ST. LOUIS -- When asked what Nelson Velázquez would bring to the Cardinals’ roster following his promotion to the big leagues on Friday afternoon, manager Oliver Marmol offered a straightforward, one-word answer.
“Thump,” Marmol said with a grin.
It took precisely one pitch into his Cards career for Velázquez to prove his skipper right.
Batting in the cleanup spot in the first inning of Friday night’s series opener against the rival Cubs, Velázquez took the first pitch he saw from Chicago starter Shota Imanaga and launched a game-tying, three-run homer.
One pitch, and the 27-year-old journeyman -- who made his MLB debut in 2022 for the Cubs -- had already found himself in high demand by the home fans at Busch Stadium.
Velázquez’s majestic swing led to a euphoric trip around the bases -- and a curtain call in front of Cardinal nation. He said postgame that it was the first time he could recall receiving one of those.
“I just wanted to put the ball in play, but man, I hit a homer and it was a great moment,” Velázquez said.
The Cards added home runs from Thomas Saggese and Iván Herrera to erase an early deficit, beating the Cubs, 6-5.
Ian Happ continued his career-long habit of terrorizing Redbird pitching with a three-run home run against Andre Pallante in the first inning.
Velázquez’s blast served as a key equalizer in a moment where the Cardinals needed an answer.
“I feel like we’ve done it a lot,” José Fermín said. “We know when we come back, we’re going to punch back. We won’t give up. We showed it right away, first inning.”
Velázquez was included in the flurry of roster moves the Cardinals announced Friday afternoon, with the slugger making his long-awaited arrival to St. Louis alongside catching prospect Jimmy Crooks.
Friday was a long time coming for Velázquez, who hadn’t been on a Major League roster since 2024. Despite a standout Spring Training, the Cardinals prioritized keeping all their players over creating a 40-man roster spot for Velázquez -- which led to a conversation that wasn’t easy for the Cardinals’ manager.
“When a player goes out there and proves that he belongs, and you have to make a tough decision based on a lot of different factors of why he’s not breaking [camp] with the club, it’s one of the tougher conversations,” Marmol said. “He gave you everything he had during spring to prove himself… Really cool moment for him to come up and do exactly what he did today.”
Velázquez’s ability to respond to that initial disappointment with a productive May at Triple-A Memphis is what landed him in the middle of the Cards-Cubs rivalry at Busch on Friday night.
“I didn’t put my head down,” Velázquez said. “I just kept working, put my hard work out there every day, and I think at the end of the day, it worked.”
The Cardinals got back into the game on Velázquez’s big swing, but needed two more homers and a late RBI single to finish off the Cubs.
Saggese’s home run came in the fourth inning against an Imanaga splitter. After he was able to lay off a splitter on the previous offering, Saggese acknowledged that seeing an effective version of the pitch allowed him to recognize when Imanaga left it in a more favorable location on the following delivery.
“After I laid off that split, I just felt like I saw it well,” Saggese said. “Especially, the one that I laid off was lower and away, which is the best version of that pitch. Then, to get one a little higher, your brain is just able to process it a little better.”
Herrera beat Imanaga on the splitter, too, in the following frame, providing the Cardinals a 5-4 lead that the bullpen protected until an unassuming two-out scenario in the eighth inning turned into a key insurance run on Fermín’s second hit of the night.
Fermín is making the most of his opportunities this season, with his manager trusting the type of plate appearance he is going to provide in any situation.
“The contact skill is real,” Marmol said. “You know exactly what you’re going to get every time he steps into the box. It’s a professional at-bat. … Doesn’t mean he’s going to win every time, but he’s going to miss the way he wants to miss. Today, he took some really productive at-bats.”
Fermín’s RBI swing ended up as a crucial one when a Pete Crow-Armstrong double turned into the Cubs’ fifth run in the top of the ninth against Riley O’Brien.
Overall, Marmol turned to six relievers behind Pallante, with the bullpen recording six innings of one-run ball in the win.