The St. Louis Cardinals may still be below .500 on the year in terms of their record, but they have recently begun to find their footing, as they had won 12 of their past 15 games heading into their contest against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. One of the biggest storylines surrounding the team was Masyn Winn and his 18-game hitting streak, which ended up forcing manager Oli Marmol into a tough decision in their latest game.
Winn had been on a tear for St. Louis during his lengthy hitting streak (.368 BA, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .948 OPS), but Marmol gave him the day off in favor of Brandon Crawford in the series opener against the Phillies. However, Marmol opted to turn to Winn as a pinch-hitter later in the game, and he revealed that the decision weighed heavily on him given the fact that it put Winn's hitting streak on the line.
“It was the one decision I didn’t want to make all day…It’s the only thing I thought of all morning. First thing I thought of when I woke up – because I care about it, I really do. For Masyn and the job he’s been doing. I knew with the amount of lefties they had they were going to insert them at some point. My hope was it wouldn’t line up. Yeah, it’s the one thing I thought of all day.” – Oli Marmol, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Masyn Winn making big strides at the plate for Cardinals
Marmol's fear that he would inadvertently lead to Winn's hitting streak being broken came true, as Winn got only one at-bat after he entered the game, which saw him fly out to left field for the final out of the seventh inning. Still, the greater good of the team is bigger than Winn's individual streak, and that was something both guys understood before they made this move.
While Winn's hit streak may be over, it's clear that his development is beginning to come along for the Cardinals. After he struggled initially upon breaking into the pros last year, Winn has looked a lot more comfortable at the plate for St. Louis this season, with the biggest example of that being this hitting streak in which he put up some big numbers at the plate.
The best way to overcome a hitting streak getting snapped is to simply start a new one, and that's exactly what Winn is going to look to do over the next few games. The Cardinals still have a lot of work to do to overcome their slow start to the season as they attempt to catch the Milwaukee Brewers at the top of the National League Central, but if Winn can keep on playing at this high level, St. Louis should be able to keep up their recent run of success.
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