As he makes the familiar drive this weekend to the ballpark he’s called home for the past five seasons, Nolan Arenado has thought about how these might be his final days calling Busch Stadium that.
“I definitely come to the ballpark with it in mind – this could be the last time playing at home, and thinking about it,” Arenado said late Friday night in the Cardinals clubhouse. “At the same time, I have a job to do. I would like to go out there and compete, have good at-bats, play some good defense, and at least give them something good to remember.”
He did that with a swing Friday.
With a line drive to left field, Arenado cleared the bases, amplified a rout, and left an echo that will outlast the schedule this season: what could have been.
Arenado and Sonny Gray, two players acquired to fortify the Cardinals’ October relevance, combined to shine in a 7-1 victory Friday night at Busch Stadium that merely delayed Milwaukee’s October exuberance. Gray struck out seven, pitched six innings, and made an immediate improvement from what frustrated him in Milwaukee a week ago. He claimed his 14th win of the season to tie a career high. Arenado fought through an eight-pitch at-bat with the bases loaded before pulling a three-run double down the left-field line that sped the Cardinals into a decisive five-run fifth inning.
It was exactly the kind of paired performances from two All-Stars that the Cardinals once expected to get at this time of year as they readied for the postseason, not as they wondered about the offseason.
“These last eight games, I can’t change the season that I put together and obviously health hasn’t helped,” Arenado said. “To come back healthy, hit the ball hard, play hard, help this team win ballgames, and give the fans something to appreciate a little bit.”
Immediately after the Cardinals’ five-run fifth, the team played a tribute to outgoing president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. He gathered with friends and family in a suite for Friday’s game, and during the between-inning acknowledgement highlights from the Cardinals’ recent contenders played beside a message, “Thanks ‘Mo.” Mozeliak’s contract expires around the start of November, and with it will end his 18-year run leading baseball operations, either as GM or president. Chaim Bloom is set to take over as president of baseball operations when this season ends with a few weeks of overlap still ahead. Mozeliak’s tenure includes two National League pennants, the 2011 World Series title, and one losing season in the previous 17. This could be the second.
Mozeliak’s leadership also covers an erosion of the team’s farm system and performance in recent years that prompted a “retooling.” Fans have responded with record-small crowds and, at best, muted enthusiasm. Aggravation is more prevalent.
Arguably the last two most-significant moves made by Mozeliak involving players were trading for Arenado and signing Gray to what could be the first $100-million deal the Cardinals ever gave to a free-agent pitcher. The Cardinals traded for Arenado to elevate a contender and keep them as an October stalwart, and they signed Gray to expedite their return there.
Gray has yet to see a playoff game with the Cardinals.
The Cardinals have not won a playoff game with Arenado at third.
The two veterans are set to make a combined $60 million next season, and the Cardinals want to trim costs and lean into a farm-fueled model that could take several years before they contend. Bloom is expected to explore trading both All-Stars. They also each have a no-trade clause – which will loom large in the conversations Bloom is set to have with both players after the regular season.
And yet, there they were Friday night, together as Cardinals teammates for perhaps the final time at home and imposing themselves upon a win.
Just like the Cardinals envisioned.
Just not in the situation they imagined.
The lineup gnawed on Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski’s pitch count in the first inning. The power-packed right-hander walked the first two batters he faced, and while he sizzled several pitches at 100 mph to greet the Cardinals, 10 of his 14 pitches were balls. The Cardinals forced him to throw 25 pitches in the first inning, and it could have been worse if not for a baserunning lapse that left the Cardinals with only a 1-0 lead.
They added a second run on a double play in the second inning, got into the Brewers’ bullpen in the fourth, and opened the fifth with three consecutive singles off lefty Rob Zastryzny.
That brought Arenado to the plate with the bases loaded.
Less than a week removed from coming off the injured list and missing a month due to a shoulder injury, Arenado has played every game since – and wants to play the remaining eight. He could have called it a season with a shoulder strain that limited him in the field and sapped some of his power at the plate. Instead, he spent almost a month rehabbing and strengthening in Jupiter, Florida, to return for even two weeks of play. Any amount of games was better than no games to scrub the sour from the summer.
“I think you never want – I didn’t want to end on that note,” he said.
“That’s not in his nature at all,” manager Oli Marmol said. “He wanted to make sure he was healthy enough to come back. He was fighting as much as possible to get back in this lineup and show that he’s healthy. What a difference he makes at third. He’s incredible over there. A big swing for sure.”
The Cardinals are one of two teams yet to hit a grand slam this season, and Arenado had the most recent one a year ago in August against Milwaukee. In the spot to deliver one Friday, Arenado did everything but. Milwaukee turned to reliever Grant Anderson to face Arenado. They seesawed through the at-bat until reaching a full count. Arenado fouled off two 95-mph four-seam fastballs. Anderson tried to wedge a sinker in on Arenado for the finishing pitch.
The Cardinals’ All-Star turned and pulled the ball for a liner down the line.
“Overall, being able to clear that on the side and be free and clear and pull something authority,” Marmol said. “I know he’s been wanting to do that. So that was a big part of that.”
Arenado’s double scored Brendan Donovan, Ivan Herrera, and Alec Burleson. When a throw went wide to the plate, Arenado advanced to third on the error. He scored on Thomas Saggese’ rulebook double. The Cardinals would send 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning, get seven hits, and score five runs. For the final run, Jordan Walker blistered a single up the middle that left his bat at 117.9 mph, the hardest hit ball by a Cardinal in the Statcast era since 2015.
Arenado’s double was the epicenter of the five-run quake.
“Huge spot in the game,” Gray said. “This is the single hit that broke it open. And then for us to continue to add on after that is when you can really put a game away.”
And then it was his turn.
In Milwaukee a week ago, Gray sat through a similar lengthy inning by his teammates and then promptly struggled in his next half of the inning. He said after that loss that he needed to review what happened and “learn” how to approach that situation differently the next time he faced it. He faced it sooner than expected.
“Tried to get better if I get myself in that situation again, and the world is crazy,” Gray said. “Five days later, I’ve got myself in that exact same situation.”
The results were different.
Boosted by 7-1 lead, Gray struck out the first batter he faced in the sixth and then pitched around two singles to get an inning-ending grounder. Eight of the nine hits he allowed were singles, and the other one was the solo homer by Sal Frelick for the Brewers’ only run. Gray described how he kept everything about his game steady instead of having it escalate or rush after the long inning.
“I tried to stay here,” he said, holding up his hand to shoulder level.
“Rather than, last time, when the inning got longer and I felt myself getting here,” he said, tilting his hand to an incline and showing it moving up. “I just tried to learn and stay here.”
He brought his hand back to flat at shoulder level.
The same gestures could be used to describe the crowd’s reaction to the fifth inning. Donovan singled, Herrera singled, and Burleson singled for one of his three hits. After several weekdays of strikingly low attendance, the Cardinals sold nearly 30,000 tickets for Friday’s game. Arenado said how “great” it was as he felt the swell of the fans when he came to the plate in the fifth with the bases loaded. He said it was “nice to feel that again.”
It was, to borrow his phrase, something to remember.
“There is no doubt that was going through my mind,” Arenado said. “I just want to play baseball. I love competing. When I was out I missed it. I’m happy to be back.”
Arenado’s bases-clearing double in the fifth keyed a five-run inning for a 7-1 win that rewarded starter Gray’s strong six innings and his 14th win.
While the Cardinals spent most of the season committing to Brendan Donovan as their starting…
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Derrick Goold | Post-Dispatch
Lead baseball writer
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