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Bryan Torres Delivers One of the Biggest Swings of Season as Cardinals End Skid
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- Bryan Torres Delivers One of the Biggest Swings of Season as Cardinals End Skid
Roundtable Sports' John Denton breaks down Bryan Torres ' third home run of the season and the Cardinals ' much-needed 2-1 victory over the Marlins at Busch Stadium on Sunday.
In a bit of surprising irony, the Cardinals rested6-foot-6, 250-pound Jordan Walker and inserted 5-foot-7, 165-pound Bryan Torres into the outfield and somehow still got one of their biggest swings of the season in Sunday'sseries finale against the Marlins .
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Torres, who hadn't had a hit since June 7 before his firstat bat on Sunday, drilled a two-run home run that gave the Cardinals an earlylead and one they held onto throughout in a much-needed 2-1 victory over theMarlins at steamy Busch Stadium.
"I haven't had a ton of at bats, but I am still a part ofthis team, and it really hurts us when the team doesn't win," Torres toldCardinals.TV following his third blast of the season. "For me to be able tohelp the team win after two tough games offensively, it's awesome. Every timethat you can contribute to help the team win, it's amazing."
Starter Kyle Leahy (6-4) and relievers JoJo Romero , RyneStanek, George Soriano and Riley O'Brien limited Miami to just four hits and madeTorres' blast stand up to help the Cardinals avoid a sweep at the hands of theMarlins, one of the teams in the chase for a National League Wild Card slot. O'Brien,who came into the season with 10 career saves, closed out Miami in the ninthinning for his 20th save of the season.
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Torres' blast helped the Cardinals (43-38) end their losingstreak at four games. They also edged ahead of the Marlins (44-40) in the racefor a Wild Card slot.
"That's just a great example of him staying ready, and that's to one person's credit and that's Torres," Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol said. "He goes awhile without playing and you would never know it with how he goes about his work and when you see him in the clubhouse. He just puts in the work."
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Starting for the second consecutive day after playinglittle over the previous two weeks, Torres worked the count to 2-0 and then drilleda two-run home run over the wall in right field to give the Cardinals amuch-needed 2-0 lead. It was the Cardinals first lead of the series aftermustering just one run over the first 18 innings against the Marlins.
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Torres hit a low-and-in fastball from Miami's TylerPhillips some 364 feet, and it left his bat at 100.3 mph. Just 5-foot-7 and 165pounds, Torres has three homers among his 11 hits since making his MLB debut onMay 23 in Cincinnati . He has added a triple and seven RBI in his 20 games withthe Cardinals as a utility fielder.
"(Phillips) is a good sinker guy, but he got in a 2-0 (count)pretty quickly with two fastballs in and I was looking for (a sinker) and I hitit pretty well," Torres said.
Big road tests ahead for Cardinals
The Cardinals get a much-needed day off on Monday before embarkingon one of their most difficult road trips of the season. The Cards play threein Atlanta and then will spend the July 4th holiday weekend in Chicago where they will face the Cubs in a three-game series. The Cards beatthe Cubs two of three when the two rivals met at Busch Stadium from May 29-31.
On a hot, steamy day where the hit index hit 106 degreesbefore first pitch, Leahy wasn't very economical early in the game, but hecertainly was effective. He needed 27 pitches to get through the first inningand all three of his walks came in the first two frames. But Leahy did throwfirst-pitch strikes to 16 of 20 hitters and he limited the red-hot Marlins to oneearned run and two hits over five innings of work.
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Owen Caissie and Graham Pauley had back-to-back doubles toopen the first inning and score Miami's first run of the game. However, Leahyused an up-and-in four-seam fastball to saw off Jakob Marsee and force andinfield popup. Then, Leahy used a sharp-biting sweeper to strike out OttoLopez, who came into Sunday as the National League's leading hitter.
"That could have been one of those innings where you go, 'OK, third time through, are they going to get him here and take the lead?'" Marmol asked. "But (Leahy) was able to get that pop-up to second and the punch out of Lopez. That was a really big part of that game."
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