As Cardinals took 'what the game is giving you,' offense shows ‘identity’ it can embody

MIAMI Even though he did not get the breaking pitch mix he expected in the seventh inning Monday night against the Marlins, Cardinals left fielder Alec Burleson took a simple approach as he knew his at-bat would go his way.

How the situation was created was enough assurance that he would deliver.

With his team tied 3-3 vs.

the Marlins after their one-run lead in the sixth inning was erased, Burleson strolled to the plate with designated hitter Ivan Herrera on second base after Herreras fly ball to right field was misplayed by Dane Myers.

Burleson took a splitter for a ball and a fastball for a called strike against reliever Lake Bachar before driving a splitter to center field for a line drive single that scored Herrera.

He hung a splitter and I was just able to put a barrel on it, Burleson said.

I wasn't trying to do too much.

I knew the odds were in my favor after the error, just because that's just the way baseball works.

Somebody makes an error with two outs and (they're) more than likely going to score.

I knew the odds were in my favor, and I just wanted to just put a barrel on the ball and drive him in.

After Burleson provided a lead, the Cardinals extended the one-run gap to five with help from an RBI single by Pedro Pages in the eighth inning and a two-run homer by Nolan Gorman in the ninth inning during an 8-3 win over Miami at loanDepot Park.

Burlesons RBI in the seventh helped the Cardinals (62-64) to a win that snapped a five-game losing streak.

The go-ahead single represented one of the moments a Cardinals hitter delivered when the game found them.

I like offensively what we did today.

That was the key, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said.

We need to create more of an identity and consistency around that.

When you look at the type of at-bats we took, we sprayed the ball all over the field.

We did hit the homer, but we took what the game was giving us, especially on the walks.

...

Those were the key to the game in my opinion.

On the night, the Cardinals' lineup combined for 10 hits, three of which came from Burleson.

They drew five walks.

Two of those came from Pages.

Cardinals hitter forced Miami starter Eury Perez to throw 61 pitches by the end of the fourth inning as he kept them scoreless.

In Perezs final inning, the hard-throwing righty walked Pages with one out, saw Nathan Church reach base on an error, allowed an RBI single to Lars Nootbaar, threw a wild pitch that allowed Nootbaar to advance a base, and walked Herrera to load the bases.

The prolonged at-bats vs.

Perez led the righty to be removed from the game with the bases loaded after 4 1/3 innings and 86 pitches thrown.

That's exactly it.

That's what I mean by just taking what the game is giving you, Marmol said of his clubs ability to drive Perez pitch count up.

Perez did a nice job.

You're facing 97 (mph) and 99 (mph) with good spin, and our guys did a good job of controlling the strike zone and making him work for it.

An RBI single by Burleson and Willson Contrerass sacrifice fly against reliever Ronny Henriquez provided a lead after starter Matthew Liberatore surrendered two runs in his first three frames.

When they regained the lead, the Cardinals received scoreless relief efforts from Matt Svanson, JoJo Romero, and Jorge Alcala following Liberatores four-plus innings of work.

Of the 10 hits the Cardinals produced, nine were singles.

Their lone extra-base hit was Gormans homer.

The homer came moments after pinch-runner Garrett Hampson scored from third base on a passed ball.

We took advantage of their mistakes, which is huge, Gorman said.

It's a good thing to do.

When we got runners on, we were able to get them in.

The uptick in offense comes as the Cardinals' offense receives an uptick after a sluggish July.

After finishing July with a .234 batting average as a unit, a mark that ranked 23rd in baseball and their lowest split by month this season, the Cardinals 10-hit showing Monday was their fifth game in August with double-digit hits.

At the end of Monday, the Cardinals team average jumped to .249, making it the 12th best in the majors.

That put them just behind the Tigers (.250) and ahead of the Reds (.248).

The uptick provided a glimpse of an offensive identity the Cardinals believe they can embody even if they are not slugging.

We're hit collectors.

We've got some power.

We can hit some home runs, but we're just hit collectors at heart, Burleson said of his teams success in grinding at-bats.

When we're driving in runs is when we're just collecting hits.

We talk about that a lot.

Hits come and go, so that's kind of where you've seen the waves in the season.

I think that our identity is we're going to grind you.

If you leave something over the middle, we're going to hit it hard...

and we're not going to necessarily give in to what guys are trying to do to us or whatever it may be.

This group's a lot of fun.

It's a lot of fun when we're doing that and stringing those hits together..

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