CHICAGO — Eager to build off their trade deadline momentum, the St. Louis Cardinals landed in Chicago looking to take advantage of a Cubs team that decided to stand firm at the deadline.
Instead, St. Louis fumbled the opportunity. The Cardinals lost three of four games at the not-so-friendly confines of Wrigley Field, with their 6-2 loss on “Sunday Night Baseball” capping off a frustrating and disappointing series. St. Louis fell to 57-55, remaining 5 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central and three out of the playoff picture.
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With less than two months remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals know they must surge soon.
“If we’re gonna turn it around, we have to turn it around now,” Miles Mikolas, who took the loss on Sunday after allowing four earned runs over four innings, said. “We have a good stretch coming up against winning ballclubs, teams that if we make the playoffs we’re probably going to see. Now is the time to really turn it on.”
Come for Miguel Amaya's HR
Stay for the nice catch in the bleachers pic.twitter.com/QjRZ2IZQjW
— MLB (@MLB) August 5, 2024
In another blow, the Cardinals will be without starting center fielder Michael Siani (right oblique strain) for at least a month. Once again, their outfield picture is murky. Here’s how St. Louis will attempt to patch up its most valuable defensive position while hoping to catch fire in the standings.
Michael Siani heads to IL with oblique strain
Siani first felt tightness during his second at-bat in Saturday’s game but figured he could play through it. After his third at-bat, he was removed from the game.
Siani underwent an MRI on Saturday night and the team deemed his strain “moderate.” Siani could miss four to six weeks, though oblique strains are notoriously unpredictable. Both Matt Carpenter and Lars Nootbaar suffered oblique strains this season, Carpenter missed roughly five weeks while Nootbaar missed six.
“These things can take a while,” manager Oli Marmol said. “It’s different for every guy, but for the most part, those (injuries) take every bit of three, four weeks. We’ll see how he responds over the next couple of days.”
St. Louis will turn to rookie Victor Scott II in Siani’s absence, recalling Scott from Memphis ahead of Sunday’s game. Scott will play a decent amount in center field, Marmol said, with the team valuing defense above all at that position. Both Nootbaar and Tommy Pham can play center, but Scott will get most of the starts because of his speed and defensive ability.
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“(Siani’s defense) has been a key to us being in a lot of ballgames,” Marmol said. “When you look at what he’s been able to do in center and being strong up the middle, with the way our offense has been we’ve stayed in a lot of ballgames because of it. I want to keep that mindset, which puts Victor in center a decent amount. But we’ll still mix and match based on matchup.”
Michael Siani goes FULL EXTENSION! 😱 pic.twitter.com/kaB6mfIQe4
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 24, 2024
Siani has been one of the top defenders in MLB this year, registering 15 outs above average for the fourth-best mark in the league. His injury comes at an inopportune time, as he’d found his stride at the plate, boasting a .310 average and .355 on-base percentage in July.
Scott jumped on the radar in the minor leagues and ascended to the majors because of his defensive prowess. But he struggled so mightily offensively that the Cardinals optioned him to the minors after just 21 games. He was not in Sunday’s lineup after traveling to Chicago from Durham, N.C., that morning, but will likely see the bulk of the starts during the Cardinals’ upcoming four-game homestand.
Victor Scott thrives after swing change
Scott’s call-up coincides with perhaps his best offensive surge of the season. Roughly two weeks ago, Scott dramatically altered his swing, ditching his no-stride approach and incorporating a leg kick. The idea was that the leg kick would help with timing and rhythm.
The results paid off nearly instantaneously for Scott, who is 11-for-36 since July 23 with three homers, including his first-career grand slam on Wednesday.
UH OH!
VICTOR SCOTT II WITH A @HueysRestaurant GRAND SLAM! pic.twitter.com/xYQWOoz5z0
— Memphis Redbirds (@memphisredbirds) July 31, 2024
“I’ve been stubborn not to use it,” Scott added. “But it got to a point where it was like, ‘OK, I think we have to make a change.'”
In his first major-league stint, Scott went 5-for-59 with a .274 OPS. He was promoted to the majors straight from Double A after a strong spring training and multiple injuries to several outfielders ahead of him on the depth chart. But he was overmatched by big-league pitching, and the team was clear that while they believed he was ready defensively, more offensive development needed to occur.
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“A little bit of failure can help,” Scott said. “I failed a lot to start. I failed when I got to Triple A, so it’s been pretty cool to be able to regain a different mindset and attack it in a different way.”
The Cardinals will give Scott every bit of run and hope the success that followed his reformed swing transfers to the majors.
Tommy Pham set for more playing time
When the Cardinals traded for Tommy Pham, they planned to start him against left-handed pitchers and occasional right-handers based on the matchup. He wasn’t penned into an everyday starter’s role by any means. Pham took just six games to start playing himself into an everyday job.
Pham is 8-for-21 since being traded to St. Louis and roped a go-ahead triple Saturday in the team’s only win of the series. Pham, whom the Cardinals targeted in part because of his postseason track record, knows how important the remaining 50 games are.
“You have to take it day by day, series by series,” Pham said. “But the season is winding down. Looking at the standings, it’s looking like you’re probably going to need about 86 wins to get in. We have a lot of teams that are really good ahead of us. We’re going to have to win about 30 more games just to even stand a chance. We need to catch some streaks.”
That they do, and urgently. The Cardinals will face a slew of postseason-hungry teams in August, including the Royals, Dodgers, Padres and Yankees, plus a pivotal three-game home series against the Brewers. The National League playoff picture will likely come down to the wire. If the Cardinals want to remain in the hunt, they can’t afford many more series to look like this one.
(Photo of Oli Marmol and Miles Mikolas: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images)
Katie Woo is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball. Prior to joining The Athletic, Katie spent two years covering the minor leagues as an editorial producer for MiLB.com and spent the 2018 MLB season covering the San Diego Padres as an associate reporter for MLB.com. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and originates from Northern California. Follow Katie on Twitter @katiejwoo
