Result: Mets 2, Cardinals 0
Weather: 74 degrees, sunny
By Rob Rains
JUPITER, Fla. – Sometimes in spring training a team gets a chance to work on a situation that might actually come up during the regular season.
The Cardinals were able to do that in the ninth inning on Wednesday.
After Victor Scott II led off the inning with a single and stole second, Luken Baker came off the bench to pinch-hit following a Michael Siani strikeout.
The Cardinals have been trying to find spots like this for Baker during the spring, knowing that if he is on the team, he could very well find himself in exactly that situation.
“It was good to mimic a game and have Baker come off the bench and take that at-bat,” said manager Oli Marmol. “On the last three or four games when Baker hasn’t played we’ve had him go in about the fourth inning and get loose in the cage ready to pinch-hit anywhere from the fifth on. There’s times when the situation has presented itself and times when it hasn’t but today was a good one to try and mimic it. It’s good to be able to do it from time to time.”
Baker drew a walk to keep the potential rally going and Cesar Prieto also walked to load the bases but it ended there as Matt Koperniak struck and Thomas Saggese flew out to right.
Here is how Wednesday’s game broke down:
High: Miles Mikolas had his best start of the spring, allowing only one run over five innings.
Low: The Cardinals had only two hits and were shut out for the second time in their last three games.
At the plate: The Cardinals did not have a baserunner until Pedro Pages led off the sixth inning with a double. He went to third on a groundout but stayed there as Siani and Masyn Winn both struck out … Winn’ 0-of-3 day dropped his spring average to .094 … Scott’s single in the ninth was their only other hit.
On the mound: Two of the five hits allowed by Mikolas came after he thought he had the third out of the first, striking out Pete Alonso, before a challenge of strike three was overturned. Mikolas walked one and struck out three, throwing 73 pitches … Tekoah Roby worked two perfect innings with four strikeouts and John King also worked a 1-2-3 inning.
Worth noting: Top prospect J.J. Weatherholt was reassigned to the minor-league camp. He had 26 plate appearances in 10 games in his first big-league camp going 6-of-20 and also stole three bases. He will be playing in the spring breakout prospects game on Friday … After the game Roby was optioned to Springfield … The two hits dropped the Cardinals team average for the spring to .203, the lowest in the majors.
Up next: Steven Matz will get the start on Thursday as the Cardinals play the Astros in West Palm Beach.
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