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The Cardinals' Dakota Hudson, right, sits with pitching coach Mike Maddux in the dugout after Hudson gave up three runs in the third inning of a game against the Marlins on June 28, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
To clear time for Dakota Hudson to make adjustments they feel ultimately will help him within starts, the Cardinals are “leaning toward” skipping his next scheduled start, his manager said.
With an off day Monday and a wish to maximize the appearances of newcomers Jose Quintana and Jordan Montgomery, the Cardinals plan to rearrange their pitching rotation and not have Hudson make his next turn. The Cardinals will begin this week’s visit from Colorado with Quintana starting Tuesday and can have Montgomery and Adam Wainwright on normal rest for the remainder of the three-game series.
That frees up Hudson to throw an additional bullpen session before returning to the rotation on the upcoming trip.
“It would be good to give him extra time — that’s a big part of it,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “(You could) go two ways. The extra touches there could help him. He’s working on figuring some stuff out, and getting back out there could be useful. But doing an extra bullpen session could also help.”
During his start at Coors Field last week, Hudson allowed only two runs on four hits and utilized his slider on the way to a season-high six strikeouts. The right-hander did what coaches have asked him to do and worked with a far swifter pace, and he said afterward that he felt the difference of “the defense engaged, kept the ball on the ground for the most part and trying to do what I can to help win a game.” He also walked four batters — three of them on four pitches.
That will be a focus of his extra between-start work.
This season, Hudson has held left-handed batters to a .217 batting average. But in 221 plate appearances from left-handed hitters, he’s walked more (32) than he’s struck out (28).
“His biggest struggle — the walk rate, the overall way he’s using his arsenal against them,” Marmol said. “I don’t think it’s the best way to do it. So being super-intentional about strictly left-handers is our aim. If he has a better game plan against left-handed (hitters), then we have something that definitely works.”
A convergence of decisions met in the late innings Saturday, exposing Marmol and the Cardinals to some bullpen forensics, in-progress scrutiny and hindsight criticism.
Marmol welcomed it all Sunday morning during a 20-minute discussion with local writers about two specific choices: First, pinch-hitting Albert Pujols for Lars Nootbaar, thrusting Corey Dickerson into right field, where a game-turning triple soared by. Second, turning to Giovanny Gallegos in the 10th inning only to see him allow the aforementioned game-turning triple and take the loss.
“Fans want to know why Gio continues to get high-leverage situations. Fair question,” Marmol said. “Who do you want? It needs to be asked. Who do you want?”
In the late innings, Marmol wants strikeouts, and in that spot he wants Gallegos against a right-handed batter. Andre Pallante will see more left-handed batters. Including the triple Hunter Renfroe hit off Gallegos for Milwaukee’s 3-2 victory Saturday, right-handed batters have hit .169 off last year’s closer. Gallegos has struck out 37 of the 96 right-handed batters he’s faced. Marmol cited that stat to explain the matchup he’d hand-picked.
Closer Ryan Helsley was unavailable because he pitched two innings to secure Friday night’s win and assure he would pitch at least three innings during the series. He finished Sunday’s win.
Asked how the ramifications of pinch-hitting Pujols led to Dickerson in right field hours after the outfielder was scratched from the lineup because of pain in a calf muscle, Marmol revealed info not publicly available during the game. In the sixth inning, Dickerson said the pain had relented following treatment and he was good to go. That info gave Marmol a replacement in the field for Nootbaar. Marmol’s lineup already had Tommy Edman and Tyler O’Neill set to face Brewers lefty Taylor Rogers — matchups he welcomed — and now could slip Pujols in between them.
He sided with Pujols’ .581 slugging and .958 OPS against lefties (before two homers off lefties Sunday) over Nootbaar’s .346 slugging, .659 OPS vs. lefties, despite a recent surge.
Pujols struck out — on eight pitches.
He homered off Rogers on Sunday.
“Albert vs. Rogers — that’s what he’s on the team for,” Marmol said. “The ramifications are Dickerson in right field, who was supposed to play nine innings in right field. He does not see the game unless he says he is full go. If you tell me you can go, then you can go.”
With two home runs and their eight total bases Sunday, Pujols took another stride toward surpassing one of Stan Musial’s signature records. Musial, “The Man” when it comes to the Cardinals, retired as the club’s leader in total bases — a record he reached by coupling an elite batting average with what the modern games calls “damage.”
Musial led the National League almost as many times with his slugging percentage (six) as he did with the batting average title (seven). When he retired he had 6,134 total bases, nearly 300 more than the next-closest MLB player, Ty Cobb (5,854), and ahead of Babe Ruth (5,793).
Hank Aaron warped past Musial, retiring with 6,856 total bases.
Eight more and he ranks second all time, eclipsing Musial.
With his two homers Sunday, Pujols reached at least 10 homers for the 21st time, tying Musial and Barry Bonds for the third-most all time.
Sunday’s game time of two hours, 17 minutes was the fastest this season at Busch Stadium, six minutes ahead of the previous quickest game. It’s also the shortest game since Aug. 22, 2020, when the Cardinals completed a nine-inning game in front of empty seats (because of COVID-19 regulations) in two hours, 15 minutes.
• Sunday was the 51st anniversary of Bob Gibson’s no-hitter against the Pirates. Ted Simmons caught the 11-0 victory at Pittsburgh, and according to research by the Cardinals’ media relations staff, that makes it the only no-hitter in MLB history with a Hall of Fame battery.
• The Cardinals have won six consecutive games when facing a lefty starter.
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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The Cardinals' Dakota Hudson, right, sits with pitching coach Mike Maddux in the dugout after Hudson gave up three runs in the third inning of a game against the Marlins on June 28, 2022, at Busch Stadium.
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