On a positive note, the Blues won today, so St. Louis fans have a little something to cheer about. On the baseball side, not so much.
The game pretty much went south from the start. Erick Fedde was wild everywhere he threw, and walks to led to runs. The Brewers put up three runs in the first and four more in the fifth, also against Fedde, who was forced to go deeper to rest the bullpen a little.
The Cardinals only run came on a double by Brendan Donovan in the bottom of the fifth. Now, it’s time to get into some takeaways from today’s loss.
Fedde struggles
Today, Fedde just didn’t have it. He allowed all seven Brewers runs on 10 hits and his first inning walks came back to bite him. Fortunately, he was able to save the bullpen.
On X, I saw a lot of people saying that the Cardinals should’ve traded Fedde in the offseason while his value was high. While I do agree that they should’ve probably traded both him and Ryan Helsley after they couldn’t trade Nolan Arenado, that’s not the point of today.
Yes, he struggled, and yes, his ERA is inflated a little. But aside from this start and his start against the Red Sox earlier this month, he’s actually been pretty solid, so I challenge anyone saying that they missed a chance to trade him to breathe easy. Rental pitchers generate big hauls these days. Look at what Yusei Kikuchi brought back to the Blue Jays from the Astros last year, and he had a 4.75 ERA at the time of the trade, which is higher than Fedde’s is now. Anyway, back to the recap. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Bullpen solid in loss
With the game out of hand early, the Cardinals didn’t have the opportunity to use high-leverage guys like Kyle Leahy and Phil Maton. But the guys who did pitch actually did quite well.
After Fedde left in the sixth, it was JoJo Romero who answered the call. He faced three batters, and allowed a walk before being pulled in the seventh, but he recorded a strikeout and didn’t allow any runs.
Next was Matt Svanson, who came over in the Paul DeJong trade in 2023. He pitched an inning and two thirds, recording a strikeout while not allowing a walk or a hit. Every time he’s been on the mound, which is rare I’ll admit, he’s done quite well, so I would like to see him get some more chances.
Finally, John King pitched the ninth, and after blowing a lead in Atlanta last week, he pitched a scoreless inning despite allowing a hit.
While Svanson impressed me the most, I’m hoping that outings like these for Romero and King can help get those guys back on track. They were both key reasons why the bullpen was so effective last year, and if they can get right, this bullpen will have a different look.
It doesn’t excuse the Cardinals for not adding more than one reliever, but it certainly would help.
Today’s loss certainly hurts, as it drops the Cardinals to 12-16 on the year, but the good thing is they picked up a much-needed series win after such a rough road trip in New York and Atlanta.
The Cardinals start a four-game series against the Reds at Great American Ballpark tomorrow. Andre Pallante takes the ball against Nick Martinez.
