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St. Louis Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner sprinkles the pepper over Nolan Arenado following a solo home run by Arenado in the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
In today’s 10 a.m. video, columnist Ben Hochman discusses this day in Cardinals history, when a team legend drove in 12 runs! Plus, a happy birthday shoutout to Richard Marx. And, as always, Hochman picks a random St. Louis Cards card from the hat. Ten Hochman is presented by Window Nation!
The fist-twisting hand signal that became so popular as a celebration for the Cardinals that Lars Nootbaar introduced an actual pepper mill to the dugout has its inspiration in offensive struggles.
With each double or home run hit, Nootbaar and many teammates mashed their hands together and cranked them as if cracking pepper above a house salad. The gesture came from catcher Andrew Knizner talking with teammates about how a hitter, adrift at the plate, can still “grind out” at-bats for the team by seeing pitches, earning walks, or advancing runners. They would “grind” their hands after big hits, because it was grinding at-bats that got them there.
It will have to be how they get back there.
“When you’re going better, the celebration feels better, and everything feels better,” said Nootbaar, who received a pepper mill from an anonymous teammate on his birthday. “Right now is the time, offensively, when we’ve got to dig deep, and I know firsthand. Dig deep and continue to work and do as best we can. It’s back to how it started.”
A last at-bat uprising that brought Albert Pujols to the plate with the bases loaded Thursday evening was late and also too little for the Cardinals to overcome eight innings of absent offense. The Cardinals had one hit through eight, two hits in the ninth, and fell, 3-2, to Cincinnati at Busch Stadium. The only hit the Cardinals had against Reds starter Chase Anderson was a double in the third inning that also yielded an out at the plate to end the inning.
Cincinnati pitchers retired the next 15 consecutive Cardinals.
“It’s been a stretch where it’s been no offense certain days,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “We give up a couple and we can’t kind of finish the game as far as … tonight, we came up short. We ran out of time there. But we’re not overly concerned.”
For the second time in three days, an NL Central rival had a long run of scoreless innings against the Cubs. On Tuesday, the Brewers cycled through eight different pitchers to fill nine innings, and the final five relievers used did not allow a hit or a run.
Cincinnati arrived for its five-game, four-day visit to Busch as an elixir for what ails the offense. The Reds do not have a starter announced with an ERA less than 5.00. Chase Anderson’s ERA was helium-filled at 9.00 entering his start Thursday, and then he limited the Cardinals to one run on one hit through five innings. He lost two of the three games in the Cardinals’ recent visit to Cincinnati and had to ignore many pepper-grinding celebrations.
The right-hander gave off another sign Thursday: No Pepper.
“I feel like they had a really good gameplan and they executed,” said leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan. “Just keeping us a little off balance.”
Pujols twice chased an off-speed pitch out in front of the plate. Tyler O’Neill struck out twice and grounded out before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning. That pinch hitter, left-handed hitter Corey Dickerson, grounded out to end the game. Through the first eight innings of the game the middle of the Cardinals order went one-for-13. They put the out in grinding out at-bats.
The Cardinals' Albert Pujols shreds his batting gloves after a pop out in the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
Anderson (1-3) used his changeup more than any other pitch. Of the 143 pitches the Cardinals saw Thursday night, 45% were off-speed.
Two of the five pitchers threw a majority of their pitches off-speed.
Against Anderson’s changeup, the Cardinals failed to put a ball in play at greater than 85 mph. Setup man Buck Farmer got three swings and misses on his slider, which he threw more than any other pitch.
“(In) this game, there are times when the routine doesn’t work and you have to keep going and eventually it turns that what you do and you show (what) you continue to do works,” Donovan said. “You go through a lull, but that’s just what happens.”
“We were really hot for the last month or so and, you know, you cool down a little bit,” said starter Miles Mikolas, who exhausted 101 pitches to get through six innings and allow two homers that built Cincinnati’s win. “If you’re trying to plan it out, I guess, it would be better to cool off just a hair now and then really pick it up for, you know, the end of the season, going into the playoffs. If that’s kind of where we are on this roller coaster that is the season, it’s not the worst thing.”
At the pepper-mill peak, the first-place Cardinals had found a combination atop the order that sparked rallies and then a surging middle order, like Pujols, for the pyrotechnics.
That included four of the league’s leading home run hitters in August, three players who were candidates for the player of the month award, and complementary hot streaks like those from Donovan and Nootbaar when it came to getting on base.
Cracking at the same time in August, the mill has been clogged at times in September. In his past 13 games, Nootbaar is three-for-34 (.088) with two of those hits being homers.
Paul Goldschmidt had the RBI double in the third inning that would have tied the game if not for a flawless relay from left field that got Donovan at home.
That was Goldschmidt’s fifth extra-base hit in 18 games.
While still in the running for the first NL Triple Crown in more than 80 years, Goldschmidt has hit a cold snap. He got under a pitch in the ninth inning Thursday to stall the rally with its first out and without advancing either of the two runners on base. In the past 18 games, his production has leveled with 14 hits, 15 strikeouts, and 13 walks. But only five of those hits went for extra bases. His on-base percentage in the previous three weeks was higher than his slugging, .356 to .350.
“Haven’t been at my best the past couple of weeks,” Goldschmidt said late Thursday night. “There are a lot of things you could say. Stats don’t lie. I haven’t played as good as I’m capable of. Just continue to work and try to play better.”
Or, to borrow a phrase, grind some at-bats.
That’s how the ninth inning began for the Cardinals. Donovan fell behind 0-2 on back-to-back fastballs and then sliced a single against the shift to left field. Tommy Edman took a slider from Reds closer Alexis Diaz to slip into a 2-2 count. He then took a slider and a 95-mph fastball outside the zone for a walk. Goldschmidt flew out on three pitches, Nolan Arenado flared a two-strike single to center, and Pujols lifted a sacrifice fly on a 96-mph fastball to deliver the inning’s run. That narrowed Cincinnati’s lead to a run and got the tying run to third base.
It took five batters to produce one run on an out. It wasn’t expedient. It wasn’t ferocious. It was gnashing, plodding, and, yes, grinding offense. Few fists were twisted in celebration. And in the end it wasn’t enough.
But it was something after so many innings of nothing.
“I think as an offense we just have to keep chipping and chipping and chipping and then eventually you get through,” Donovan said. “Tonight just fell a little short, but I think we can get them tomorrow.”
Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon discuss the Cardinals' chances -- real, or happy talk? -- of running down the Mets and Braves.
In today’s 10 a.m. video, columnist Ben Hochman discusses Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina and their team’s chances of nabbing the No. 2 spot in the National League playoffs. Plus, a happy birthday shoutout to Harry Windsor. And, as always, Hochman picks a random St. Louis Cards card from the hat. Ten Hochman is presented by Window Nation!
The Cardinals' Brendan Donovan is out at home on a tag by Cincinnati Reds catcher Austin Romine in the third inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt doubled on the play, scoring Lars Nootbaar.
The Cardinals' Albert Pujols shreds his batting gloves after a pop out in the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis Cardinals Paul Goldschmidt and Lars Nootbaar stand for the national anthem before playing the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Goldschmidt, the Cardinals' Roberto Clemente award nominee, wore Clemente's number 21 for the occasion while Nootbaar wore his regular number. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is decked out in Roberto Clemente's No. 21, including his jersey number, to honor him before playing the Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
Cincinnati Reds catcher Austin Romine awaits the throw as St. Louis Cardinals Brendan Donovan is out at home on a in the third inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt doubled on the play, scoring Lars Nootbaar. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals Brendan Donovan is out at home on a tag by Cincinnati Reds catcher Austin Romine in the third inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt doubled on the play, scoring Lars Nootbaar. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas wipes off after giving up a second inning solo home run to Cincinnati Reds Nick Senzel on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas walks off the field after giving up a second-inning solo home run to the Reds' Nick Senzel on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals' Albert Pujols fouls a pitch against the Reds on Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas works the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas works the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andre Pallante throws out Cincinnati Reds Austin Romine in the seventh inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas stands on the mound after Aristides Aquino of the Cincinnati Reds hit a solo home run in the sixth inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals Nolan Arenado strikes out in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina shows outfielder Lars Nootbaar the ball after Nootbaar threw out Cincinnati Reds pinch runner Stuart Fairchild at home in the eighth inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina tags out Cincinnati Reds pinch runner Stuart Fairchild at home off a throw from Lars Nootbaar in the eighth inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina tags out Cincinnati Reds pinch runner Stuart Fairchild at home off a throw from Lars Nootbaar in the eighth inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols hits a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to score Brendan Donovan as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis Cardinals Corey Dickerson is out at first base to end the game as Cincinnati Reds first baseman Matt Reynolds handles the throw in the ninth inning on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Keep up with the latest Cardinals coverage from our award-winning team of reporters and columnists.
Derrick Goold is the lead Cardinals beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and past president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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Right-hander struck out three Reds on nine pitches to join Gibson and Isringhausen as the only Cardinals with such a flawless inning of whiffs.
Cardinals got Pujols a plate appearance with the bases loaded in the ninth inning and a sacrifice fly from him, but one hit through eight is costly in 3-2 loss.
Wainwright throws five innings and bullpen handles the rest for 4-1 win, with Arenado and Nootbaar contributing home runs to regain eight-game lead.
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Right-hander throws career-high eight innings in Game 1 victory and displays the pace, command of multiple pitches that earns more starts. 'Legit outing,' says manager.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner sprinkles the pepper over Nolan Arenado following a solo home run by Arenado in the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 at Busch Stadium. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
The Cardinals' Albert Pujols shreds his batting gloves after a pop out in the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
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