'Why not start another?': Cards' winning streak snapped at 9 games

PHILADELPHIA -- Even after their nine-game winning streak came to an end in excruciating fashion on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol liked what he saw when he walked through a resilient clubhouse still buzzing with confidence between games of a split doubleheader.

“Even right now, in [the our clubhouse] there are guys nodding because they know that’s how you’re supposed to play the dang game,” Marmol said after the Cardinals fell 2-1 in Game 1 at Citizens Bank Park. “You are going to lose ballgames, but that’s what you want it to look like, where the other team has to find a way to beat you. With every pitch and every inning, it feels like a playoff game because of the way we’re going about it. It’s been fun and I don’t see them taking their foot off the pedal.”

The Cardinals' longest winning spree since they reeled off 17 straight victories from Sept. 11-28, 2021, ended only after the Phillies rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh after St. Louis took the lead in the top of that frame. The Cards even responded well to losing the lead, getting Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn into scoring position for cleanup hitter Nolan Arenado and red-hot slugger Willson Contreras. Those hitters were unable to convert -- Arenado popped out on a 2-0 sweeper and Contreras took strike three -- as the Cardinals went on to lose for the first time since May 2.

Right-hander Erick Fedde, who pushed his scoreless streak to 16 2/3 innings with another strong start, said the winning streak built a belief within the team that it has everything needed to contend. The Cardinals went from 6 1/2 games back in the National League Central to within 1 1/2 games of the front-running Cubs entering Wednesday's doubleheader.

“We’re feeling like a team’s that playing well, and as they say, winning fixes everything,” said Fedde, who surrendered just three hits and four walks over 5 2/3 scoreless innings. “The vibes have been high, and the guys have been like, ‘Why not start another [winning streak] right now?’ It’s fun to be in the division race and chasing people down.”

The Cardinals definitely feel more confident about doing that after sweeping a doubleheader from the Mets, sweeping consecutive series against the Pirates and Nationals and winning a gritty series opener on Monday in Philadelphia. It’s also infinitely better than they felt on April 20 when they limped out of New York following a four-game sweep at the hands of the Mets. Since that low point that dropped the Cards to 9-13, they have gone 14-7 with impressive series wins against the Brewers and Mets.

“This is kind of what we believed this team could be,” Fedde said. “It’s one thing to believe something, and another to go out and do it. We’re playing competitively and we’re in the chase in the division. Nobody wants to be 10 games out and feel like [a division crown] is a long way away. This is how we want to play -- overall, it’s been just good clean baseball, and that’s all you can ask for.”

One constant during the nine-game winning streak -- one in which the Cards outscored the opposition 47-18 -- was stellar pitching. Over the final six games of the winning streak, the Cardinals allowed two or fewer runs -- a streak that extended to seven in Wednesday's opener, even in defeat.

“That’s a really big deal,” said Marmol, whose relievers posted a 0.68 ERA over 26 2/3 innings during the streak. “The pitchers have done well with sticking to the game plan and executing. And the same with the bullpen, but our starters have really been on point.”

Game 1 extended the Cardinals' streak of allowing two runs or fewer to seven games -- the club’s second-longest such streak in the Expansion Era (1969). It ended in the nightcap, when Sonny Gray was tagged for five runs in the first inning.

The good vibes among the Cardinals were evident in the fifth inning of Game 1 when center fielder Victor Scott II pulled up on a fly ball to avoid what he thought would be a collision with hard-charging right fielder Jordan Walker, allowing Rafael Marchán to reach safely. Upon escaping the inning, Fedde was the first to greet Scott and Walker coming off the field and offered some encouragement.

“We had a lot of game left, and they’ve got to stay locked in and not down,” Fedde said. “When guys do that for me when I have tough outings, that makes you feel better and makes it [easier] to move on. I have no problem picking them up, because they pick me up sometimes, too.”