Bryan Torres, who hadn't had a hit since June 7 before his first at bat on Sunday, delivered a two-run blast that helped the Cardinals beat the Marlins 2-1 and end their losing streak at four games. For the 5-foot-7, 165-pound Torres, it was his third homer in 20 MLB games.
Torres, who hadn’t had a hit since June 7 before his first at bat on Sunday, drilled a two-run home run that gave the Cardinals an early lead and one they held onto throughout in a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Marlins at steamy Busch Stadium.
“I haven’t had a ton of at bats, but I am still a part of this team, and it really hurts us when the team doesn’t win,” Torres told Cardinals.TV following his third blast of the season. “For me to be able to help the team win after two tough games offensively, it’s awesome. Every time that you can contribute to help the team win, it’s amazing.”
Starter Kyle Leahy (6-4) and relievers JoJo Romero, Ryne Stanek, George Soriano and Riley O’Brien limited Miami to just four hits and made Torres’ blast stand up to help the Cardinals avoid a sweep at the hands of the Marlins, one of the teams in the chase for a National League Wild Card slot. O’Brien, who came into the season with 10 career saves, closed out Miami in the ninth inning for his 20th save of the season.
Torres’ blast helped the Cardinals (43-38) end their losing streak at four games. They also edged ahead of the Marlins (44-40) in the race for a Wild Card slot.
"That's just a great example of him staying ready, and that's to one person's credit and that's Torres," Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol said. "He goes awhile without playing and you would never know it with how he goes about his work and when you see him in the clubhouse. He just puts in the work."
Starting for the second consecutive day after playing little over the previous two weeks, Torres worked the count to 2-0 and then drilled a two-run home run over the wall in right field to give the Cardinals a much-needed 2-0 lead. It was the Cardinals first lead of the series after mustering just one run over the first 18 innings against the Marlins.
Torres hit a low-and-in fastball from Miami's Tyler Phillips some 364 feet, and it left his bat at 100.3 mph. Just 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, Torres has three homers among his 11 hits since making his MLB debut on May 23 in Cincinnati. He has added a triple and seven RBI in his 20 games with the Cardinals as a utility fielder.
“(Phillips) is a good sinker guy, but he got in a 2-0 (count) pretty quickly with two fastballs in and I was looking for (a sinker) and I hit it pretty well,” Torres said.
Big road tests ahead for Cardinals
The Cardinals get a much-needed day off on Monday before embarking on one of their most difficult road trips of the season. The Cards play three in Atlanta and then will spend the July 4th holiday weekend in Chicago where they will face the Cubs in a three-game series. The Cards beat the Cubs two of three when the two rivals met at Busch Stadium from May 29-31.
On a hot, steamy day where the hit index hit 106 degrees before first pitch, Leahy wasn’t very economical early in the game, but he certainly was effective. He needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning and all three of his walks came in the first two frames. But Leahy did throw first-pitch strikes to 16 of 20 hitters and he limited the red-hot Marlins to one earned run and two hits over five innings of work.
Owen Caissie and Graham Pauley had back-to-back doubles to open the first inning and score Miami’s first run of the game. However, Leahy used an up-and-in four-seam fastball to saw off Jakob Marsee and force and infield popup. Then, Leahy used a sharp-biting sweeper to strike out Otto Lopez, who came into Sunday as the National League’s leading hitter.
"That could have been one of those innings where you go, 'OK, third time through, are they going to get him here and take the lead?'" Marmol asked. "But (Leahy) was able to get that pop-up to second and the punch out of Lopez. That was a really big part of that game."
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