Forget an off day. Cardinals need an on day from a starter to assure bullpen gets relief

BOSTON — The Cardinals’ lineup has maintained such a steady, pounding march of offense — even into April — that when they entered the ninth inning down by seven runs to the Red Sox on Friday afternoon at Fenway Park, there was a confidence in their call-and-response.

“The only thing we’re thinking is the dugout is get (Aroldis) Chapman into this game, and they did it,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “Sometimes there are small wins when you lose. Getting their closer into that (first) game in a three-game set is important.”

Less so if both bullpens are tenderized in the process.

Sometimes small wins, even in losses, mask big trends.

The Cardinals had at least 10 hits for the seventh consecutive game and got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning against Boston closer Chapman. A double play ended the game with the hosts overcoming their own errors in the ninth to secure a 13-9 victory.

The Cardinals continue to run strong on offense, but they could not keep pace Friday because their pitching stumbled and struggled to slow Boston. Starting with a five-run inning against starter Erick Fedde, the Red Sox finished with 16 hits and 24 baserunners. The first eight spots in the order all had a hit, seven of them had at least two, and eight of the nine spots scored at least a run.

The Cardinals reached for a pitcher to just buy time for the offense to catch up.

They needed a stop in the game.

Now, winded by workload in the past week, they need a stop in the series.

“It’s not ideal,” Marmol said. “We’ve been in tougher situations, for sure.”

Fedde (1-1) left five innings for the bullpen to carry, and lefty Steven Matz pitched three of them. With two extra-inning losses earlier in the week, the Cardinals have tasked their bullpen with 17⅔ innings over the past five days. An off day Thursday helped reset — for all of 24 hours. Before the bullpen could settle in for an interleague weekend, they had to pitch more than half the game. For perspective, in their past four games, the Cardinals’ starters have faced 84 batters. The bullpen has had to pitch to 79.

The Cardinals were able to avoid using Kyle Leahy on Friday so that he could provide multiple innings if needed over the weekend. Matz was removed after three innings and 53 pitches so that he would not miss the remainder of the six-game trip after being thrust into the game Friday.

All of these decisions reflect the tricky navigation of early workloads.

And it was only two years ago the innings shifted early in the season onto the bullpen caused a series of ruptures and out spilled a losing season.

The moves “allow everybody to be available (Saturday), but Matz,” Marmol said.

A doubleheader Sunday because of rain Saturday would just be another challenge.

The bullpen’s busy day began in the first as Fedde neared 40 pitches and Boston came close to sending up a 10th batter. Three batters into the game, Fedde had allowed three baserunners — all of whom would score — and two hits. The Red Sox got home runs on back-to-back pitches to open the 5-0 lead. The most damage against Fedde came on a Frisbee slider that floated until Trevor Story socked it for a three-run homer.

Fedde got a groundout to finish the first and resume his outing the second. He would only face eight more batters — and he walked to of them for four total.

With Matz in the game, the Cardinals’ offense chomped into Boston’s lead. Ivan Herrera’s three-run homer in the fourth inning and his fourth home run in two games set the score at 6-4. Brendan Donovan’s solo homer in the fifth trimmed that deficit to 6-5. The Cardinals persisted on offense. They added a run in the seventh on Donovan’s second of three hits, and he had another RBI in the Cardinals’ three-inning ninth. However, as the Cardinals bruised the Sox bullpen for four runs, the Sox scored seven against the Cardinals’ relievers.

In two of the past three games the bullpen’s allowed at least five runs.

For the first time this season, the Cardinals relievers walked more than they struck out.

Trialing going in the seventh inning did allow Marmol to get Ryan Fernandez into a game to work on his mechanics to improve when he’s next asked to hold a lead. Fernandez has misplaced the shape of his slider — and instead of darting vertically, it’s got a bigger drop to it. His cutter is also misbehaving.

Fernandez said Friday that he’s not holding his eyes on his target long enough, and instead of rushing through his delivery like he did a year ago, he’s just not holding that line of sight long enough. The Sox tagged him with three runs on two hits and a walk in tw0-thirds of an inning. The right-hander felt encouraged by his final two pitches, and the data on the pitches supported what he called “optimism” about his next outing.

The Cardinals purposefully structured their bullpen with the flexibility of many minor-league options so they could refresh when taxed or retool when necessary.

They also entered the opening weeks of the season with two long relievers, Matz and Leahy, because several starters would have limited pitch counts and none of them would be plunging deep into games. Matthew Liberatore had only 70 or 75 pitches to work with in his start this past Tuesday against the Angels, and he authored the Cardinals’ second quality start of the season by getting through six efficiently.

Outside of an off day, that’s the best break a bullpen can get.

Andre Pallante is set to start Saturday, weather permitting, and he provided five innings and 11 groundouts in his first start of the season. The deeper he pitches into the start, the less likely it becomes that the bullpen is fried by the time the club arrives in Pittsburgh next week. Bullpen usage tends to compound, as innings hoisted on to relievers carry high interest rates. The debt comes due. The bullpen capsizes. The less exhausted the bullpen is from a trying week of two long games and Friday’s short start, the more aggressive it can be used to capitalize on the offense while it’s going.

“You can deploy the bullpen in a way to give you your best shot because you know the guys are going to continue to punch back,” Marmol said. “We don’t feel like we’re out of any game right now. And that part’s fun.”