CINCINNATI -- It was a night that took nearly every player on the 26-man roster, but the Cardinals found a way to pull out a wild 7-5 win over the Reds in 10 innings at Great American Ball Park on Friday.
Two of those uniformed players didn’t arrive until just before batting practice, and neither of them had played in a big league game. But Friday was a “whatever it takes” kind of night on the banks of the Ohio River, and the Cardinals showed they still have fight left in them for possibly one more run at the final National League Wild Card spot.
Highly touted prospects Jimmy Crooks and César Prieto made their Major League debuts in crunch time of a tight game. Crooks, a catcher promoted Friday to take the spot of Yohel Pozo (seven-day concussion list), caught the final two innings in relief of Pedro Pagés and guided Ryan Fernandez through his first save of the season, with the Cardinals staying away from Riley O’Brien and Kyle Leahy.
“I had some time down there in Triple-A, so [we] got pretty comfortable with each other,” Fernandez said after his first save of 2025 and third career save in seven chances. “The only thing that I had to kind of drill into him while I was out there … I wasn't really throwing my changeup at all [in Triple-A], so he didn't really know that we were calling it very much. So that's why I had to kind of shake a lot tonight. But once he figured it out, he kind of started to call it, and it's just fun to throw to him. We were comfortable with each other.”
Prieto pinch-hit for Garrett Hampson in the 10th and struck out in his Major League debut before Willson Contreras reached on a grounder that Elly De La Cruz fielded and threw in the dirt at first base for his second error of the night. That error allowed Nathan Church to score the go-ahead run.
The lesson for both was that once in the big leagues, you need to be always ready for your number to be called.
“The first thing when we got here was to be ready at all times,” said Crooks, the Cardinals’ No. 6 prospect. “And I kind of learned that from coming up at all levels. [It] was, ‘Always be ready, even if you're not on the lineup.’ So they kind of gave me a heads up, ‘If Pagés gets on, you’re probably going in.’ And then that happened. So I got a whole kind of half-inning just to get my mind right, get my legs loose and then get after it.”
In the bottom of the ninth, Crooks took over at catcher after Pagés was replaced by pinch-runner José Fermín in the top of the inning. Crooks, respected in the Minors for his ability to call a game and handle a staff, did just that with winner Matt Svanson and Fernandez.
Crooks caught the final pitch when Fernandez struck out De La Cruz to end the game. Crooks even had a wrap on his right wrist, a minor bruise from a foul ball he took from Gavin Lux in the 10th.
“Look at the situation that both were put in. That's not easy,” Cardinals skipper Oliver Marmol said. “And I talked to him right after the game, Crooksy. … Man, he didn't get sped up at all. He was under control. Did a really nice job. You put him in a tough spot in the game, and he landed just a couple hours ago. So to be able to stand in control and do what he did, [that] was fun to watch.”
Then there was the more traditional contributor in shortstop Masyn Winn. He added his second RBI single of the night in the two-run 10th for insurance as St. Louis beat Cincinnati for a fifth time in eight meetings. Winn finished 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.
Marmol appreciated the way his shortstop was spraying the ball all over the field.
“He can do a little bit of everything, because he shoots the low line drive, the double pull side, his two-strike approach, like he can beat you a lot of different ways. And he's learning to pick his spots,” Marmol said.
The Cardinals used all 13 position players Friday and five of their eight relievers to get the job done and improve to 67-69, pulling to within 1 1/2 games of Cincinnati (68-67) and 6 1/2 games behind the Mets (73-62) for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.