When asked about the night rookie Thomas Saggese had in his major-league debut, from the scorching liner he hit at a fielder to the strike 3 he took on a pitch that seemed outside the strike zone, manager Oliver Marmol took brief issue the use of a verb.
Seems? he said to a reporter.
The pitch in question did indeed seem outside the zone.
Seemed like it was out of the zone.
Is that what you said? the manager continued.
OK.
Both the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds took issue with the strike zone throughout Tuesday's game.
Reds manager David Bell was ejected for sharing his opinion on it.
The strike zone, as governed by home-plate umpire Larry Vanover on Tuesday night, was definitely more than it seemed all evening.
But not its influence on the game.
That was exactly as it seemed, as plain and obvious in the box score as the strike zone appeared nebulous and unsure for the hitters.
In the top half of innings, the game was decided by pitches outside the zone.
In the bottom half, by pitches within the zone.
That was the night for the Cardinals.
No debate necessary.
In a game with more frustration than offense on both sides, the Cardinals goosed the Reds' lineup with to many gifts, 90 feet at a time, and the Cardinals unplugged their lineup with too few balls in play.
Right-hander Andre Pallante walked five batters and misplaced a critical wild pitch that led directly to all three of the Reds runs.
The Cardinals had six at-bats with runners in scoring position, including three in the ninth inning, and they struck out all six times.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the ninth with no outs, brought the winning run to the plate, and the Reds reliever Emilio Pagan struck out three consecutive batters to cement the 3-0 victory Tuesday at Busch Stadium.
The shutout was the Reds fourth consecutive win against the Cardinals, sixth in their past eight meetings, and just another night in a season spent groping for offense.
We didnt have a whole lot going on all game, Marmol said.
It felt like we had a little life there at the end of potentially pulling something off.
But offensively just wasnt enough.
The number that mattered most was another zero.
The math that got there took five walks and added six strikeouts to reach one more loss and a Cardinals back at .500 (72-72) with 18 games to play.
5 walks As he continues his early audition to be part of the Cardinals rotation plans for 2025, Pallante minimized the trouble the Reds could have caused with the gift of five walks.
But on a night of limited offense, Pallante still gave Cincinnati just enough for a rally.
It just comes down to not giving free passes, he said.
Five walks are a lot.
Pallante walked one batter in each of the first three innings, and he still was able to sidestep the trouble those created for him.
The obvious and available contrast was Reds rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder, who matched Pallante inning for inning but edged him in results by allowing as many walks (zero) as he did runs (zero) in his third big-league start on his way to his first big-league win.
Pallante walked Elly De La Cruz in the first inning only to watch the Reds electric talent turn that walk into a steal of second and a steal of third for his 63rd and 64th stolen bases of the summer.
The problems Pallante avoided in the first four innings by making timely pitches if not always successful pitches caught up with him in the fifth.
Two walks, one wild pitch, and a balk goosed the Reds offense so that a groundball up the middle was enough to produce two runs.
A groundball back to the mound produced the third.
I reversed my last outing, said Pallante, referencing a five-walk and five-run loss at Milwaukee this past week.
I felt like things I did a bad job with against the Brewers, I felt like I did a good job against the Reds.
But I kind of lost what I did well against the Brewers.
I kind of flipped it, really.
You walk five guys, youre going to give up runs.
I felt like I wasted a lot of pitches, Pallante continued.
Just non-competitive pitches early in counts.
I made a lot of good pitches.
But I also wasted too many.
Facing the Reds lineup for a third time, Pallante walked leadoff hitter Jonathan India to start the decisive fifth inning.
De La Cruz singled to reach base for a third time against Pallante (6-8).
The right-hander regained a grip on the inning when he spun a 77-mph knuckle curve past No.
3 hitter Tyler Stephenson for the first out.
The inning skidded from there.
A wild pitch did what the Reds were about to do anyway with a double steal.
After TJ Friedls two-run single skipped past a diving Saggese, Pallante balked to put Friedl in scoring position.
The Reds cleanup hitter stole third, and that allowed him to score on a groundball back to the mound.
Spencer Steer, another of the Reds speedsters, went from first to third on the play and while that didnt produce a run it showed that attention the Reds baserunning commanded.
Mentally draining, Pallante said.
Especially when youre out there focusing so hard.
Youve got runners on base it felt like every inning.
And every inning it felt like every one of them as going to steal.
Wears you out mentally.
I was definitely exhausted toward the end of the game.
Just from the way theyre attacking me.
To borrow from another conversation, it did not just seem like there was a Red on base every inning against Pallante.
There was.
In four of five innings that runner got there via walk.
In three of the five innings that runner was a threat steal.
Only once did that walk to directly into a run.
But all five added up on Pallante.
6 strikeouts During their review of the season and autopsy on things that went wrong, it wont take the Cardinals long to diagnose RISP as detrimental issue.
The Cardinals left Tuesday nights loss with the lowest slugging percentage in the National League with runners in scoring position (RISP).
Theyve hit .229 and reached base at a .304 OBP, but when it comes to doing damage turning runners on base into crooked numbers and runaway wins theyve struggled all year.
At 25, they have the fewest home runs in the majors with runners in scoring position.
Their OPS of .645 is higher than only Tampa Bay and the Chicago White Sox.
On Tuesday, they took those summerlong struggles into the fall.
They did not put a ball in play.
The strike zone did not help.
It was a tough night, Marmol said.
Both sides had issues with it.
It seemed like a moving target.
It was tough for our hitters to figure out where the zone was.
There are going to be nights like that.
It was frustrating for sure.
...
Especially when you have guys who control the strike zone really well at times.
A double on his 37th birthday put Paul Goldschmidt in scoring position in the first inning.
The inning ended with a strikeout.
In the sixth, Brendan Donovan reached base for a third time in the game and inched to second after a walk to Goldschmidt.
The inning ended with two strikeouts.
The trend was building in the wrong direction.
In the ninth, the inning ended with three consecutive strikeouts.
All of them with a runner in scoring position.
Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, who had two of the strikeouts with runners in scoring position, opened the ninth with singles.
Lars Nootbaar drew a walk to load the bases.
Down by three runs, the Cardinals had the tying run at first and the potential for three chances to seize the game from Reds reliever Pagan.
He got Jordan Walker looking 1-2 cut fastball for strike 3.
Pagan got Saggese swinging on an 0-2, 96-mph fastball.
I was really looking for heaters up, and I got a couple and just missed them, Saggese said.
Maybe swung too hard.
That was the pitch I was looking for and didnt really get my barrel to it.
Which happens.
The game ended with pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter missing on a 2-2 cutter.
In the span of 12 pitches, Pagan struck out three Cardinals at the plate with three Cardinals watching from the bases.
Combined, Pagan, Lowder, and reliever Justin Wilson got 12 swings and misses from the Cardinals in the game.
Most of those came with runners in scoring position, leaving them 0 for 6 for the night, and all six were strikeouts.
History will show they went down swinging..
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