JUPITER, Fla. — Result: Cardinals 6, Twins 1
JUPITER, Fla. – As the Cardinals begin sorting through all of the relievers in their camp, some know they will be on the roster when the regular season begins. Some know they will be back in the minors.
Then there are the rest, who find themselves somewhere in the middle, a group that includes oft-injured Brett Cecil.
Cecil is trying to prove this spring that he deserves to be in the Cardinals bullpen and to do that, he will need more outings like he turned in on Monday against the Twins.
In his best outing of the spring, and perhaps the best in a lot longer period, Cecil threw 22 pitches, 16 of them strikes, in a scoreless inning. He allowed an infield hit and got two fly outs and one ground out into the shift.
“Encouraging,” said manager Mike Shildt. “Better breaking ball, sharper, everything around the plate more. Coming out more free and easy and looks like he’s able to execute what he wants to do and was able to get outs, which is the most important thing, That’s the best he’s been.”
One of the challenges for Cecil is the learning curve of figuring out how to get those outs with decreased velocity. Only two of his 22 pitches hit 87 miles per hour, several miles slower than he was pitching just a couple of years ago.
“Where do you get your outs, how do you get them, how do you work with the stuff you have,” Shildt said about what Cecil needs to do.
At the moment there appear to be about half a dozen pitchers, including Cecil, competing for two spots in the bullpen when the regular season begins.
Here is how Monday’s game broke down:
High: Yadier Molina had two hits and an RBI.
Low: Dexter Fowler was 0-of-3, striking out in all three at-bats, even though he worked the count to 3-2 during each at-bat. His average for the spring fell to .067, (1-of-15).
At the plate: Three of the Cardinals’ first four runs were unearned because of a Twins throwing error … In addition to Molina, the Cardinals got two hits and an RBI from Tommy Edman and two hits from Rangel Ravelo … Tyler O’Neill also contributed an RBI single … Minor-league catcher Jose Godoy’s single drove in their final two runs … Dylan Carlson reached base twice on a walk and an error … Harrison Bader had a hit and a walk in three plate appearances. His spring average is now .316.
On the mound: In addition to Cecil’s scoreless innings, the Cardinals got solid relief work from John Oviedo (two perfect innings), Zack Thompson (two strikeouts in his one inning) and John Brebbia (one perfect inning) … The Twins only run scored off minor-leaguer Alex FaGalde.
Off the field: After scheduled starter Kwang Hyun Kim was scratched because of a groin issue, Genesis Cabrera had to come out of the game in the second inning because of a problem with a fingernail. He will miss a couple of days … Andrew Miller warmed up but did not pitch because “he didn’t have a feel for the baseball today,” Shildt said. Both Shildt and Miller did not think there was any physical issue involved but obviously there will be tests to try to determine the source of the problem. “I can’t say it’s not a concern,” Shildt said, “but I can’t tell you how great or how light it is but clearly it’s something we have to address.” … Kim is expected to start one of the split-squad games on Thursday … Former Cardinals star Lance Berkman was in camp visiting with coaches and players during batting practice.
Up next: The Cardinals host the Houston Astros on Tuesday. Dakota Hudson will get the start, with Jack Flaherty scheduled to start on Wednesday.
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