With Cards pitcher in a bind, Gold Glover's hose puts out the fire

ST. LOUIS -- For the second night in a row at Busch Stadium, a Cardinals starter pitched into the sixth inning but saw his outing screech to a halt before he could record an out in the frame.

Andre Pallante cruised through five innings before the heart of the Mets’ order started to get to him in the sixth. Juan Soto doubled over Jordan Walker’s head in right field and Bo Bichette drew a walk as Pallante’s command rapidly began to deteriorate.

With ball four to Bichette missing by a healthy margin, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol didn’t wait around. On the same day as his recall from Triple-A Memphis, reliever Gordon Graceffo was thrown into the fire.

Fortunately for Graceffo -- and for Pallante’s pitching line -- Masyn Winn brought a hose.

Graceffo got Luis Robert Jr. to fly out to center before Winn kick-started an inning-ending double play, corralling a soft Jared Young liner and blistering an 89.8 mph projectile to Alec Burleson to double Bichette off first base, ending the Mets’ most significant threat of the night as the Cardinals went on to win, 3-0.

Somehow, the throw -- which ranks as the second-fastest assist by a Major League infielder this season (ATH, Jacob Wilson, 91.1 mph) -- still fell slightly below Winn’s average on max effort throws from last season (90.7 mph). That alone speaks to the sheer arm strength of the Gold Glove shortstop.

“I don’t know if there’s anybody else in the game that can make that throw, but that was sick,” Graceffo said. “I owe him dinner or something -- or maybe Pallante does.”

Graceffo offered up his last one-liner with a good-natured grin, but the double play, indeed, secured a scoreless outing for Pallante. He navigated the New York lineup capably, scattering three hits and three walks -- with a little help from his friends in the sixth.

But as far as his manager is concerned, the start for Pallante was about far more than catching a good runout on the inherited runner calculus after he had departed the game.

Marmol felt it represented a significant step in the right direction for the fifth-year big leaguer.

“It’s not just being on the right side of balls in play today,” Marmol said. “He threw a really good game. Missing bats with the slider, used the sinker appropriately inside. What he was able to do with the baseball was really good.”

Marmol’s point lends to an element of Tuesday’s outing that Pallante stressed as being crucial to his success -- his ability to vary his offerings to avoid situations where hitters get comfortable sitting on certain pitches against him.

It’s a through line that Pallante has identified within his past struggles, and one that he has made recent strides in addressing.

“You look at [Michael] McGreevy,” Pallante said. “He does such a phenomenal job of being so unpredictable. My goal was, 'How can I get closer to that?'”

Adding that variance -- Pallante also mentioned throwing two-seamers to lefties and more curveballs to righties on Tuesday -- has allowed the right-hander to avoid feeling “trapped” on the mound.

“When you feel like they know exactly what’s coming and you have to be perfect, otherwise you’re not going to get the results you want? That’s trapped. That’s how I felt, trapped,” Pallante said, speaking to slogging to a 5.31 ERA in 2025. “Not doing that made me feel like, 'OK, I don’t have to be perfect with this. I can be aggressive.'”

Marmol described Pallante as “self-aware and honest” when it comes to taking feedback and critiquing his own performance. His ability to go from a mere awareness of those flaws to leveling up toward executing solutions for them has made a world of difference of late.

“We’re just seeing a different presence to him,” Marmol said. “There’s a confidence there that is important, and him getting off to a good start helps with that.”