Cards Pitching Tames Tigers

On Tuesday afternoon, the Redbirds held off the Detroit Tigers 5-2. The win puts the Cards at 6-4-1 on the spring. Even though we all know that the wins don't count for another 26 days, it still feels good to get out to a good start.

The Cards offensively were led by Chris Duncan. He started off this spring with a cool bat, but as of late has been coming on strong. He reached base both times he batted today with a single and a home run. He also had three runs driven in. That puts his average at .385 this spring with two home runs and 10 RBIs. Doesn't look like Duncan is going to be conceding his spot in St. Louis' crowded outfield anytime soon.

Skip Schumaker also had a very good game going 2-3 and scored two runs. More importantly, he was error free. Hopefully that two error game a few days back was just a minor glitch and we won't see that again this season.

Starting pitcher, Kyle Lohse, kept up his winning ways this spring with another strong performance. He went 4.1 innings and gave up only one run on two hits. The lone run he allowed was a solo home run to Marcus Thames. He also struck out four and walked only one, while only needing 57 pitches to get into the fifth inning.

"He had good stuff, and he was aggressive," said manager Tony La Russa who was obviously encouraged even further by Lohse's outing. "Very good."

Lohse was flanked today by other impressive performances by his bullpen in Ryan Franklin, Trever Miller and Jason Motte. Ryan Franklin and Trever Miller combined for 1.2 innings of one run ball, while Motte came in for the ninth once again.

If you remember correctly, I predicted Motte as the front runner for the closing job yesterday. Today, he only padded his resume even further by getting his first save of the spring by working a 1-2-3 ninth. (He was also the first Cardinal to record a save this spring in Grapefruit League play.) Granted he did have a three run lead and it was no where near the type of pressure he would be up against in an October save situation, but he is taking little steps in the right direction.

Motte had a lot to say after the game today. "I was just going out there trying to get into counts where I could throw them, I could use them. The first guy kept fouling them off, fouling them off. So I was just trying to do stuff with them, not just go out there and throw all fastballs. That's not going to do anything."

"I've had trust in (my offspeed pitches)," said Motte in response to whether he had faith in his pitches other than his heater. "It hasn't been that I haven't had trust in them. It's just that they've been pretty bad. I trust myself when I throw them. It doesn't matter who's back there catching. If I get a sign and I think it's a good time to throw it, I'll throw it. It may not be a good one, but I trust it. I'm going to go out there and I'm not going to do anything halfway. If I throw it, I'm going to give it everything I've got."

"Throwing my offspeed stuff, throwing it in games is where it matters," Motte said. "Seeing guys' approach, how they take a pitch, how they swing at a pitch, how they do whatever, that's where it counts. Not in the bullpen where I can throw 10 out of 10 nasty sliders, but it doesn't mean a thing if you get in the game and spin two of them up there."

"I liked that he threw strikes with a lead in the ninth," La Russa said, impressed with his young reliever's save on Tuesday. "He threw a couple wild ones, and there was one time the leadoff hitter swung at ball three. But overall, it is a save situation and he kept himself together and he did get some breaking balls over, which they can never sit on."

Finally, in news unrelated to today's game, the prodigy, Colby Rasmus is out at least until Thursday with hamstring soreness. We won't be seeing Colby until September anyway, in my opinion. Even with moving Schumaker and possibly Mather to the infield, the Cardinal's outfield cup still runneth over. The Cheese Man will have to either step up his game tremendously or just wait his turn in line.

That's all for today. Cards send Wellemeyer against the Marlins tomorrow at noon.

Go Cards.