Postcard from Cardinals spring training camp for Thursday, March 12, 2026
Result: Cardinals 3, Mets 1
Weather: Cloudy, 85 degrees
By Rob Rains
JUPITER, Fla. – With the days starting to disappear between now and opening day, the Cardinals are still trying to decide who will be their starting left fielder.
They came up with a creative idea on Thursday – two weeks away from the March 26 opener – to get three of the candidates all in the lineup at the same time. Nathan Church started in left field, Nelson Velazquez was playing right field and Jose Ferman was at second base.
That left them all face the same pitchers, perhaps giving the Cardinals more information about what direction to go as they select a temporary replacement for the injured Lars Nootbaar.
It was Velazquez, in camp as a non-roster player, who had the best day out of the three. He hit his third home run of the spring, tying for the team lead, with a two-run shot in the first inning that sent the Cardinals to the victory.
Church had a single in three at-bats while Fermin was 0-of-2 but reached on a walk.
Here is how Thursday’s game broke down:
High: Michael McGreevy allowed one run over five innings.
Low: Jordan Walker was hitless in four at-bats and struck out three times.
At the plate: Nolan Gorman and a double and triple and also reached on a walk in his three plate appearances … The Cardinals other run scored on an RBI single by Alec Burleson in the second inning … Five of the Cardinals eight hits came in the first two innings.
On the mound: The Mets’ run off McGreevy came on a first-inning homer by Jorge Polanco. McGreevy allowed four hits, walked one and struck out three … Chris Roycroft and George Soriano each worked a 1-2-3 inning, with Soriano striking out the side in the seventh … Matt Pushard walked two and allowed a hit in two-thirds of an inning but Darlin Saladin relieved and got out of the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout.
Worth noting: The other left-field candidate, Thomas Saggese, is away from camp playing for team Italy in the World Baseball Classic, which has advanced to the quarterfinals. Saggese has not been in the lineup as much as the Cardinals would have liked but that is out of the team’s control. Marmol said the Cardinals intend to “get him out there as much as possible” when Saggese gets back to their camp, according to manager Oli Marmol. Marmol made the trip to Miami on Wednesday night to attend the WBC game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, managed by Albert Pujols.
Up next: The Cardinals will play their only home night game of the spring on Friday night, hosting the Astros in a 6:05 p.m. EDT game. Kyle Leahy will get the start.
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