By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Lars Nootbaar broke out of a recent slump and helped the St. Louis Cardinals come from behind to beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-4 on Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
With Lars Nootbaar feeling the doldrums of a 1-for-19 slump that included eight strikeouts and just one walk -- a skid that was particularly jarring considering his strong start to the season -- Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol called the usually bubbly leadoff hitter into his office for a pep talk.
Marmol’s pick-me-up session didn’t last more than a couple of minutes. And rather than go over technical stuff, such as hitting mechanics or swing decisions, Marmol’s message was instead heavy on perspective.
“I just stared at him, I smiled and I said, ‘I love you, buddy,’” Marmol said of the talk. “[Nootbaar] said, ‘Man, sometimes, this game is miserable, and we sign up for it every year.’ You just continue to encourage them. Because this game is hard. When they make adjustments, the league makes adjustments and then they have to make another adjustment.
“The better they understand this game is hard, and this is just a small window of this happening, the better perspective they will have. So, he’ll be fine. He actually has the right attitude, but there are times when [slumps] are going to suck.”
The talk paid off as Nootbaar had a three hit night, that started with a single in the first inning, later scoring the first run of the game on a single by Willson Contreras. In the second inning, Nootbaar hit a two run home run driving in Jordan Walker to put St. Louis ahead 3-0.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, a groundout by Heston Kjerstad plated the first Baltimore run as Ryan Mountcastle scored. In the fifth, the Orioles took the lead, scoring three runs thanks to Ryan O' Hearn blasting a three run homer to center field pushing Baltimore ahead 4-3.
The Cardinals tied up the game in the seventh inning on a Masyn Winn single, Victor Scott II scoring after he was walked to open the inning. In the eighth, Nolan Arenado led the inning off with a go ahead home run, before the lead was extended on back to back triples by Nolan Gorman and Walker. Walker later scored on a single by Winn.
Steven Matz earned the win in relief, improving to 3-1 on the season, pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up one hit while striking out one. Andre Pallante in a no decision pitched 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven while giving up all four runs, three earned, on six hits and striking out seven while walking three. At the plate, Nootbaar led the way going 3-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored, walking once.
St. Louis and Baltimore wrap up their series tomorrow. Miles Mikolas (4-2, 3.51 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Cade Povich (1-3, 4.86 ERA) for the Orioles. First pitch is at 5:35 pm, pregame will be joined at 5:25 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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