'That's a big moment': Arenado returns to form with game-winner

ST. LOUIS – Upon being moved out of the cleanup role and into the No. 6 spot in the Cardinals’ batting order, struggling superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado was his own worst critic while wondering if his swing would ever come back to him again.

“I don't really have an answer,” Arenado said at the time of the demotion in the lineup. “Just play better, play more the way I think I'm capable of. But it's been a minute since I’ve felt like I could play the way I should. So, I don't know if it's coming back or not.”

Arenado proved himself plenty clutch on Friday night, driving a two-out triple into the left-center gap to score three runs and propel the Cardinals to a 4-3 defeat of the D-backs at Busch Stadium.

Mired in a weeks’ long power outage, Arenado mentioned to Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol that sluggers Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera deserved to hit ahead of him and the 34-year-old third baseman was promptly dropped from cleanup to No. 6 in the order. Arenado briefly broke out of a 3-for-30 skid on Tuesday night when he hit a Tarik Skubal slider over the wall in left for his fifth home run of the season.

On Friday, he delivered with one of the biggest hits of the season to break open a 1-1 tie.

“I’m just trying to make the proper adjustments, and there are some changes that I need to make, and I’m trying to make them,” said Arenado, who hit a 1-1 four-seam fastball off Zac Gallen deep into the gap in left-center – one that D-backs center fielder Alek Thomas nearly ran down, but the ball hit off his glove as he slid into the wall and got kicked away, resulting in the third baseman’s first triple of 2025. “Obviously, there is trial and error, but it’s tough to do it in the middle of the season while facing some good arms. When I do it right, it feels good. But that consistency is what I’m trying to find.”

Marmol, who had been ejected two innings earlier after arguing a strike three call on Herrera, was delighted to see Arenado come through in a big spot after the way the eight-time All-Star beat up on himself emotionally over his recent struggles. For the Cardinals to be a team that can stay in contention over the 162-game season, the Cardinals need Arenado possessing his superstar form of old instead of an aging star, Marmol said.

“I’m so pumped for him because he’s been working extremely hard and we all know that,” said Marmol, whose Cardinals won for the 14th time in the past 18 games. “So, for him to be able to get some of these swings off in meaningful spots, today was huge. For him to come through there – and you can tell how excited the dugout was for him – that’s a big moment.

“We need him to be Nolan and he’s starting to show that, which is a heck of a lot of fun to watch.”

Gallen, a former Cardinals pitching prospect, allowed just one hit over the first five innings. However, Victor Scott II – who had the earlier hit – led off the sixth inning with a single, and Gallen proceeded to walk Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan. Herrera, hitting in the cleanup spot in place of Contreras, who was scratched before the game due to back spasms, patiently drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game.

Arenado had all the pressure on him after Alec Burleson was called out on strikes, and he didn’t miss when Gallen left a fastball up. Gallen’s 93.5 mph fastball left Arenado’s bat at 99.5 mph and got down to elicit one of the loudest roars at Busch Stadium all season.

“We’re doing the little things and we’re putting pressure on the pitchers,” Arenado said. “We haven’t done a very good job of doing that the last couple of years, just keeping that pressure on.”

Added Gallen, who dropped to 3-6: “Even the Arenado pitch, not a terrible pitch and I’d make that pitch again. He's been doing this for a long time. He's a professional leader. So, sometimes just tip your cap.”

Arenado’s clutch hit made a winner of Miles Mikolas, who continued his torrid run of success. He allowed only Ketel Marte’s solo shot and five hits total over six innings, while striking out four. Over his last six starts, Mikolas is 4-0 with a 1.33 ERA.

“Everyone on this staff is kind of chasing one another,” Mikolas said. “If you can get that healthy competition, which I think we have, that’s something that goes a long way.”