ESPN news: Michael Siani’s Advice to his teammates after his first debut.
On Monday night, Michael Siani led the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles with his first-career home run and four RBI.
The Cardinals led 5-0 after Siani completed a four-run fourth inning with a three-run home run into the right-field bullpen.
In his 91 career plate appearances, it was Siani’s first home run. Before being claimed off waivers by the Cardinals in September of last year, he was a member of the Cincinnati Reds for a portion of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“It’s important to trust my approach, especially when there are runners in scoring position. Just stay confident in myself and take it one at-bat at a time,” Siani advised. “You know, the team is helped and confidence is built by getting those two hits tonight.”
The Orioles believed they had reached strike three on the Dean Kremer fastball, but home plate umpire Laz Diaz ruled it a ball. Siani’s home run came two pitches later.
“I’m not here to complain, but I didn’t know it was a missed call until after,” Kremer remarked. “Just didn’t follow through after that. He timed the next fastball after I showed him one too many.
In five and a third innings, Sonny Gray allowed three runs—only one earned—as the Cardinals triumphed for the sixth time in eight outings. Gray (6-2) gave up three hits, two walks, and six strikeouts.
Gunnar Henderson’s three-run home run in the sixth inning broke Gray’s no-hitter, trimming the Cardinals’ advantage to 5-3.
Henderson’s 417-foot rocket to the left-center field bleachers scored Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins, who had reached after St. Louis shortstop Masyn Winn made consecutive fielding errors.
It was Henderson’s fourth home run in as many games and his 16th of the season, leading the big leagues.
After the home run, Gray allowed hits to Ryan O’Hearn and Jordan Westburg. JoJo Romero recorded the final out of the sixth. Of his 88 pitches, Gray threw 31 in the sixth inning.
Gray remarked, “I felt great the entire time.” It’s just a long inning in the middle of the contest. I mean, in one inning, I nearly doubled my pitch count. I was feeling well. Walking out for the sixth time felt fantastic. I felt terrific through the sixth inning, maybe twenty to twenty-five pitches, and then, as I mentioned, the last five or so pitches I threw felt like a lot of pitches.
After John King and Andrew Kittredge combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, Romero finished with a scoreless seventh, and Ryan Helsley recorded his 14th save out of 15 opportunities.
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After winning, Gray displays his class and gestures to Marmol to end it.
Siani sparks the Cardinals’ attack with a career-high four RBIs and his first MLB home run.
Louis — After spending several months together, Oliver Marmol, the manager of the Cardinals, and star player Sonny Gray have witnessed a growth in their mutual trust and communication to the point where they frequently communicate with gestures rather than words.
Gray was having a bad start in Anaheim just last week. Marmol didn’t want the veteran right-hander to think that he was losing faith in him, so he sent pitching coach Dusty Blake to the mound for a conversation rather than going himself.
The 34-year-old Gray, who faced difficulties after cruising past the Orioles lineup with five scoreless innings, was put in charge of communication on Monday. Gray was sincere with himself and his new management after he let up a three-run home run to rising star Gunnar Henderson and the inning ended with 31 pitches, or over half of what he had thrown up to that moment.
At that point, Gray motioned for Marmol to leave the game by glancing into the dugout and waving his black glove at him. That was a moment when Gray felt comfortable being honest with his manager, and there’s a big difference between an aware pitcher and one who is stubborn.
“As much as I want to be like, ‘Oh man, I’m tough,’ I just thought [leaving the game] was the right thing to do,” Gray said after the Cardinals defeated Baltimore 6-3 at a sweltering Busch Stadium, picking up his sixth victory of the year. “I was merely expressing to Marmol, ‘Hey, I’m at my end!'”
“I was just being honest, and that’s kind of the relationship that’s being developed.” I’m aware that Oli gave me some room to maneuver during the last game, and I can genuinely tell him that I felt comfortable doing so. And in the middle of that at-bat by [Anthony] Santander, I can honestly say that I struck a wall. After that at-bat ended, I was simply being truthful.
Center fielder Michael Siani provided run support for Gray on Monday, as he singled in a run in the second inning then launched a three-run home run in the fourth for his first big ball in the Major Leagues and a career-high four RBIs. When the Cardinals visit his hometown of Philadelphia next week, Siani intends to give the ball from his first big league home run to his parents, Ralph and Kristen Siani, because his Statcast-projected 392-foot smash landed in the bullpen of the Cardinals.
After Dylan Carlson and Tommy Edman suffered injuries and Siani recovered from hitting, he commented, “It was good to finally get one out. I’ve had a couple of close calls.”from hitting 132 in April to.341 in May. “After I hit that one, I thought, ‘That has to go!'” And I knew it was over when I saw the men in the bullpen raise their hands quite rapidly.
Gray was out after 88 pitches, but on a steamy night, the last 31 pitches in the sixth inning proved to be fatal. Using just 57 pitches, he recorded six strikeouts in the first five innings as he easily navigated the Orioles’ strong lineup.
He wasn’t entirely to blame for some of the difficulties he ran into. Unusually, rookie shortstop Masyn Winn got tagged for errors on back-to-back plays: a hard-hit grounder and a fly ball that landed in shallow left center. Henderson launched his fourth home run in as many games and his MLB-best 16th of the season to make the Cardinals pay and terminate Gray’s no-hit attempt.
Gray threw a hanging sweeper to Henderson, who utilized it to finish second with Minnesota in the American League Cy Young Award competition in 2023. Since 2022, Henderson’s home run was the first to beat Gray’s sweeper. According to Baseball Savant, he had thrown 100 sweepers without surrendering an extra-base hit going into Monday. Baseball Savant states that he threw 578 sweepers in 2023 and gave up just four extra-base hits, none of which were home runs. This made his sweeper pitch the most effective in the game that season.
The Henderson home run put a dent in Gray’s run of success with the pitch, but it didn’t deter him from employing it.
After tossing 28 sweepers and receiving 17 swings and three whiffs, Gray stated, “It’s a good pitch, and I’ve wanted to throw it more and I did use it more tonight.”
Marmol was struck by Gray’s willingness to indicate to him when he was finished, demonstrating a sufficient awareness of his body and comfort in his position.
Marmol remarked, “There’s a lot of trust there.” “He’s as honest as they come. When they are capable of evaluating themselves, are cognizant of the circumstances, and have clear communication, things become easier. With us, it works both ways.
