911爆料网

Even before the question was finished about how soon he would forget a loss like Wednesday鈥檚 dud to the Cubs, Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan interrupted to say he had.

鈥淕one,鈥� he said.

The question continued.

鈥淥ver with,鈥� Donovan interjected. 鈥淎lready forgot about it.鈥�

The Cubs socked three homers early, bruised starter Erick Fedde for seven runs and charged away with an 8-0 victory at Busch Stadium that gave them a chance to split the four-game series and leave 911爆料网 with the same lead they had when they arrived at Busch Stadium. After two memorable, assertive wins for the Cardinals against their archrivals, it was, by many metrics, an utterly forgettable evening for the home club, except for something tucked discreetly in the middle innings.

What happened between the fourth and sixth innings will be worth remembering.

Even Donovan said so.

What John King did Wednesday set up the Cardinals for Thursday.

鈥淵ou only have so many arms down there, and he鈥檚 thrown a lot lately,鈥� Donovan said. 鈥淗e comes in tonight and saves the bullpen. I know some guys will give him some love because that鈥檚 huge. I cannot imagine being a one-inning or 1 1/2-inning guy and then gutting it our for a couple of innings.鈥�

At some point in the mess that the shutout became for the Cardinals, Wednesday鈥檚 game became less about salvaging it and more about priming the bullpen for Thursday and the full-court press manager Oliver Marmol prepared to use with a lead to take the series. To pull that off, he had to keep some of his most reliable arms 鈥� especially Phil Maton, JoJo Romero and closer Ryan Helsley 鈥� out of the game and also ready some bridge options.

King was essential with his 2 1/3 innings and 37 pitches.

The outing was longer than any he鈥檇 had since 2023, and the lefty had not thrown that many pitches in an appearance since he was with Texas in 2022. The long outing came three days after he pitched on three consecutive days in three consecutive wins.

鈥淚 feel like relievers 鈥� especially middle relievers 鈥� you have to be ready for everything,鈥� King said late Wednesday night in the Cardinals clubhouse. 鈥淚 take pride in being available every day, and when you鈥檙e in that spot, you want to pitch as much as you can.鈥�

The preference would have been for Fedde to shoulder the extra innings and any other welts on his ERA, but a bases-loaded spot in the fourth ejected him from the outing.

The Cubs announced their intentions on the first pitch of the game when Ian Happ, on his way to three RBIs, drilled a solo home run. By the end of the third inning, the Cubs had five hits on Fedde, four for extra bases, three for homers and a 4-0 lead. For weeks, Fedde (3-7) has been trying to regain a consistent feel for his sweeper. His plan Wednesday was to throw it harder, firmer.

And he did. Its average velocity was up almost 1 mph, and he touched 85.3 mph with it.

Without it over the past several starts, Fedde has been 鈥渁bsolutely leaning on my cutter,鈥� he said. The Cubs keyed on it.

Their average exit velocity against Fedde鈥檚 cutter was 98.8. Overall, the Cubs had eight balls in play at 100 mph or faster off the bat. Of the 17 they put in play against Fedde in his 3 2/3 innings, 13 left the bat at 95 mph or more. The fourth inning unraveled around three singles and three stolen bases as the Cubs widened their lead to 5-0, and at that point, the game shifted for Fedde.

He wasn鈥檛 going to save his ERA.

He had to save the bullpen some mileage.

鈥淚 think as a starter, when things don鈥檛 go your way early, your biggest goal is to go deep and save the 鈥檖en,鈥� Fedde said. 鈥淭hat was the goal after I gave up five. Try to go as deep as possible. Unfortunately, I didn鈥檛 do that either.鈥�

A walk to Seiya Suzuki after singles by Happ and Kyle Tucker with two outs loaded the bases on Fedde in the fourth. Marmol emerged from the dugout and called for the lefty, King. One of the game鈥檚 leading ground-ball-getters from the left side, King often appears from the Cardinals against left-handed batters in middle or late innings with runners on base.

On Wednesday, that was only the start of his assignment.

It took him one pitch to tidy up the inning.

Left-handed batter Pete Crow-Armstrong skipped a grounder to second base for the fourth inning鈥檚 final out. King left all three runners he inherited marooned.

From there, the Cardinals needed him to carry the game as deep as he could because every out he collected was one less from a reliever they wanted available in the finale.

鈥淵ou know the situation,鈥� King said. 鈥淵ou want to do everything you can, especially during this long stretch and you鈥檙e in the middle of two long stretches. You just want to keep everyone fresh and save the bullpen, you know? If they need me to go out there and throw two, three, four, innings, whatever 鈥� I鈥檒l do my best at that.鈥�

A subplot to the innings plopped out the bullpen Wednesday was the bind the Cardinals have potentially put themselves in with their roster due to so much recent churn. The Cardinals optioned four pitchers to Class AAA Memphis during this homestand, and none of them can return for 15 days unless there is an injury or doubleheader. Chris Roycroft has yet to reach his minimum stay down there, and he鈥檚 joined by right-handed relievers Andre Granillo, Gordon Graceffo, and Roddery Munoz as ineligible to return as part of the churn for several more days.

Newly added to the bullpen Wednesday afternoon, Matt Svanson pitched two scoreless innings after King and before first-time Cardinal Garrett Hampson added pitcher to his debut game. Hampson started in center, moved to shortstop and finished his first game as a Cardinal on the mound. He got three outs on three pitches to alleviate one inning from the bullpen.

The Cardinals could have asked more from Svanson, but then flipping him to Memphis for a fresh arm would mean adding him to the list of unavailable arms and calling up, possibly, Ryan Fernandez. Marmol downplayed the likelihood of that Tuesday.

What all of that added up to the obvious.

They needed King to get through this night.

The fifth inning wobbled on the Cardinals when a wild pitch turned a strikeout into a runner at first. A dribbler in front of the plate was misplayed by catcher Yohel Pozo, but because he wasn鈥檛 tagged with an error, the eventual run was earned for King. The Cub who scored that run was also the one who struck out. In the sixth inning, King did what he usually does 鈥� and got three groundouts. He was in the game long enough to even experiment with a curveball he鈥檚 been working to give another look.

He got a swing and miss with it.

The only pitcher in the game who got more groundouts than King was Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd during his six scoreless innings. He got six. King got five. Both struck out three. King pitched more in one game than he had in his previous four combined, and because he pushed for four outs and then seven outs, he helped assure that what happened in a lost game did not spill over into a lost series.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e never out of it until Oli comes and shakes your hand,鈥� King said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never checking out until that happens.鈥�