ST. LOUIS – The Cardinals returned home from a three-city road trip with 15 games left on the schedule and roughly two and a half weeks to get last looks at players they hope will be major offensive contributors in the years to come. It wouldn’t hurt, of course, to show off some of that talent in front of large crowds on a celebratory weekend – assuming everyone stays healthy.
Joshua Báez and Leo Bernal held up their ends of the bargain Friday night, powering the Cardinals to a 7-3 victory over the White Sox after an on-field celebration of the 2006 World Series champions and a 70-minute weather delay waiting for a storm that did not arrive. Dark clouds gathered nonetheless, as Jordan Walker exited the game in the top of the eighth inning after an awkward attempt to run out a double play ball that ended the bottom of the sixth.
“[The offense] is in a really good spot at the moment and looking out at the future,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “There’s a lot to be excited about with this young core. Because yes, the [Alec Burlesons] and the Walkers are starting to understand how to have consistent success, but then Báez and Bernal and you go down the list, and man, these guys are starting to get a taste of it, and what they’ve been able to show up to this point has been really good and promising.”
Bernal, in his first career game at his home ballpark, turned in his fifth multi-RBI game of the 10 he has played in the big leagues to date. His 12 RBIs are the most by any Cardinal in his first 10 career games since RBI became an official statistic in 1920.
“I didn’t know I did that, so thank you for sharing that with me,” Bernal laughed, assisted by Cardinals Spanish interpreter Kleininger Teran. “Honestly, I’m not worried about the numbers. I just worry about going out there, doing my job, and the numbers appear by themselves, and that’s what happened.”
Báez drove in two runs of his own, driving two hard-hit doubles off the wall in left that came feet – if not inches – short of becoming home runs. The duo had three hits apiece, which is a career high for Bernal and the first time Báez reached that total since his historic debut on Aug. 15 in which he hit three homers.
“It’s just trying to contribute as [much] as we can until we can actually do more here and have more time here. We’re just trying to help the team win,” Báez said.
Matthew Liberatore started for St. Louis and labored through 4 1/3 innings, though he allowed just two solo home runs to Chase Meidroth to account for the total of the Chicago offensive output before he turned the game over to the bullpen. He scattered six hits and three walks across those 13 recorded outs, striking out two.
Concern was raised around Walker after he grounded into a double play to finish the Cardinals’ half of the sixth. An accomplished runner to match his prodigious power – 92nd-percentile sprint speed, according to Statcast – Walker seemed to labor down the line before pounding his helmet between his hands and shaking out his lower half. He took his position in the field for the top of the seventh, but his spot in the lineup did not come up in the bottom of the inning, and Victor Scott II manned right field starting in the eighth.
Marmol said Walker rolled his ankle on first base finishing out the play and lobbied to stay in the game. Based on that, he expected Walker back in the lineup Saturday.
This particular weekend on the St. Louis baseball calendar is chock-full of nods to the franchise’s illustrious history. Friday’s parade of champions is merely the prelude to Saturday’s team Hall of Fame induction for Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols, as well as 1920s lefty ace Bill Sherdel. It represents an opportunity not only for a roster of mostly young players to learn from their esteemed elders, but also to feel the energy and anticipation of a jam-packed ballpark eager to celebrate that history.
It is an opportunity Marmol is adamant his players are able to maximize, and Bernal – after controlling the opener on both sides of the ball and continuing the torrid pace of his first days in the Majors – is eager for that opportunity.
“I saw [Molina and Pujols] today before the game, and when you see the legacy they left on this organization, that’s motivation,” Bernal said. “Hopefully we can keep working to one day get close to what they did, and it’s a lot of motivation for us to see players like that and hopefully achieve what they did.”
Three hits a night and a dozen RBIs for every 10 games is a strong place to start.