Marmol touts bats, then celebrates first win behind three HRs, O'Neill's 5 RBIs
Scheduled tribe. LOUIS — Oliver Marmol was still three hours away from managing his first Major League Baseball game when he scored his first unofficial win. The 35-year-old rookie captain looked like the second arrival of Babe Ruth when he perfectly called his shot - predicting the Cardinals' overlooked and underrated lineup would steal the show - even on a day when future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols , Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright were about to applaud.
All St. Louis went on to do the rest of the opening day - scoring three home runs, pounding two doubles and coaxing Pittsburgh pitchers for seven walks - making their young manager look like a genius. When Tyler O'Neill hit a three-run home run and a career-best five, Paul Goldschmidt made four walks and Nolan Arenado and Tommy Edman scored late home runs, the Cardinals fired their offense to 9–0. rotated in Pirates.
A sold-out crowd of 46,256 saw the cards race to their power to lead 4-0 in the second innings, nail on the fifth with some short-ball maneuvering in the sixth and the final blow with four more runs in the eighth.
"It was a perfect display of what they are capable of," Marmol said after their first win. “For example, you take [Goldschmid] where as a club we are stubborn about not leaving the [strike] zone, and he was very good with that. Then, when they get into the zone, they scare back."
Pujols, one of the greatest players in franchise history from his first run in St. Louis from 2001–11, returned to the Cardinals jersey for the first time since Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. Pujol, who was given several standing ovations, did not receive a hit, but he reached errors twice. Aside from many sentiments, Pujols said that his biggest takeaway was the potential of the Cards lineup.
"I saw it when we scored 29 in our first game at Spring Training," Pujols said with a laugh. "The speed and power we have at the top of this lineup is a lot more than we could ask for. Hopefully we stay healthy and keep hitting like that."
In a season where he set career highs in batting average (.286), home runs (34) and RBIs (80), O'Neill wasted no time in proving 2021. His hot shot in the middle took the Cardinals into the game with three batsmen in the first run of the season. After an inning, he hit a sinker from JT Brubaker at a statcast-estimated 396 feet — with an exhaust velocity of 105 mph — for a home run of three. O'Neill paid the Pirates in the first and second innings when he pitched around Goldschmidt and was forced to confront his rage with the runners on base.
"We've always believed in ourselves, we have great chemistry in the locker room, we trust the guys behind us in the lineup, and we're an offensive force," O'Neill said. Five RBIs on opening day.
That first win feeling 🙌 pic.twitter.com/iyrtnUu0H8
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 7, 2022
Six Cardinals players, led by two from O'Neill and Harrison Bader, had a hit. Newly established leadoff hitter Dylan Carlson led the bottom of the first with an opposite field double and the latter had a sacrificial fly. The top five hitters were on base 13 times, and even number 9 hitter Edman scored a home run in the rain late in the day. For Goldschmidt, he was the first since Manny Ramirez in 2002 to draw four opening day walks.
Arenado said, "I think our lineup is deeper than we get the credit for, but at the same time we weren't that great last year, so I can see why we didn't get the respect that we think we deserve." that we should be." “We have to go out and prove it. Today was a good start."
Arenado's words were very similar to what Marmol had said three hours before the first pitch, when he predicted the Cardinals would be surprised by his offensive firepower. Marmol said the focus has been mostly on St. Louis' historic Five Gold Gloves and 40-year-old Wainwright's steady pitching, but is ready to take down the offense on opponents.
"I think we can be more of an aggressive club and build an identity around that. I think it's going to be real," said Marmol of his hopes for the season. "I don't think crime is at the forefront of people's thoughts about what they are capable of. But I think we're going to commit a very powerful offense."
Oh, you wanted the game ball Oli 🤣 pic.twitter.com/epu7opRw5n
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 8, 2022