ST. LOUIS — The streak is still alive.
Kyle Leahy may not have had his best stuff on Friday night, but he was able to turn in his eighth straight start of allowing two runs or less. The outing moves him into a tie with Detroit’s Troy Melton for the second-longest such streak in the Majors this season.
But keeping the streak alive wasn’t easy.
Leahy had to pitch around constant traffic on the bases, as the Rockies pounded out eight hits in his five innings in a 3-2 victory for the Cardinals, who have won four of their past five games.
But Leahy allowed just two runs by bearing down in those stress-filled situations as the Rockies went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position against the Boulder, Colo., native. Eight strikeouts and zero walks also helped Leahy’s cause.
“I had second and third twice, maybe less than two outs, and if you can mix in a strikeout there, and then a sac fly only brings in one instead of two sac flies bringing in two possibly,” Leahy said. “So, yeah, that was big, and just using my stuff in areas that I know it’s effective and executing a pitch when you need to.”
Leahy struck out the side after allowing a leadoff double to Jake McCarthy in the first inning, and he limited the damage to just one run in the second and fourth innings after the first two Colorado hitters reached.
“He’s one that’s not going to get sped up, and he’s able to lock in and not make the moment any bigger than it needs to be in order to execute his pitches,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He showed that very well tonight. But when it was on the line, it’s when he was at his best.”
Leahy was aided by a double play after surrendering a leadoff single in the third and ended his night with strikeouts of Mickey Moniak and Hunter Goodman after another leadoff single by McCarthy in the fifth.
“I don’t think I got a leadoff hitter out tonight in any inning,” Leahy said. “Part of that was my fault, not getting over [to cover first] on one of them, but yeah, getting out of situations with runners in scoring position, less than two outs, a strikeout in there really helps you.”
It was the fifth straight start with one or fewer walks for Leahy.
Justin Bruihl, Caleb Ferguson and Ryne Stanek combined for three scoreless innings of relief and Riley O’Brien shut the door in the ninth to earn his 28th save in 33 opportunities this season.
“The amount of double plays we were able to turn at just some pretty key moments,” Marmol said. “So you look at [Leahy] navigating that lineup, did a nice job. They took some good swings, but making pitches when he needed, and just getting out of a lot of those innings, but he executed well and got swing and miss when he needed, kept them on the ground when he needed, and then the bullpen did a phenomenal job of doing their part as well. So overall, that was a really really solid night.”
Jimmy Crooks led off the second with a single, and Masyn Winn followed with a double. Both would score on sacrifice flies by Nathan Church and Bryan Torres to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Iván Herrera’s home run in the third made it 3-1.
Winn was a key part of both of the team’s double plays, and his defense in particular helped Leahy limit the damage early on. He also added a pair of stolen bases.
“What Masyn did today, it’s unreal,” Marmol said. “Like you look at him on the field, on the bases and then at the plate. And when you talk about having one of the highest ceilings in the league, like that’s a great demonstration of it, man. Like the at-bat he took and shot that ball to right field for the double that set up the two sac flies, which were a key part of that game. And then he gets on, steals second, steals third and then defensively made several plays tonight that just no one else makes. It’s just not close. So it was a pretty electric night for him.”
