With the St. Louis Cardinals' playoff hopes on life support, they could ill-afford any setbacks. However, what awaited them on Monday was a tough matchup against division rival and current NL Central leader Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals, however, were quickly beset by misfortune.
In the bottom of the first inning, starting pitcher Andre Pallante was on the receiving end of what looked like a missed called third strike that would have ended the inning. Instead, home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez called a ball on a pitch that landed in the bottom-inside part of the strike zone, setting up a walk for Jake Bauers. Tragedy then ensued for the Cardinals, as Pallante proceeded to allow a three-run shot to Willy Adames in the very next at-bat, putting St. Louis on the backfoot with a 3-0 deficit early on that ballooned into a 9-3 defeat.
But such is life as a baseball player. They are subject to forces beyond their control, which is certainly what happened to Pallante and the Cardinals in their defeat to the Braves. Regardless, manager Oliver Marmol lauded Pallante for the effort he put in and defended him by saying that every pitcher is allowed a less-than-ideal start.
“Everyone's allowed an outing that doesn't go their way. [Pallante has] been really good over the last stretch. But they got him in the air, they got him for some homers. It's unfortunate that that pitch should've ended the inning there on Bauers. That's a punch out, and it leads to a walk and then a homer. So he did his job in that first of making his pitches,” Marmol told reporters following the game, via Bally Sports Midwest on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A converted reliever, Andre Pallante has done a solid enough job of fortifying the Cardinals' starting rotation. He entered his Monday night start against the Brewers having put up an ERA of 3.50 in 82.1 innings of work across 15 starts. Over his past four starts, Pallante has had an ERA of 2.13, which Oliver Marmol acknowledged as a “really good stretch” from the 25-year-old.
Nevertheless, the margin of error for the Cardinals is very thin. Pallante, despite being one of the best Cardinals starters over the past month, failed to deliver on Monday, regardless of the missed call from the home plate umpire. This defeat only serves to make their push for the postseason an even more impossible task. Even Pallante acknowledged his shortcomings following the walk to Bauers.
“Obviously, it's a strike, and that changes the whole first inning there. That's going to happen. It's out of your control,” Pallante said. “[But the Adames at-bat] was just an all-around stupid at-bat from me.”
Cardinals' playoff hopes are fading
It's odd how inconsistent of a team the Cardinals are this season. They proved capable of defeating the New York Yankees in a three-game set, thanks to a rousing 14-7 win in the rubber match on Sunday. But then they proceeded to not even give themselves a chance on Monday with a 9-3 loss to the Brewers.
A record of 69-69 — perfectly .500 — seems apt for this year's version of the Cardinals. They have struggled to string together plenty of consistent winning stretches, and now, it may be too late for them to crash the postseason party. Prior to their loss to the Brewers on Monday, Fangraphs already had their playoff chances at a measly 1.0 percent. That should only drop after tonight.
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