Pitcher Andre Pallante is still adapting to his new role during his first full season in the St. Louis Cardinals’ starting rotation as evidenced by his giving up more runs than he has innings pitched over his last three starts.
He will try to reverse that trend when the Cardinals host the Miami Marlins on Monday night to open a three-game series at Busch Stadium.
Pallante (5-7, 4.91 ERA) has shown signs of strain in those three most recent starts, allowing 18 runs (17 earned) on 25 hits and five walks in 15 2/3 innings.
The Cardinals have lost seven of their last 10 games while losing ground in the National League wild-card race. They fell 9-2 to the San Diego Padres on Sunday while settling for a 2-2 series split at home.
“That’s baseball,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That’s a loaded roster. I thought we held our own pretty damn good … at the end of the day, they out-executed over us the last two.”
The Marlins, meanwhile, won four straight games before losing 3-2 Sunday at Milwaukee. They are 6-3 since the All-Star break.
Pallante suffered a 6-0 loss to Colorado in his most recent start, last Wednesday in Denver. The Rockies scored five runs against him on eight hits and two walks in five innings.
“I was committed to throwing fastballs inside, and I think I gave up three hits in that (second) inning on fastballs inside,” Pallante said. “Sometimes when things go bad, they go bad.”
Pallante has thrown 110 innings this season. His career-high total in the majors is 121 1/3, established last season over 20 starts and nine relief outings.
But Pallante notes that he threw another 16 1/3 innings last season at Triple-A Memphis, so he believes he has more gas in the tank.
“I feel good, I’m throwing hard and my stuff feels good,” Pallante told MLB.com. “You’ve got to include the minor league innings … so I think I’m ready for a full season.”
Pallante is 0-1 with a 2.19 ERA in five career appearances against the Marlins, including one start.
The Marlins will counter Pallante with fellow righty Edward Cabrera (4-4, 3,48), who has been the subject of much speculation as the trade deadline nears.
“I try not to think about it,” Cabrera said through an interpreter “At the end of the day, it’s something that is completely out of my control, so there’s no point of thinking too much about it.”
Cabrera has allowed two or fewer runs while pitching more than five innings in five of his last six starts. He earned a 4-3 victory over San Diego in his last start on Tuesday.
He held the Padres to one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. Cabrera struck out six and walked none.
“He had swing and miss with multiple offerings, really crisp with his breaking pitches, threw some really good changeups as well,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said.
In his only previous start against the Cardinals, Cabrera held them to one run on two hits in five innings in 2023.
–Field Level Media
