Paul Goldschmidt’s production has dropped, and so has his spot in the batting order.
The new No. 7 hitter for the Cardinals will spend his second straight game hitting in the bottom third of the lineup when St. Louis faces the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Goldschmidt was demoted after going 0-for-8 with four strikeouts in the cleanup spot in Saturday’s doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves.
Goldschmidt homered during Sunday’s 6-2 road victory over the Braves but also struck out twice and grounded into a double play.
The seven-time All-Star said he had no issues with the demotion. The last time he hit that low in the order was in 2012 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Obviously, I haven’t played well this year and I’m trying to do everything I can to play better,” said Goldschmidt, who is batting .225 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs across 95 games. “I want to play better and I haven’t done that.
“That’s the moral of the story — I just haven’t played well this whole year and it’s cost us some games at times. No one hates it more than me.”
Goldschmidt, who turns 37 in September, has smacked more than 30 homers seven times during his 14-year career. He is in his sixth season with the Cardinals after spending his first eight with Arizona.
St. Louis would like to see a “Goldy” revival over the final 63 games of the season and is hoping the change will light up his bat.
“The looser he plays, the better he gets,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Goldschmidt. “Seeing him homer (Sunday) was obviously fun. Hopefully he can build off of that.”
Alec Burleson, Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbaar also hit homers for St. Louis on Sunday. Burleson had two RBIs and has 21 in 16 games this month. He has six homers and a .358 batting average (24-for-67) in July.
The Pirates had a season-high six-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday, falling 6-0 to the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
Pittsburgh had just six hits after beating the major-league-best Phillies the previous two games.
“We played well against the best team in baseball,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We didn’t play great (Sunday). But to come back the first night, do what we did (Saturday) — you want to win every game but to win two of three against that team — … overall, I thought we played well over the weekend.”
Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.46 ERA) gets the ball on Monday. He has lost twice to the Cardinals this season, allowing 10 runs (nine earned) in 11 innings.
Keller’s latest start was short. Pittsburgh held him to three innings against the Chicago White Sox on July 14. He gave up two runs and four hits.
“It’s just tough to understand it,” Keller said of the decision. “I want to be out there.”
Keller, 28, is 2-3 with a 3.97 ERA in 12 career starts against St. Louis.
Right-hander Andre Pallante (4-4, 4.21) will start for St. Louis. He frustrated the Pirates on July 4, when he gave up one run and four hits over seven innings in what ended up being a no-decision.
The 25-year-old is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 career appearances (one start) against the Pirates.
Pallante lost to the Kansas City Royals on July 10 in his most recent outing. He gave up four runs and six hits over 6 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
