SAN FRANCISCO 鈥 Three starts and 14 innings into the beginning of his season with Class AAA Memphis, Michael McGreevy had allowed nine runs. Through April, the young right-hander and former first-round draft pick had three different starts in which he allowed four or more earned runs.
It was difficult to see past those results to where the season would take him.
鈥淚t was a little bit of a smack in the face,鈥 McGreevy said. 鈥淕oing into Memphis 鈥 it was rough. If you were to tell me that I would finish in the big leagues throwing eight innings in the last game of the season for the St. 亚洲无码 Cardinals in San Francisco, I鈥檇 be like, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e lying.鈥 It鈥檚 a long season. Anything can happen. Keep your head down and grind is the best thing you can do.鈥
McGreevy finished the season exactly as he described, tying a venue-specific Cardinals rookie record with eight innings in a superb start to lead a 6-1 victory against the Giants in both teams鈥 season finale. The 18th pick in the 2021 draft, McGreevy struck out six and got 18 of his 24 outs on the ground or with a K. No lie.
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The Cardinals finished the season 83-79, a 12-game improvement from last year鈥檚 last-place finish but still home for October for the second consecutive year. The Cardinals have a news conference scheduled for Monday at which ownership intends to detail a 鈥渟hift in direction,鈥 according president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.
If the intent is to skew younger and rely on homegrown talents to develop into a contending team, the Cardinals got a glimpse of that goal Sunday at Oracle Park.
Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt might have played their final games as Cardinals while watching Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson ignite the offense. Batting atop the order, Donovan homered and reached base four times, and Burleson drove in three runs to finish as the team leader with 78 RBIs this season.
鈥淔eels a heck of a lot better when you go into the offseason with more positivity,鈥 manager Oliver Marmol said.
The Cardinals won their final four series.
And it was increasingly the younger side of the roster shaping those wins. McGreevy improved to 3-0, and the Cardinals did not lose any of the four games in which he appeared in this season. Season finales for teams can be brisk events, and Sunday鈥檚 did not break from tradition with a two-hour, 29-minute runtime. But McGreevy took advantage of the Giants鈥 eagerness. He pitched six shutout innings as the Cardinals built their lead, and he did so efficiently.
鈥淚 looked up in the fourth inning and he had like 40 pitches, and he might go the whole thing,鈥 Donovan said.
鈥淣o matter what game it is 鈥 the first game of the season, the middle of the season, the dog days of summer or the last game of the season, you know, 鈥楬ey, I can go long,鈥欌 McGreevy said. 鈥淎nd you always want to end the year strong. The more and more they swung, I kind of figured we鈥檙e moving around here. Hey, we can go deep in this thing.鈥
The game was representative of his season, especially after the hiccups to start the year in Memphis. McGreevy was throwing over and over and over again a new cutter 鈥 something that he could use against left-handed batters. There was early turbulence, but he gathered momentum and earned a promotion for a one-night engagement in the majors. He limited the Rangers to one run in seven innings, and his season really snowballed from there.
Similarly Sunday, he allowed one ball to reach the outfield through his first three innings and two total through five innings. The only run he allowed came in the eighth after an error.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 your first few or your last few 鈥 it鈥檚 hard to go out there and have a good game and go eight innings, one run,鈥 Goldschmidt said. 鈥淭hat was cool to see. Especially when you鈥檙e young and you鈥檙e trying to get your foot in and prove yourself and prove to yourself and the organization or other organizations that you can do it. That will give him confidence going into the offseason. Confidence is a huge thing.
鈥淓very start, feels like a playoff game when you鈥檙e so young.鈥
Donovan started the Cardinals鈥 scoring with a solo homer to Levi鈥檚 Landing, a lookout at Oracle Park between right field and McCovey Cove. He singled home another run in the fifth, and the Burleson took over. Burleson had his three RBIs in back-to-back innings, and he delivered a two-run single in the sixth.
鈥淭ake some positives into the offseason,鈥 he said.
McGreevy鈥檚 pitch count started to climb by the seventh, but Marmol wanted to 鈥済et him a taste鈥 of the eighth and see how he responded. McGreevy retired the side in order, striking out two. His 91st and final pitch was a 93.8 mph fastball missed for a strikeout.
His eight innings bested the previous record for a start by a Cardinals rookie in San Francisco by three outs.
鈥淗e鈥檚 not going to be sped up by anything, and that鈥檚 where this game gets you, especially as a young guy coming up for the first or second time,鈥 Marmol said. 鈥淭he game speeds up. Innings get away from you. You end up going to dugout and saying, 鈥楳an, I wish I would have done that better and slowed the game down.鈥 He鈥檚 already doing that. And his stuff plays. He needs to leave here going into the offseason feeling he鈥檚 really confident he belongs here.鈥
Winn rests after record start
There were a few times earlier in the season, as rookie shortstop Masyn Winn played through stiffness in his lower back, that he had trouble bending to tie his shoes.
Yet he finished the season with a club record for reliability.
With his start Saturday, Winn broke a 117-year-old record by playing shortstop for the Cardinals as a rookie in a 148th game. That snapped the record set in 1907 by Ed Holly and illustrated a priority Winn set early in the year and shared again recently with his manager: He wanted to be an everyday player, and that meant finding a way to play every day. He did get the day off Sunday.
鈥淲hen he did this year was incredible,鈥 Marmol said. 鈥淗e posted regardless of how he felt because he wants to be known as a guy who does exactly that, and he鈥檚 found his way to hit for power and when to pick his spots to take his line drive to right. He鈥檚 only going to use his speed for stolen bases more and more. He plays a complete game, and he鈥檚 fun to watch.鈥
Winn led all MLB rookies in runs scored (85) and multi-hit games (47), and he was second in hits (156) and fifth in homers (15). In several other recent years, he鈥檇 be a favorite for the National League Rookie of the Year award, but this year, he might not appear on several ballots because of rookies Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh), Jackson Merrill (San Diego) and Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee). Where Winn could find an ornament to hang on his rookie season is on defense.
He is a leading contender for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award at shortstop.
His plus-14 defensive runs saved lead all shortstops in the majors, and he is highly ranked in several of the metrics used as part of voting for the Gold Glove.
鈥淗e can be a really (expletive) good player,鈥 Marmol said.
Extra bases
Carpenter started at first base for the first time all season and singled in his only at-bat. He was removed from the game so that if that was his final swing with the Cardinals it was, fittingly, a single to left field. Marmol joked it was better than Carpenter leaving the field for the last time as a Cardinal 鈥済etting ejected鈥 for arguing with the umpire on the strike zone.
- Cardinals pitcher Matthew Liberatore had a bruise but no other damage from being hit by a line drive Saturday.
- The Cardinals are 72-60-1 on the final day of the regular season since joining the National League.
- The last time the Cardinals played a game in the Pacific time zone earlier than a noon start time was 1984, before a Beach Boys concert at Candlestick Park. Rick Horton, now on the KMOX (1120 AM) broadcast of games, pitched seven innings and current coach Willie McGee had two doubles in a 5-1 win that began at 10 a.m. local time.