PHOENIX -- There was one thing Nolan Gorman’s mother wanted for her birthday -- a home run from her baby boy in his return to his hometown of Phoenix.
Gorman spoiled his mom on Wednesday afternoon, as the 23-year-old went 3-for-5 with two mammoth home runs in the Cardinals' 11-7 win over the D-backs in front of roughly 100 friends and family members who came to watch him play against his hometown team.
“The most special thing was that it was my mom’s birthday today,” Gorman said. “It was good to do that for her.”
Gorman set the tone in the second inning. On the first pitch he saw from D-backs ace Zac Gallen, he slugged a 437-foot, 108.2 mph home run that just missed going into the pool in right-center field.
Gorman showed off his power again in the eighth inning. On a splitter high and away from Scott McGough, Gorman sent the ball 432 feet and well above the tall center-field wall.
Gorman, who was dealing with back issues at the beginning of the series, has hit 22 home runs this season, with 17 of them being at least 400 feet.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol praised Gorman for adjusting on the fly as more Major League pitchers face the young slugger. It’s what has carried his power through the season for a Cardinals team that needs that pop in the middle of the lineup.
“He's done a much better job of just shrinking the zone,” Marmol said. “Rather than making an adjustment day-to-day and start to make adjustments within at-bats, which is a big part of this game at this level.”
“I was going through a little bit of struggles,” Gorman said. “[It’s] just about going out there and competing every pitch. Just look for a pitch to hit and be on time for it.”
Gorman admitted that he didn’t get to attend many games at Chase Field because of the distance from his childhood home, but he has plenty of memories of seeing the D-backs play, specifically teammate Paul Goldschmidt, who spent eight seasons in Arizona.
“Being able to play alongside him, just learning how he goes about it,” Gorman said. “There are little things that I pick up from him that he learned from over here that I got to watch as a young player.”
Goldschmidt was one of four Cardinals to go yard against the D-backs, which was crucial to see after the team only scored one run in Tuesday’s loss. Along with Gorman and Goldschmidt, Lars Nootbaar and Andrew Knizner homered for St. Louis.
The offense finished with 15 total hits. The Cardinals scored five runs off Gallen, who is performing like a Cy Young candidate this season.
The Cardinals will enjoy a happy flight home after the series win, returning to Busch Stadium on Thursday for the beginning of a 10-game homestand. One question remains -- will pitcher Jack Flaherty still be with the club after Tuesday?
Flaherty is one of the more appealing rental starting pitchers ahead of the Trade Deadline. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand named him as one of the players most likely to get traded.
It was hard for Flaherty to block out the noise ahead of Wednesday's start, in which he gave up three runs over five-plus innings. It wasn’t the first time he flirted with the fact he may not be with the Cardinals after the Trade Deadline, but as he returned for the sixth inning, the chatter began to distract him.
“It was more like, ‘It's probably the last inning I got. Let’s go out and do what we got to do.’ And then I tried to do a little bit too much,” said Flaherty, who allowed a leadoff homer and a single before being replaced by Andre Pallante. “I just got a little bit caught up in everything that was going on.”
One thing is for certain: Being a part of the Cardinals’ historic franchise has meant the world to him, no matter where he is playing after the Trade Deadline.
“Everybody that's come through here and has been around, those are the relationships that you hold on to,” Flaherty said. “Those are the things that you hold on to and are appreciative of being an organization like this.”