ST. LOUIS -- On a day in which the Phillies were limited in their bullpen availability, the Cardinals wanted to exploit it.
But nearly six innings into Monday’s game at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals still hadn’t found a hit against rookie starter Andrew Painter.
Iván Herrera’s recent resurgence continued as the Cardinals’ designated hitter doubled into the left field corner to take his team off the hook of any potential history. Another surge in the eighth inning put the Cardinals squarely in position to steal the game as they exploited Don Mattingly’s limited options behind reliever Alan Rangel to gobble up the bulk of a four-run deficit.
But the late comeback fell short by a swing as Masyn Winn was stranded at third base after Jimmy Crooks and pinch-hitter Bryan Torres were unable to deliver to expand upon a three-run rally.
The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to one run against Rangel in the eighth, but it was as close as they would get in a 6-5 loss to the Phillies.
“That’s a good group across the way. Those guys are built to win now and compete for a pretty good run,” manager Oli Marmol said. “They were short in their bullpen as far as usage coming into this series. We knew that. You have to be able to capitalize in certain situations. We did. But [we were] a hit short from being able to take the lead.”
The Cardinals, with frequency, show late-game grit and determination to fight their way back into contests that would have otherwise felt conclusive before the final out is recorded.
Monday, they fell narrowly short in their quest to summit the mountain. It’s in those retrospective moments that various hiccups along the way -- those that add to the distance required to reach the peak -- feel the heaviest.
Hunter Dobbins had one such moment in a five-inning start that saw the Cardinals' starter battle with the St. Louis humidity. On a second-inning chopper back to the mound, Dobbins set his feet but still sailed his throw beyond first baseman Alec Burleson to contribute to a two-run inning for Philadelphia.
“I just rushed it,” Dobbins said. “High chopper like that, I tried to get rid of it probably a little quicker than I needed to. … Can’t let that happen.”
Following a sharp four-out appearance from rookie right-hander Luis Gastelum, relievers Caleb Ferguson and Gordon Graceffo combined to permit three Phillies runs while walking four batters across the seventh and eighth innings.
Such details loomed large in the close loss for a fledgling roster collectively experiencing this ilk of meaningful late-season baseball for the first time.
The manager, though, rejected the relevance of the Cardinals’ place in the build phase of their competitive cycle when analyzing a loss like Monday’s.
“I want that game,” Marmol said. “And everybody in that clubhouse wants that game. So, yes, it shows up from time to time. Especially when you’re competing against a group that’s built to win now. But all that goes out the window when the first pitch is thrown. You take your best shot and you want to win every game. We didn’t do that today.”
The Cardinals came close to pulling it off. José Fermín executed his role to perfection during an eighth-inning rally, swatting an RBI single to center -- but it wasn’t enough to tie the game, as third-base coach Ron “Pop” Warner held up the stop sign for a hard-charging Winn.
Winn read the contact off Fermín’s bat perfectly, sprinting off second base on contact to ready himself in case Warner was prepared to issue him the green light. The noted swim move slider didn’t get the chance to flash his skill.
“Basically, make a decision whether you think he’s going to be safe or out,” Marmol said of the decision to hold Winn at third. “That’s what goes into that one. … I’d have to look at the overhead of it to see, but I trust the decisions that were made on the field.”
Marmol wasn’t touching any controversy related to that decision, but he did call into question one of his own after the Crooks strikeout that followed became an inflection point in the loss.
“Yeah, I’d do it differently,” Marmol acknowledged after waiting to deploy Torres until there were two outs in the inning. “It’s an opportunity given, but at the same time, there’s a chance for more contact there. So, you can pick your spot there at [César] Prieto -- both of them make contact. That’s on me, nobody else.”