MIAMI — Jack Flaherty delivered the start the Cardinals want more often.
Jordan Hicks got the rebound he needed immediately.
With Nolan Arenado again leading the charge offensively, the start by Flaherty and finish by Hicks allowed the Cardinals to slip out of Miami and avoid a four-game sweep by the host Marlins. Less than 24 hours after his throw way over the head of a teammate allowed two runs to score and cost the Cardinals the game, Hicks retired the three batters he faced in the ninth inning to secure a 3-0 victory Thursday night at loanDepot Park.
Flaherty pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings to settle the rotation as it heads into the final series before the All-Star break. The right-hander struck out five as he navigated around nine hits and relied on some superb defense to stop the Cardinals’ slide from reaching a season-worst 17 games under .500 and potentially 13 1/2 back in the division race. Flaherty (6-5) provided the pitching presence the Cardinals lacked all series, and Hicks gripped his sixth save to give him a quick recovery of Wednesday’s horrific end.
A scoreless game reached the sixth inning and the hitter most likely to change it.
Arenado almost single-handedly drove the Cardinals' multiple comebacks Wednesday with his three doubles. He had a fourth double stolen from him with a wall-crashing catch in center field. The Cardinals’ third baseman had grounded out in his first two at-bats against Marlins rookie Eury Perez. There would be no catching the ball in Arenado’s third.
Arenado’s 17th home run of the season and fifth extra-base hit of the series pierced the scoreless tie and gave the Cardinals what proved to be the only run they needed.
Alec Burleson doubled the lead with an RBI single that threaded through the infield. That gave Flaherty the two run lead he lobbied to protect in the seventh.
Flaherty’s feisty, final duel
When Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol visited the mound in the seventh inning, the Marlins had two runners on base and the Cardinals had one more out to get.
Whatever Flaherty said, he got the next batter.
He had to get him to get the inning.
With runners at the corners after consecutive two-out singles and a two-run lead, Flaherty faced Miami’s No. 3 hitter, Bryan De La Cruz. The Cardinals’ right-hander was behind after three pitches, 2-1, and then muscled his way back into command of the at-bat. Not too far removed from questions he did not appreciate about his velocity, Flaherty revved up as he surpassed his 100th pitch of the game. He tested De La Cruz with a 95.9-mph fastball, a 96.1-mph fastball, and a 95.1-mph fastball. He touched 96.4 mph during the game.
The pulse of the game quickened with the pitches and the making of a pivotal at-bat.
De La Cruz fouled off four consecutive full-count pitches, including one that sent first baseman Burleson lunging into the safety net trying to reach a ball headed for the crowd. The last pitch De La Cruz fouled off was a 95.5-mph fastball. Flaherty followed it with his curveball — one that tumbled from his hand, sent catcher Willson Contreras sliding to his knees, and spiked in the dirt ahead of the plate.
De La Cruz ignored it for the walk, but first he celebrated winning the nine-pitch duel with some words that brought Contreras nearly nose-to-nose with him. Baserunner Luis Arraez rushed in from third base to urge De La Cruz to take the base he earned, loaded them up, move on — the Marlins had something going.
Flaherty had that hitter to complete the inning.
The walk meant he would leave it to a teammate.
The decisive inning went to reliever Chris Stratton who had three runners on, a two-run lead, and one out to get to keep Flaherty’s scoreless start intact.
It took Stratton two pitches to get a groundout and end the momentary drama.
Cardinals turn misplay into wider lead
Not quite as fast as Stratton ended the seventh, the Cardinals increased their lead in the eighth. Arenado was in the middle of it mostly because the Marlins just avoided him entirely.
After Lars Nootbaar whistled a line drive off the center-field wall for a double, the Marlins intentionally walked Arenado with only one out. They had no interest in dealing with the Cardinals’ lone All-Star and his .630 slugging percentage at loanDepot Park or his .775 slugging percentage in his first 61 games against the Marlins.
With two outs, Nolan Gorman hit his second double in as many innings. In the seventh, his double skipped over the fence. In the eighth, it dropped between two Marlins fielders. Jean Segura attempted a back-to-home basket catch on Gorman’s flare to left field. He failed, and that drop allowed Nootbaar to score to up the lead, 3-0.
Dylan Carlson: Center of attention
With Tommy Edman’s return from a sore wrist uncertain, the Cardinals’ coaching staff met ahead of Thursday’s game to discuss their best outfield alignment for loanDepot Park.
They had rush Dylan Carlson into the lineup Wednesday when Edman first felt pain spike through his right wrist, and in order to avoid shifting every player, they just opted to keep Carlson in right field. That had been the decision when Edman was in center — to keep Carlson in a consistent spot when he played, and to have that spot be right field.
The conversation Thursday changed his spot.
And just in time, too.
Starting in center field for the first time since mid-May, Carlson made up some ground — and in the process helped Flaherty keep his scoreless start going.
In the fourth inning, Carlson raced into the left-center gap to snatch a line drive for an out with a runner at second base. In the fifth inning, again with a runner at second base, he dashed even farther and got even closer to the left-center wall to catch a fly ball from batting leader and All-Star Arraez. The bases loaded that same inning, Carlson went back on a drive to center to catch the final out. That made the catch at the warning track in the sixth rather routine.
“What’s our best way to put this together?” Marmol said about the outfield discussion presented to his staff. “We’ll give this a shot.”
Carlson showed — again — he could catch on there.
Edman took over in center in the eighth.
Marlins rookie dazzles
In his first start since his worst start of his rookie season, Marlins 20-year-old right-hander Perez did not take long to show the Cardinals why he’s the latest of the young pitching sensations in South Florida.
Perez struck out two of the first three batters he faced in a flawless first, and he had six strikeouts by the end of the fourth inning. He whipsawed through the Cardinals’ lineup with a 92-mph change-up and a fastball that topped out at 99.9-mph. The Cardinals had difficulty against both for the first five innings of the game.
The right-hander, who will have his innings managed at some point, was brilliant in June with a 3-0 record a 0.32 ERA. Atlanta welcomed him to July with six runs on seven hits before Perez could get a second out.
Apparently he bounces back as fast as he throws.
