Quinn Mathews has been knocking on the door of a callup to the big leagues, and another superb start for Triple-A Memphis on Friday will only help his case.
The Cardinals’ No. 7 prospect posted a season-high 10 strikeouts while tying his season-long outing of seven innings, holding Durham to just one unearned run. Mathews took home a W as his Redbirds won, 7-2, at AutoZone Park.
Mathews allowed just three hits and issued a trio of walks on the night while throwing 93 pitches (62 strikes). He also allowed just one hard-hit ball, a 97.7 mph groundout. Meanwhile, his 10 strikeouts came on his four-seamer (five), slider (three), sinker (one) and curveball (one).
More from MLB Pipeline:
• Top 100 prospects | Stats | Video | Podcast | Complete coverage
Mathews faced the minimum through three innings, including an inning-ending double play in the first and three strikeouts in the second. He issued two of his three walks in the fourth but helped himself with a pickoff, while a groundout ended the frame.
Mathews’ lone spot of bother came in the fifth. He walked the leadoff man and allowed a one-out bloop single. The lefty then worked a strikeout, but an errant throw from catcher Leo Bernal with runners attempting to steal allowed a run to score. Mathews limited the damage with an inning-ending strikeout in the ensuing at-bat.
COMPLETE CARDINALS PROSPECT COVERAGE
The 25-year-old lefty allowed just one more baserunner across his final two innings, a leadoff double in the sixth that was followed by six straight outs.
Mathews, the 2024 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, now has a sparkling 1.59 ERA in his last 10 starts and a strong 3.13 ERA on the season overall. He’s allowed more than three hits just once in this dominant 10-start stretch, and his 111 total strikeouts across 19 starts leads all Cardinals Minor Leaguers.
Elsewhere in the St. Louis system, lefty Cooper Hjerpe (STL No. 14) tossed 4 1/3 hitless innings for Double-A Springfield.