The St. Louis Cardinals, who have won six of their past seven games, may be off to a surprising start to some, but not to manager Oliver Marmol.
“It’s exactly what I would’ve anticipated this group to do,” Marmol said on Tuesday prior to a 5-3 Cardinals’ win over the host Miami Marlins.
On Wednesday afternoon, both teams will try to take the three-game series. St. Louis has won back-to-back series while Miami hasn’t taken a series since winning two of three against the Chicago White Sox from March 30-April 1.
The pitching matchup features a pair of right-handers, Miami’s Janson Junk (0-2, 4.50 ERA) against St. Louis’ Kyle Leahy (2-2, 5.21).
Junk has never faced the Cardinals, and the Marlins are just 1-3 when he starts this season. Junk has just one quality start out of those four, on April 6 against the Cincinnati Reds. Since then, he has allowed nine earned runs, seven earned, on 11 hits in 10 1/3 innings (6.10 ERA).
He relies on a four-seam fastball that sits 94-96 mph and off-speed stuff that includes a sweeper, a changeup and a curve.
Leahy has never started against the Marlins, but he has made four scoreless relief appearances versus them, striking out four in 4 2/3 innings.
He relies on a two-seam, sinking fastball that is used to get ground balls and a slider that is often his “out pitch,” especially against right-handers. He also uses a split-finger fastball, especially against lefties.
This year, Leahy has been strictly a starter — although he has yet to record an out in the sixth inning. The Cardinals are 2-2 in his appearances.
As for the Cardinals’ offense, right fielder Jordan Walker went 0-for-4 on Tuesday, snapping his 15-game hitting streak. He has been St. Louis’ best hitter this season, leading the team in homers (eight) and OPS (.964).
That’s a major improvement from last season when he had just six homers in 111 games and a .584 OPS.
“I think we’d all be lying if we thought Walker would have this type of start,” Marmol said. “The consistency of what he’s done has been impressive.”
Consistency isn’t at the top of the agenda for Marlins manager Clayton McCullough this week. He continues to fill out unconventional lineups, such as placing speedy second baseman Xavier Edwards in the cleanup role the past two games.
Edwards is no slugger: He has just five homers in 993 career at-bats. Yet he has produced a .915 OPS so far this season, and he still has the dynamic speed that he led him to 65 steals in 77 career attempts since making his big-league debut in 2023.
“The lineup is going to be fluid, maybe not day to day but series to series depending on who we’re playing,” McCullough said. “I think with (Edwards’) skill set, it makes it easy for me. I feel like I can put him anywhere.”
Another speedy Marlins hitter, center fielder Jakob Marsee has eight stolen bases, tied for fifth in the majors.
Marsee went 3-for-4 with a homer on Tuesday.
The long ball came on his first pitch with a new bat. On his previous swing, the bat slipped out of his hands and landed in the netting above the first base dugout. Marsee then grabbed a new bat and pulled the next pitch for a dinger down the right field line.
–Field Level Media
