ST. LOUIS -- Brendan Donovan, who is now dealing with a nagging injury issue of his own, made a bold prediction earlier this season when he saw Cardinals teammate and close friend Nolan Gorman get his 2025 season delayed briefly by a hamstring strain.
“Even early in the year, when he got banged up, I was telling people, ‘He’ll be fine because his work looks great,’” recalled Donovan, who left Tuesday’s 10-9 loss to the Blue Jays because of pain in his left big toe. “Obviously, we’re very close and we talk all the time. I knew he was starting to feel good. So, I’m really happy for him and that was a big swing.”
The swing Donovan was referring to was Gorman's cut on a 1-2 cutter from Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt, and the lefty slugger connected so well that the 89.9 mph offering left his bat at a Statcast-projected 111.6 mph and easily cleared the wall. The three-run shot briefly tied the game after the Cardinals had fallen into an early 4-0 hole.
Incredibly, it was Gorman’s third homer in three career at-bats against Bassitt, the soft-tossing righty who baffled the Cardinals early on. Unlike in 2024 when his strikeout rate soared to a historically high rate, Gorman took something off his swing and connected on the third straight cutter he saw.
“Honestly I didn’t think he was going to come back with that third [cutter], and I thought he’d try to throw something away to get a ground ball,” said Gorman, who delivered his first RBI of 2025 on a two-strike count. “I just made sure I was on time for hard [contact], and I put a good swing on it.”
The Cardinals fell into 4-0, 6-4, 8-4 and 10-6 holes, but they battled back within striking distance before losing to the red-hot Blue Jays for a second straight night. Nolan Arenado hit the 349th home run of his career in the eighth inning, while Willson Contreras added a three-run smash with two outs in the ninth. Despite being perturbed about the loss, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol called Tuesday “probably one of my favorite games.”
“I know we lost, but this group continues to show exactly what they’re about,” said Marmol, whose club is battling through a rough patch where it has dropped three in a row and seven of 11 while the pitching staff’s collective ERA is inching toward 5.00 during the stretch. “To force closer [Jeff Hoffman] in, when you’re going into that inning down four, that’s a helluva job. That clubhouse continues to show what they’re about, and there’s a lot to be excited about.”
Something else the Cardinals are excited about is the way Gorman has started to swing the bat of late despite getting only sporadic playing time. The former first-round pick, who jump-started Saturday’s ninth-inning rally against the Dodgers with his hardest-hit ball of the season for a double, has hit safely in his last six starts and in eight of his last nine starts since May 14.
With 2025 projected to be about providing playing time for young players like Gorman and Jordan Walker, Gorman’s chances were trimmed dramatically when the Cards didn't trade Arenado in the offseason. The emergence of Iván Herrera -- Monday’s home run hero and the owner of two more hits on Tuesday -- as the team’s primary DH has also cut into Gorman’s opportunities. Marmol said the coaching staff has tried to be more communicative with Gorman about when his opportunities will come.
“I think talking about it and being open about it and him understanding how we’re evaluating him has helped,” Marmol said. “If you don’t know what you are being evaluated on -- or you are just guessing and wondering if you need two hits to stay in the lineup or to be in there tomorrow -- that’s when you start to go places that you don’t need to mentally. But if he understands that we’re evaluating the work and the transferability of that work into the games -- and it’s not just about getting hits -- that gives him the freedom to really take it into games and not worry strictly about results.”
Another factor limiting Gorman’s opportunities has been Marmol’s desire to keep Donovan’s Gold Glove at second base. Donovan left Tuesday’s game in the eighth inning when the toe pain became unbearable. X-rays on the toe were negative, Donovan said, and he is hopeful it won’t result in a stint on the injured list.
“[The toe] was getting grumpy to the point where I felt like I was swinging on [a lack of power],” he said. “We just thought it was a good idea to get off that foot and get some treatment done. We’ll re-evaluate it from there.”