Cardinals Rookie Solid in MLB Debut, But Vanishing Offense Again the Issue in Loss
Quinn Mathews surrendered just six hits and two earned runs in five-plus innings, but he got little run support from his new Cardinals teammates in a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays. The 25-year-old Mathews induced 12 swings and misses and recorded three strikeouts.
Video Transcript
Rookie pitcher Quinn Matthews handled the emotions of making his Major League debut on Saturday, and he, for the most part, he handled the Toronto Blue Jays.
But he just didn't get much help from his new Cardinals teammates from an offensive standpoint.
Cardinals lost 5-2 on Saturday, and, and many of the culprits were the same as they've been, you know, for weeks now.
Cardinals just aren't scoring runs.
They did have 11 hits, but eight of them were singles.
The team has now lost 12 of its last 16 games, and they've scored three runs or fewer in 17 of the last 25 games.
The offense has just totally died in the month of July.
I'm John Denton with Roundtable Sports.
The calendar flipped to August on Saturday, but it just didn't seem to matter for a Cardinals offense that struggled most of the past month.
Here's how bad it's been, ladies and gentlemen.
In July, Cardinals played 28 games in those 31 days.
They were 15th in the National League in batting average, 15th in on-base percentage, 15th in slugging, 15th in OPS, and 11th in runs scored.
So it's, you know, it's just a, a struggle all month.
They're not hitting the ball.
Today they did have, like I said earlier, 11 hits.
Jordan Walker had two hits.
Alec Burleson had two hits.
Blaze Jordan had two hits.
But the problem was only eight of th- eight of those were singles.
Cardinals were one for eight with runners in scoring position.
They left 11 men on base again.
Just disappointing that, that the offense has really just ground to a halt the past month or so.
Y- you wonder, you know, is there anything they could do at the trade deadline to add just a little bit of pop to this lineup to give it a little bit of life right now?
But more than likely, the team will be selling at the deadline.
Lars Newbar could be gone.
Who knows?
The Cardinals could trade Ivan Herrera.
They could trade Alec Burleson.
They could trade Mason Wynn.
Those are, those trades aren't likely to happen, but there are definitely plenty of teams calling about those players.
Back to, back to Quinn Matthews.
He pitched really well.
He got his first strikeout.
Kazumuto Okama- Okanado, he struck him out in the first inning for his first, first Major League strikeout.
He got 12 swing and misses on the day.
He mixed 38 four-seamers with 23 sliders, 17 change-ups, 13 curveballs, and six sinkers.
Here's the key stat that I liked.
The Br- the, the Blue Jays, one of the best lineups in baseball, only had four hard-hit balls all day off of Matthews.
Matthews, mixed in and out, up and down.
He kept them off stride.
The curveball was a really good change of pace pitch for him.
He got a, a strikeout of David Schneider early in the game with that cha- with that, with that curveball.
You know, his, his, his change-up is one of his best pitches.
That, that pitch is, bites hard, dives away from.
So Quinn Matthews pitched well enough to win the game.
He gave up six runs.
He did give up three walks, but he had three strikeouts.
He only gave up two earned runs.
He pitched out of, out of a jam in the third inning and the fourth inning very well, to limit the damage to only one run in those two innings.
So Quinn pitched well enough to win.
He just didn't get enough help from his offense.
It's the same story that it's been for much of the past month.
Like we mentioned, Cardinals have now lost 12 of 16 games since the All-Star break.
They've now lost every series since the All-Star break.
Just a, it's, it's a slide that they're gonna have to get under wraps or this season, you know, all the positives from early this season are gonna get away from them.
That's your Cardinal Report for Saturday.
I'm John Denton with Roundtable Sports.
