bat at Fenway Park �� and it sailed for 404 feet on April 4. Per the site Baseball Savant, it would�셶e been a homer in all 30 parks.

And he continues to rip hits this month, while mostly batting third for the now 9-9 Cards. He has hits in 16 of the 18 games! During Wednesday�셲 matinee, he smacked a baseball 103.1 mph for an out �� still, the third-hardest hit 51붚죕 had all day �� and he also singled to extend the streak. Seemingly, the best strategy to keep him from getting a hit is, well, to hit him �� and that happened Wednesday, sending the bearded and bruised Brendan to first base.

He is just a delight to watch hit. And he�셲 a delight to talk to about hitting. He�셲 honest and open. For instance, I noticed that most of his hitting qualities rated in high percentiles on Baseball Savant, be it his squared-up baseballs, strikeout rate, expected batting average, expected slugging percentage, etc. But his bat speed is in just the seventh percentile. Not 70th. Seventh. As we�셶e seen with Nolan Arenado this year, upticks in bat speed have been a key reason for his early success. But Donovan�셲 is low �� yet, curiously, he�셲 on a list with high-average batters such as Luis Arraez, Mookie Betts and Steven Kwan.

�쏶o bat speed, I think it�셲 a rabbit hole that you can get stuck down,�� Donovan said. �쏧 like quickness versus bat speed. Like, how quickly can I go from where I�셫 launching from to impact? So I think that has something to do with it. Obviously, where you�셱e catching the ball (on your bat) in contact, I think, has a factor of bat speed. But you know, for me, it�셲 �� am I hitting balls flush? Am I staying inside of them? And when I do get them to the pull side, are they backspun? That�셲 how I kind of look at it.

�쏛lso with more bat speed, there also comes more swing-and-miss. So it�셲 like, for me, how can I balance that? I still train it, but I train it more of like a body movement, kind of honing in on a pattern and more focus on quickness and speed.��

It�셲 working. It�셲 working in part due to working counts, a Donovan staple. And it�셲 working in part due to working with new hitting coach Brant Brown. Among some fans on social media, Brown has been the most popular Cardinal this season. The likable new coach has rejuvenated the 51붚죕 offense. Again, they�셶e played only 18 games. But the Cards are hitting well �� and Donovan is hitting as well as any of them.

�쏷he game planning and the approach stuff has been very, very good,�� Donovan said of his work with Brown. �쏷o go up there and kind of have an idea what you want to do in your head, but then to have someone who watches film, who studies, who has been around and seen guys, you kind of lock in on an approach. I think it takes the guesswork out. ...

�쏣very little every day is so different (in the majors). I mean, everyone�셲 trying to attack you so many different ways. Your body feels different each and every day. But for me, I think my routine has been pretty consistent. And I think the recovery aspect is something that I�셫 leaning more into as of this past year.��

I asked the latest Donnie Baseball if he ever watched videos of the Yankees�� Donnie Baseball. He said �쏿 little bit, yeah. And some old George Brett, too,�� in reference to another iconic 1980s lefty hitter. Donovan said that his own stance and swing is �쐌y own unique style �� and a lot of it is posture related.�� But he�셲 also watched �쏿 lot of video�� of three fellow righty-throwing, lefty-hitting infielders �� Chase Utley, Daniel Murphy and, yep, Matt Carpenter.

Carp was the last Cardinal to lead the majors in hits (he tied for it in 2013). Again, it�셲 only been 18 games. But Donovan is entering his prime with the swings and results similar to some rather famous names (and nicknames).