Those lions of August, their bite dulled some by recent absences, started September with exactly the kind of game that reminds them they still have plenty of time to turn one remarkable month into the ending they intended.
It would help to get momentum (day to day) off the DL.
Fresh from their best month, by wins, in five decades and rich with reinforcements due to this month's expanded rosters, the Cardinals entered Saturday's game against Cincinnati with a little bit of everything. Exiting, they just had a little bit. Cincinnati starter Luis Castillo shut out the Cardinals for 6 2/3 innings, held them to two hits, and sped the Reds to a 4-0 victory in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd at Busch Stadium. Giveaway jerseys and a pennant race was the draw, but the 46,368 ticket buyers didn't get a chance to see several of the players who hoisted the Cardinals back into the race.
A third of the Cardinals' lineup Saturday was replacements for regulars, whose injuries have cost the Cardinals the kind of depth that made them so dangerous in August.
"I think you'll never hear me or us complain about what we don't have," manager Mike Shildt said. "We've got quality players. Depth and quality allow us to weather what everybody might think is a storm. We look at (it) as an opportunity for guys to come in and compete and give us a chance to win. ... You spend energy worried about what you don't have instead of appreciating and working with what you do have, and what we have is enough."
What the Cardinals will start to have in the coming days is the return of several forces of August. Marcell Ozuna, who hit .321 and had an .862 OPS during the Cardinals' 22-win month, was activated from the disabled list Saturday and is set to start Sunday, at cleanup. As the Cardinals romped through to August they boasted the National League team that allowed the fewest runs and scored the most since Shildt took over at the All-Star break. The Cardinals had the best run differential in the month (plus-66), and that was nearly double the next-best run differential in the league, LA's plus-35. But as they closed August, three of the five regulars who hit better than .300 in the month were on the DL.
Kolten Wong and his .362 average in August sidelined by a hamstring strain on Aug. 26. Jedd Gyorko, who hit .325 in August, strained his groin with two days remaining in the month. Ozuna missed the final 10 days of the month. That catches up.
"Clearly we'd like to have them in the lineup," Shildt said. "We'd like to have them here. The reality is they're not."
They will be soon, followed by Adam Wainwright and possibly Michael Wacha.
The Cardinals could rearrange their rotation by next weekend in Detroit to make room for Wainwright as soon as Friday. The team already repositioned its starters for this weekend, and after bringing Daniel Poncedeleon back for Saturday's start they'll turn to Luke Weaver to try and make history Sunday. The shutout meant the Cardinals must win Sunday to extend their streak of winning series to a club-record 11 consecutive. The Cardinals fell five games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs with the loss but held on to a wild-card lead in the NL.
Poncedeleon (0-1) earlier had made his major-league debut against Cincinnati with seven no-hit innings. He ran that through three more Saturday, and got 10 1/3 innings into his career against the Reds without giving up a hit.
They went the next six batters without giving up an out.
Jose Peraza started the rally with a double, Joey Votto continued it with a double, and Eugenio Suarez capped it with a two-run double. That brought pitching coach Mike Maddux out for a visit, to calm the starter. When the next two batters reached via walk and a single that brought Shildt out the mound, to replace the starter.
"When I start getting hit like that it's my ball losing its life, so it starts having the fade to it," said Poncedeleon, who allowed three runs on five hits through 3 1/3 innings. "I was getting more lateral run, which equals more barrels. Because it runs right into the righties' barrels and right into the lefties' barrels."
With the ability to pluck any one of several former starters from his bullpen, Shildt went to Tyson Ross. Acquired in early August on a waiver claim, Ross has pitched well when needed, he has just rarely been needed. Thrust into a start, he gave the Cardinals a quality one against Kansas City. He absorbed two innings at Coors Field on Sunday to keep the Cardinals from thinning the bullpen at that altitude. That was the last time he pitched before entering the game with the bases loaded in the fourth Saturday.
He felt behind, 3-0, before the next pitch got a groundball from Tucker Barnhart back to the mound. Ross started the 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.
That began his career-high 4 2/3 innings in relief.
"Now I have to find a new routine _ kind of like being a fireman," he said. "As soon as that bell rings, you have to be ready."
In his first at-bat, Ross flared a single to right field _ which doubled the Cardinals' total hits for the evening. Matt Carpenter led off the game with a double, and Castillo promptly struck out two Cardinals to unplug the rally. Castillo struck out 11 of the first 21 Cardinals he faced and did with an off-speed pitch that "a strike out of his hand, and then late movement out," said Matt Adams. Carpenter was the only batter to get into scoring position against the right-hander, and after the fourth inning the Cardinals never got the tying run to the plate.
Every spot in the order had at least one strikeout.
"He would have had anybody's number tonight," Shildt said. "He had really nasty stuff and he was able to repeat it, locate it, work off the same location with different pitches."
After No. 3 hitter Jose Martinez, the team leader with a .389 average in August, the next five spots in the order went zero-for-17 with seven strikeouts. Three of those players are subs for regulars on the mend. And back, soon.
Ozuna's shoulder injury has calmed and he's scheduled to start in left field on Sunday. Wong has been bouncing around through baseball drills, his hamstring soreness dissipating, and is expected back within the week. Gyorko's groin strain is slower to heal, but the Cardinals are hopeful he'll return by mid-month.
The verve of August comes with them.
"Regardless of circumstances we're going to throw a nice effort out there," Shildt said. He added: "A nice club."
