May a steadying presence as Cards hold off Marlins in Miami

MIAMI -- Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has a simple formula for unlocking the best version of Dustin May: Get ahead early.

On Tuesday night, May showed flashes of that approach in the Cardinals’ 5-3 win over the Marlins at loanDepot park, leaning on his fastball mix to deliver a steady outing.

"He’s a different animal. He really is,” Marmol said pregame of May. “His stuff plays better. If you look at his first couple outings, he fell behind guys. He had trouble establishing some of that early on and it's easier to eliminate certain pitchers and find more barrels. So when he’s ahead his stuff just plays at a higher degree. He’s done a much better job of that.”

May allowed just one run on six hits over 5 1/3 innings on 97 pitches, his only blemish a leadoff homer to Jakob Marsee in the bottom of the first. From there, the right-hander settled in.

“I felt like I fought pretty well to get back into counts and put myself in a good position to move forward," said May. "But that being said, if I would have attacked a little better earlier in the counts, then I probably would have went a little bit deeper in the game."

The outing marked May's third straight start pitching into at least the sixth inning. He has now won three straight decisions, matching his career-best streak and reducing his season ERA to 5.84 in five starts.

When May was at his best on Tuesday, the pattern was clear. In each of his five strikeouts, he either landed a first-pitch strike or induced a foul ball on the opening offering. His only full-count battle when striking out batters came against Connor Norby, whom he put away with a 96.8 mph four-seam fastball.

Still, May pointed to those early sequences as the next step. Marmol saw a similar mix of progress and room for improvement.

“He didn't [get ahead in the count] to the same degree that he did his last two starts. I felt like he established the fastball better, sinker [too]. Well, the sweeper [wasn't] landing the way he wanted it. But at the same time, like when he gets ahead, it's a different game for him,” Marmol said.

Working with a six-pitch arsenal, May leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball, cutter and sinker to navigate the lineup, even as his secondary offerings were inconsistent.

“Competed extremely well and made pitches when needed. Had some hard contact early but was able to still give us a good look,” Marmol said.

Behind him, the Cardinals’ bullpen held the line, despite allowing two runs in the eighth. George Soriano was called upon to record the final out of the inning, and Riley O'Brien followed by closing out the game to secure the win.

Offensively, the Cardinals built their advantage with contributions throughout the lineup.

JJ Wetherholt scored twice from the leadoff spot in the top of the first and third, while Masyn Winn extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single ahead of Nathan Church in the fourth.

Church provided the biggest swing, driving an 86.1 mph cutter from Chris Paddack to right field for a no-doubt home run that stretched the lead. Nolan Gorman added an insurance run with an RBI single in the fifth to cap the scoring for St. Louis.

“You have to continue to take those opportunities to score and continue to improve on cashing them in,” Marmol said.

“Everybody's picking each other up, everybody's pulling for the next guy,” May said. “It was good to see a team win today. We came out firing, and I did my best to keep them at bay.”