ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
RECENT REDBIRDS: The St. Louis Cardinals continue their 7-game tour (2-2 at CIN, 0-1 at CLE) of the Buckeye State tonight when they play the middle game of their Memorial Day weekend 3-game series at Cleveland’s Progressive Field…the Cardinals came up short in last night’s series opener, losing 4-3…they gained a split of their 4-game series in Cincinnati with a 2-1 win on Thursday afternoon…St. Louis began the season 10-24 before going on their current 13-6 run…tonight’s game marks the 1/3 mark of their 162 schedule.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Cardinals have lost the first game in 13 of their 16 series, including a franchise record 11-straight to begin the season…they are 4-0 when winning the series opener, but just 2-8-2 in series when losing the first game…they last won a series when dropping the opener April 10-12 at Colorado (2-1).
ERIE(LY) INFREQUENT: Cleveland is among the ballparks/cities the Cardinals have visited the least among the current MLB cities, playing just 14 games at Progressive Field (1998, 2001, 2009, 2015 & 2021)…other infrequent stops for the Redbirds include NY Yankees (6 total: 3 at original Yankee Stadium & 3 at current Yankee Stadium); 8 at Oakland Coliseum; 9 at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, 11 at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field & Toronto’s Rogers Centre, 12 at Seattle’s T-Moblie Park & in Minneapolis (6 at Target Field & 6 at Metrodome).
ROAD TRIPPING REDBIRDS: This week’s roadtrip began a stretch in which the Cardinals will be playing 13 of 15 games on the road (May 22-June 7)…their only two home games over that time span are with cross-state rival Kansas City on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, and Tuesday, May 30.
LAUNDRY STOP COMING: The Cardinals two-game series/homestand with the KC Royals next week will be their shortest regularly-scheduled homestand since a two-game stay in the midst of a 12 of 14 game stretch on the road in July of 2002 when they stopped by St. Louis for a two-game home set with the San Francisco Giants (July 17-18) before hitting the road again.
FLIGHT PATTERN: Winners of 13 of their last 19 games (May 7-present), the Cardinals enter today in T4th place in the NL Central, 5.0 games behind first place Milwaukee…St. Louis had drawn to within 5.0 games of the division lead, gaining 5.0 games in the division since May 7… The Cardinals were in last place for 24 straight days (April 25-May 20) … Tonight’s game is the 16th game of a season-high stretch of 19 consecutive without an off-day (10-5 record). REDBIRD RESURGENCE: Since May 7, the Cardinals are 3rd in MLB in win pct. (.684, 13-6), 1st in runs scored (122), 2nd in runs per game (6.4), 1st in slugging (.483), 1st in OPS (.829), 1st in RBI (117), 1st in total bases (316), T1st in MLB in wins (13) and they rank 2nd in stolen bases (22) & homers (34).
ROOT FOR NOOT: Lars Nootbaar paced the Cardinals with three hits last night, extending his season-high hit streak to 5 games by hitting safely in every game on the current roadtrip…Noot has packed three multi-hit games into his trip, and is batting .450 (9-20) during the hit streak…He owns a team-best .404 batting mark (23-57) in his 14 interleague games this season with 11 runs scored and 5 2B’s.
GORMAN STILL STREAKING: Despite going hitless last night, snapping his career-best 15-game hit streak, Nolan Gorman drew a 1st inning walk and has now reached base in 17-straight games, one shy of Paul Goldschmidt’s club season-high mark of 18 consecutive games reaching safely…“GO-AHEAD” GORMAN: Gorman has collected 19 of his team-high 40 RBI in the 7th inning or later and has posted a .375 BA (9-24) with 4 HR & 11 RBI in close & late situations…Gorman leads the team with 10 go-ahead RBI and is the National League co-leader with his 7 game-winning RBI…7 of his 13 HR’s have been go-ahead blasts, 2nd in MLB to Aaron Judge & Jorge Soler, both with 8.
BURGER PHONE HOTLINE: The Cardinals have used their dugout Burger Phone to place an order for 72 home runs this season, 5th most in the MLB…they rank 3rd iin homers for the month of May (40) to the Yankees (44) & Braves (44)…The Redbirds sport a 19-15 record in games when they go yard this season, but are 4-15 in homerless games. REDBIRD RIBEYES: The Cardinals have had six players enjoy 4+ RBI games in their last 13 games, as Andrew Knizner (4), Nolan Gorman (5), Nolan Arenado (4), Willson Contreras (6), Paul DeJong (4, twice) and Óscar Mercado (5) all had games with 4 or more RBI in that span
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP JACK FLAHERTY (3-4, 5.29)
TONIGHT’S GAME
NL Ranks: Runs (32, 11th), Earned Runs (30, 10th), Ground Into Double Plays (14, 1st), GIDP/9 IP (2.47, 1st), Walks (33, 1st)
- Making his 11th start of the season and his 3rd career start vs. Cleveland. Marks his 109th career start (113th app.). This will be his first career start at Progressive Field.
- Needs nine strikeouts to tie Ray Washburn (663) and 11 to tie Ray Sadecki for 24th and 23rd all-time in Cardinals history.
- His 14 ground into double plays induced leads all Major League pitchers and is one shy of establishing a new personal single-season high.
- Has walked 5 or more batters in three of his 10 starts.
- Owns a career mark of 8-4, 3.66 ERA in 19 career starts in the month of May.
- Trails only Wainwright & DeJong in years of Cardinals service on 40-player roster.
- Has held his opposition to a .211 career batting average, ranking 29th among MLB pitchers with more than 500 career innings pitched in the Live Ball Era (post-1920).
- Missed a total of 122 games in 2022 due to a right shoulder injury (64 games from April 7-June 14 and another 58 games from June 27-Sept.4). Missed 88 games in 2021 with an oblique injury.
- Since becoming a full-time starting pitcher in 2018, ranks 14th among MLB pitchers with a 10.33 strikeouts/9 IP (min. 500 IP).
- St. Louis sports a 58-50 overall record in Flaherty’s 108 career starts. In his first 51 starts from his MLB debut (9/1/2017) until the 2019 All-Star Break, St. Louis went 21-30 (.412). In his last 57 starts (July 16, 2019-present), St. Louis is 37-20 (.649).
- In 108 career starts, is 35-10 when receiving 2+ runs of support, 28-1 when receiving 3+ runs, and 24-0 with 4+ runs of support. Has received 2 or fewer runs of support in 64 of 108 (59.2%) career starts. Has 23 starts with zero runs of support.
- Is 21-15 in 54 career games (51 starts) at Busch Stadium. His .193 opponent batting average is the lowest in stadium history (min. 100 IP), while his 314 strikeouts (8th) ranks in the Top 10 among all pitchers in the ballpark’s history (since 2006). Trails Chris Carpenter (356) by 42 for 7th all-time in stadium history.
LAST TIME OUT
- Pitched 4.2 innings allowing three runs. Loaded the bases in the 5th inning, but couldn’t squeeze out the final out for the win as Drew VerHagen stranded the runners following a balk. Passed Slim Sallee into 25th place in Cardinals history with 654 strikeouts.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
5/21 LAD W 10-5 — 4.2 4 3 3 4 5 0 103-61
2023
- Moved passed Slim Sallee (652) into 25th place in Cardinals history against the Dodgers (5/21) recording five strikeouts in the game.
- Struck out a season-high 10 batters vs. MIL (5/15), his 10th career double-digit strikeout game and 4th against the Brewers. Was his 24th
career scoreless start. - Surrendered career-highs in runs (10), earned runs, tied his career-high in hits (9) and was removed after 2.1 innings as the Cardinals lost 11-7 at home to the Angels.
- Allowed 7 hits in 4.2 IP on 4/28 at LAD, snapping his string of allowing six or fewer hits in 30 consecutive starts dating back to Sept. 20, 2020, longest such streak in Cardinals history. Jack hold the top three streaks in Cardinals history (22 from 2019-20 & 21 in 2018). His streak of 30 such games was one game shy of tying Shohei Ohtani and Nolan Ryan (31) for 5th place all-time in MLB history.
- Earned his 2nd win of the season and struck out a season-high nine batters allowing just three runs on five hits over 6.0 IP on 4/23 at SEA. All the action but one single occurred in the first two innings and he retired 12 of his last 13 batters faced including seven by strikeout.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
GUARDS HOLD ON TO WIN SERIES OPENER
Cleveland edged St. Louis by a 4-3 margin in front of 31,303 on Friday night at Progressive Field to take the opener of a 3-game series vs. the Cardinals…marked the largest crowd for a [non-Opening Day] April or May home game in Cleveland since since May 17, 2013 vs. Seattle (34,282)…club is 2-2 on current 6-game homestand against Chicago-AL (1-2) & St. Louis (1-0)…Cleveland has won 4 of 6 and 7 of last 12 home games (11-14 overall).
SHANE BIEBER turned in his 9th quality start of the year to earn his fourth victory (6.2IP, 5H, 2R-ER, 4BB, 2SO, WP, 108 pitches)…held the Cardinals scoreless through 5.0 until allowing single runs on sac flies in both the 6th and 7th frames…Cleveland broke a scoreless tie after staging a 4-run rally against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (5.0IP, 5H, 4R-ER, 2BB, 2SO, HB, 91 pitches) in the bottom of the 5th…the Guardians first 3 batters of the frame reached safely after ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ was hit by a pitch before consecutive singles from MIKE ZUNINO and MYLES STRAW… STEVEN KWAN singled home the club’s first tally ahead of AMED ROSARIO’s bases-clearing 3-run double.
Guardians have dropped 22 of last 35 overall since starting year 9-6…Guardians (22-28) sit in 3rd place in AL Central standings, 3.5 games behind 1st-place Minnesota (26-25) and 1.5 games behind 2nd-place Detroit (-2.0G, 23-26)…last season, club went 9-12 in April & 12-12 in May (21-24).
THE GUARDIAC KIDS
With another one-run victory last night, the Guardians lead MLB with 23 one-run games out of their 50 games played this season, owning a 10-13 record in such contests…Cincinnati (20, 8-12), Miami (19, 15-4) and Los Angeles-AL (19, 10-9) are the next closest teams…Cleveland’s 23 one-run contests are the club’s most through the first 50 games of a season since 1967 when they went 9-14 over 23 one-run contests…the Guards 10 one-run victories rank T4th in MLB and T1st in the AL with Los Angeles-AL (10-9).
The Guards also lead MLB this season with 34 games decided by 2-runs-or-less, holding an even 17-17 record…Cleveland has the most games decided by 2-runs-or-less in the first 50 games of a season since the 2015 Seattle Mariners played 35 such games (17-18 record)…Cleveland’s 17 wins by 2-runs-or-less rank 2nd in MLB behind Miami (18)…Los Angeles-AL (32, 16-16) is the only other club this season with 30+ games decided by 2-runs-or-less… since 2022, the Guards 60 wins in such games only trails New York AL’s 63…since 2013, Cleveland’s .547 win percentage (381-315) in games decided by 2-runs-or-less ranks 3rd in MLB/2nd in the AL… the Guardians 34 contests decided by 2-runs-or-less are the most through the first 50 games of a season in franchise history.
MOST CLE 2-RUNS-OR-LESS GAMES IN FIRST 50G
YEAR COUNT RECORD (W%)
2023 34 17-17 (.500)
1910 33 17-11-5 (.591)
1943 33 16-17 (.485)
1944 33 16-17 (.485)
1967 33 15-18 (.455)
RAMÍREZ RE-WRITING RECORD BOOKS
As Cleveland’s longest-tenured player on its roster, JOSÉ RAMÍREZ ranks near the top of several categories in the franchise’s record book…Ramírez (534) needs just two extra-base hits to pass Nap Lajoie (535) for 6th-most extra-base hits in club history…he has 198 career home runs as a Clevelander, and is 3 homers away from passing Travis Hafner (200) for 9th-most in franchise history…with 169 career go-ahead RBI, he is two goahead RBI away from passing Carlos Baerga (170) for 5th-most in Cleveland history.
TITO TERRIFIC
Terry Francona currently owns a career record of 1,896-1,614, putting him at 16th all-time in manager wins (Elias)…with 6 more victories he will pass both Hall-of-Famer Bill McKechnie (1,899- 1,724) and Gene Mauch (1,901-2,037), cementing himself at 14th all-time…among active managers, he ranks 3rd, behind TEX’s Bruce Bochy (2,035-2,047) and HOU’s Dusty Baker (2,122-1,811).
Francona spent four years in Philadelphia from 1997-2000, amassing a record of 285-363…he spent eight seasons with Boston, winning 2 World Series, owning a record of 744-552 and boasting all but two seasons with 90+ wins…in his 11 years in Cleveland he has gone 867-699, winning 4 AL Central titles and reaching the World Series in 2016.
PUT 4 ON THE BOARD
Cleveland improved to 14-5 this season when scoring 4-ormore runs…since 2022, the Guardians are 92-18 when scoring 4+ runs, holding the 6th-highest win percentage among MLB clubs…Cleveland is 701-185 (.791) when scoring 4+ during the Terry Francona era (since 2013), holding the 2nd-highest win percentage in MLB behind Los Angeles-NL (767-157, .830).
WIN % WHEN SCORING 4+ RUNS, SINCE 2013
TEAM WIN% RECORD
Los Angeles-NL .830 767-157
Cleveland .791 701-185
New York-AL .783 734-203
St. Louis .780 704-198
Houston .778 699-200
WELCOME TO CLASE, I’M YOUR CLOSER, EMMANUEL
EMMANUEL CLASE’s 17 saves currently leads MLB, four ahead of San Francisco’s Camilo Doval and San Diego’s Josh Hader… the 25-year-old right-hander has a 3.60 ERA (10ER/25.0IP) with 18 strikeouts in 26 appearances this season, which ranks T1st with Miami’s Andrew Nardi…despite leading the league in saves, Clase has allowed 10ER this season after allowing just 11ER in 72.2IP (1.36 ERA) in 2022.
While Clase is holding right-handed batters to a .188 (9-for-48) average this season, left-handed hitters own a .353 (18-for-51) average with
9 RBI against him…for his career, he’s held lefthanded batters to a .212 (70-for-330) clip and right-handers to a .189 (71-for-376) mark.
Among relievers with 100.0+ IP since 2021, he ranks 1st with a 1.67 ERA (31ER/167.1IP), 174 appearances, 0.32 HR/9 and a .488 OPS allowed…he ranks 2nd with a .234 OBP allowed, 14.2 P/IP, 2.19 FIP, 8.23 BR/9 and 83 saves (T2nd)…his 0.91 WHIP and .254 SLG allowed ranks 3rd.
TONIGHT’S STARTER – 61 TANNER BIBEE RHP
BIBEE AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 1-1 3.18 3 3 17.0 15 6 6 4 17
Career 1-1 3.18 3 3 17.0 15 6 6 4 17
BIBEE’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 1-1 3.18 5 5 28.1 26 10 10 8 25
Career 1-1 3.18 5 5 28.1 26 10 10 8 25
TONIGHT’S START
The 24-year-old right-hander is making his sixth career start, fourth at home, in the second matchup of this 3-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Looking to make his third straight quality start following his 6.0-inning outing at New York-NL…seeking his first win since his Major League debut on April 26 vs. Colorado…making his third career Interleague start; is 1-0 with a 2.31 ERA (3ER/11.2IP).
Bibee was originally selected by Cleveland in the 5th Round (156th overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Cal State Fullerton… entered the 2023 season as Cleveland’s #5 prospect according to MLB.com…he is starting on extended 5 days’ rest; is 0-1 with a 3.78 ERA (7ER/16.2IP) on 5 days’ rest.
LAST TIME OUT
He last toed the rubber on in a 5-4 defeat on May 21 in Game 1 of a doubleheader with the New York Mets…he did not factor into the decision after allowing 2R/ER on 7 hits over 6.0 innings with 3 strikeouts and 4 walks…first saw trouble in the 2nd frame, loading the bases, but escaped with no damage incurred…Bibee would pick off Starling Marte to get the second out of the 4th inning before allowing the two next batters to reach base…Eduardo Escobar capitalized with an RBI-single, giving the Mets their first run…he would escape another bases-loaded jam in the 6th frame with one run allowed on a Gary Sanchez sac-fly…his 4 walks tied his season high…all 8 of his walks this season have come in 2 total starts…has allowed just 3R/ER over 13.2 innings (1.98 ERA) with 10 strikeouts and 4 walks in his past 2 outings.
ROAD TO THE SHOW
2023: Opened the season with Triple-A Columbus, totaling a 1.76 ERA (3ER/15.1IP) in 3 starts…he was one of 4 International League starters with 2 wins before being called up…his 19SO (T1st), 15.1IP (2nd), .151 AVG (4th) and 11.15 SO/9 (4th) all ranked in the top 5 among International League starters (min. 11.0IP).
2022: Split the season between High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron, ranking 2nd in the minor league system with 167 strikeouts, T2nd with 132.2 innings pitched, and tallied a 2.17 ERA, ranking 3rd in the system…his 167 punchouts were the 11th-most in all of Minor League Baseball.
With Double-A Akron, he became the third Cleveland pitcher to be named Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, following Adam Miller (2006) and Jeanmar Gomez (2009), tallying a 6-1 record with a 1.83 ERA (15ER/73.2IP) and 81 strikeouts/14 walks.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Bibee is holding hitters to a .125 (5-for-40) average with 14 of his 25 strikeouts the first time through an opposing team’s lineup… opposing clubs are .286 (12-for-42) when facing the rookie a second time and .409 (9-for-22) the third time through the order…in his first five starts, he has not given up a run in the first two innings (10.0IP) as opposing batters have combined for a .094 (3-for-32) average in those frames.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Among Rookie starting pitchers (min. 25.0IP) he ranks T2nd in WHIP (1.20), 3rd in ERA (3.18), 4th in baserunners allowed per 9.0 innings, 5th in lowest H/9 (8.26) and 5th in K/BB (3.13)…has allowed just one home run over 28.1IP (0.32 HR/9), 4th in the AL and 9th in MLB (min. 28.0IP).
On April 26, after striking out 5 in a row across the 2nd and 3rd innings, he became the first pitcher in club history since at least 1920 to strike out five in a row in their MLB debut…Bibee became the 7th pitcher in Cleveland history to make their MLB debut with an 8+ strikeout performance, last done by LOGAN ALLEN on April 23 against Miami…he also became the 2nd pitcher in club history to debut with 8+ strikeouts and zero walks, last done by Floyd Weaver (W, 5.0IP, 3H, 1R/ER, 0BB, 8SO) on September 30, 1962 against Los Angeles-AL in Game 2 of a doubleheader.
