ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was effusive about Michael McGreevy when meeting with reporters on Thursday before the postponed finale between the Cardinals and Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium.
“He's going to try to unlock every advantage possible in how he prepares,” Marmol said. “So I love that he's going to go through the game before he throws it. But it's not just once, he's going to go through it several times, and the possibilities, and what to go to, based on situation, what the game's calling for, and with layering his strengths and weaknesses over the opposition. And just I love that he doesn't just rely on his talent. He's truly trying to develop it, and that's a big difference in guys that maximize what they have and what their ceiling is.”
While McGreevy’s stuff will never make him a Statcast darling, his attention to detail and seven-pitch arsenal have made him one of the Cardinals' most consistent starters. That preparation was put to the test when his scheduled start against the D-backs Thursday was rained out, forcing him to prepare for a completely different opponent -- the Marlins -- a day later.
“There's always a bit of adjustment with that,” McGreevy said. “Luckily, we'd already faced them this year, so I already had my notes on them from the previous outing. I faced a lot of those guys in Triple-A Jacksonville a ton, so I'm familiar with what they like, and what they don't like as well. So, it's probably the best team to kind of go from one team to another for me, just because of how familiar I am with them.”
McGreevy’s homework showed Friday as he pitched six scoreless innings in a 4-0 loss to the Marlins. The 25-year-old right-hander scattered five hits, walked one and struck out four.
McGreevy pitched around a walk and a hit in a 25-pitch first inning, helped himself by starting a 1-6-3 double play in the second and escaped back-to-back two-out singles in the third without allowing a run.
“What allows him to continue to have success is those moments that tend to speed up on guys, he's able to flush it and kind of move on to what's next, and it allows him to stay in the moment more than most,” Marmol said.
He finished with a flurry, allowing just one hit (which he erased on a pickoff) in his final three innings, ending his night with a punchout of Kyle Stowers.
“A lot of guys throughout the league typically get more aggressive with guys on, especially with runners in scoring position,” McGreevy said. “So, making sure they can't sell out to one pitch. Guys have traffic on, a lot of guys like to resort to the sinker or the fastball, just get something in there for strike one, and that's when guys are more aggressive, that's what they hunt. So being able to flip a curveball and throw an 0-0 changeup in there, just kind of make sure, we're not going to get too aggressive here, like you're still going be a tough at-bat.”
McGreevy has turned out quality starts in four out of his last five outings. In those four starts, he has gone six innings in each of them and has a 2.25 ERA.
“He used all quadrants,” Marmol said. “He just pitched everyone in the zone, used all his pitches, kept them off balance.”
McGreevy’s effort kept the Cardinals in the game on a night where the offense found it difficult to gain any traction against Marlins starter Max Meyer.
The Cardinals mustered just a pair of hits in Meyer’s seven innings and neither left the infield as Jordan Walker legged out a bouncer to third in the second and Lars Nootbaar reached with a bunt in the fifth.
“He pitched us tough,” Marmol said. “Lot of offspeed stuff and secondary stuff in hitter’s counts, which we knew going in, but still had trouble combating.”
The Cardinals' best chance came in the seventh when they loaded the bases via a hit batter and two walks with one out. But Meyer escaped by getting Masyn Winn to ground into a force at home and Nathan Church to fly out to left.
On cue, the Marlins broke the scoreless tie with two in the top of the eighth and they added two more in the ninth as the Cardinals lost their third game in a row.