The last time Riley O'Brien cost the Cardinals a victory, he responded by converting his next four save opportunities. Now, following a rare collapse on Sunday, the Cards hopeful he can bounce back again.
If past performance is any indicator of what is to come from Riley O’Brien, the Cardinals’ closer should be just fine after blowing his third save of the season in Sunday’s 3-2 loss in San Diego.
The last time O’Brien blinked under the pressure of trying to close out a taut game, it was April 25 in a crushing home loss to the Mariners. Despite his relative newness to the closer role, O’Brien showed his resiliency by registering stress-free saves in his next four outings.
“I usually try to take a little time and not think about the game,” O’Brien said recently of his process when outings don’t go as planned. “Then, (the next day) I’ll watch the game again and be ready to go. I try to take what I can from it, not stew too long and not overthink it. In this job, you have to take what you can from (blown saves), move on and use the motivation in the next outing.”
A strike away from tying San Diego superstar closer Mason Miller for the MLB lead with 12 saves, O’Brien shockingly surrendered his first homer of the season to Padres’ pinch hitter Nick Castellanos on Sunday. Making the moment even more painful was the fact that O’Brien had the struggling Castellanos in a 0-2 hole, but he was unable to finish off the at bat as the slugger worked the count full, fouled off three pitches and hit the ninth one for a game-tying homer.
The Cardinals would go on to lose the game 3-2 when they failed to score in the top of the 10th and saw the Padres score the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Manny Machado.
Cards have thrived in 16-game stretch
Rather than being able to win the four-game series, the Cardinals had to settle for a 2-2 split at noisy Petco Park. After a much-needed day off on Monday, the Cardinals will face the rapidly improving Athletics in Sacramento in a three-game set.
Originally scheduled to play 17 games over a 17-day stretch, the Cardinals got a breather last Tuesday when rain washed out a game against the Brewers. The taxing 16-game run came to an end on Sunday with the scrappy Cardinals going 9-7. Eight of those games were on the road and St. Louis finished with a 6-2 mark that could have been even better had O’Brien been able to get one more strike on Sunday.
Despite the hiccup, O’Brien has been solid in the St. Louis bullpen in his first full season as closer. Over 19 appearances, he is 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA and 11 saves in 14 opportunities. In addition to holding opposing hitters to a .236 batting average, he has racked up 23 strikeouts compared to just one walk.
Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol considers O’Brien’s growth as a closer as one of the team’s most pleasant developments of the 2026 season.
“It’s extremely impressive what he’s done over these last couple of years of solidifying himself as the closer. All the work that goes into the mental aspect of handling that pressure – the good and the bad – he’s done an incredible job with it. So, to see him out there competing this year the way that he has, it’s been fun to watch.”
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