By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Upon being moved out of the cleanup role and into the No. 6 spot in the Cardinals’ batting order, struggling third baseman Nolan Arenado was his own worst critic while wondering if his swing would ever come back to him again.
“I don't really have an answer,” Arenado said at the time of the demotion in the lineup. “Just play better, play more the way I think I'm capable of. But it's been a minute since I’ve felt like I could play the way I should. So, I don't know if it's coming back or not.”
Arenado proved himself plenty clutch though Friday night at Busch Stadium, driving a two-out triple into the left-center gap to score three runs and propel the Cardinals to a 4-3 defeat of the Arizona Diamondbacks in their series opener.
After Arizona took the lead in the game in the fourth inning, a solo home run by Ketel Marte, Arenado's triple came as part of a four run inning that gave St. Louis the lead for good. Victor Scott II singled and Lars Nootbaar walked before Masyn Winn advanced both with a sacrifice bunt.
Diamondbacks starter Zach Gallen intentionally walked Brendan Donovan to load the bases, but then walked Iván Herrera to tie the game scoring Scott. After Alec Burleson struck out, Arenado stepped to the plate and delivered the clutch go ahead hit, driving in Nootbaar, Donovan and Herrera
Arizona did threaten against Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley in the ninth inning. Randal Grichuk singled, advancing later in the inning to second on runner indifference. With two outs, Gabriel Moreno homered off Helsley, driving in Grichuk to make it a one run game, but Helsley forced Corbin Carroll to pop out in the very next at bat to end the game, earning his 10th save.
Miles Mikolas earned the win, improving to 4-2 on the season, pitching six innings and giving up four hits and one run, striking out four and walking one. With just seven combined hits in the game, the Cardinals had four overall, Scott leading the way going 2-3 at the plate with a run.
St. Louis and Arizona continue their series tomorrow. Matthew Liberatore (3-3, 2.92 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Merrill Kelly (5-2, 3.26 ERA) for the Diamondbacks. First pitch is at 1:15pm, pregame will be joined at 1:05 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.