Cardinals win 5-1 and looked superb today.
Recap
Erick Fedde kicked things off for game 2 of 2025 with a 1-2-3 first inning! A strike out, fly out, ground out 1-2-3. It was a cool 68 degrees in a cloudy, windy St Louis at gametime.
The Cardinals offense wasted no time with a Lars Nootbaar leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning off of Twins starter Joe Ryan. Due to a Willson Contreras ground out to second base and a Brendan Donovan fly out to left field, the Cardinals looked like they might miss a leadoff opportunity. But Nolan Arenado singled out to center field which scored Lars! 1-0 Cardinals.
The second inning was a little more hairy for Fedde, with a leadoff single, and a stolen base. Mickey Gasper popped one up into the swirling eddies above, their turbulence making for a difficult Masyn Winn catch. But a catch was made by the shortstop for the first out! Someone in the gamethread mentioned that the Cardinals had not even been tied yet this year and soon after the Twins hit a double on a line drive to right fielder Jordan Walker. The Twins took advantage of going after well placed pitches and making hits out of hard to hit balls. Jose Miranda flew out to Lars Nootbaar who made a stellar diving catch in left field!
Tie game.
To close out the second inning, Twins starter Joe Ryan struck out Herrera, hit Jordan Walker with a pitch, and then struck out the bottom of the order for a three strikeout inning (Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn Ks). A little disappointing to see, especially since the strikeouts of Herrera and Scott II were a bit questionable (I’m looking at you, ump).
To start the third, Fedde induced a groundout to Vasquez. Then, he had an errant throw to first base which caused Contreras to absorb a collision from the runner. Luckily Willson appeared to be ok. Then, Fedde made up for it by inducing a ground into double play, retiring Carlos Correa to end the top of the inning! Masyn Winn made a really good play on this one.
To begin the bottom of the third, leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar was hit by a pitch! Contreras chewed his batting tape for reasons unknown, then struck out. Arenado and Burleson both flew out to the outfield and then were headed back to the dugout for their gloves.
Going into the 4th inning still tied, Fedde struck out Byron Buxton, and then induced two more groundouts to Larnach and France. Gotta love these 1-2-3 Fedde innings!
Note: Brian O’Nora was the hack of an umpire calling balls and strikes today. He does not appear to be one of the better umpires, historically. But today he was just absurdly awful behind home plate. He seems to be one of the least accurate umpires in MLB.
Herrera struck out and Walker singled in the bottom of the 4th. It was then Victor Scott II’s turn to produce at the plate. Jordan Walker was erased because of a caught stealing, while Victor got his first hit of the season. Winn then had a chance to get his first hit, while Scott II stole a base, showing Jordan how it’s done and sort of making up for the runner in scoring position. On a different day or in a different ballpark, Masyn might have hit a home run, but today he flew out which ended the inning. John Rooney made it sound closer to a home run than it was, which he’s apt to do. About ten feet short.
Fedde had another 1-2-3 in the fifth! Fedde was a groundball machine today, inducing two groundball outs after a fly out to begin the inning. Gasper, Miranda, and Castro retired. The groundouts continued into the bottom of the fifth, the top of the order Lars Nootbaar and Willson Contreras both grounding out. Then to end the fifth symmetrically, Donovan flew out as Gasper did to begin it.
If anyone had a wish for a pitcher’s duel today, they got it. Fedde was dealing but so was Joe Ryan, spreading out five hits economically for his team. It was still tied at 1. Erick Fedde was outdueling him however, with only 2 hits given up through 5 IP.
Erick Fedde kept his outing a 2 hitter through six, making every Twins batter fly out to the outfield. Correa got just under it, with a mile high outfield fly to Nootbaar.
The Twins made a mistake and relieve Joe Nathan with Jorge Alcala. Nolan Arenado got a double out of a hard hit ball that Alcala deflected and was missed by the third baseman. Alcala was hurt by the baseball. Alec Burleson finally got on base with a walk, and then Ivan Herrera got himself a hit! Which scored Arenado, 2-1 Cardinals! There was a pitching change to reliever Louis Varland, and then Jordan Walker walked! Which loaded the bases! Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn both struck out, but Lars Nootbaar picked up the bill with a sharp line drive to center field, scoring both Burleson and Herrera! 4-1! To end the inning Willson Contreras continued his slow start on offense with a strike out making him 0-4 on the day and hitless on the season.
Erick Fedde got himself his quality start and Ryan Fernandez was the reliever of the 7th. Blink and you would miss it, Fernandez continued the Cardinals pitching dominance over the Twins on Saturday, retiring the side 1-2-3. That’s a lot of 1-2-3’s today for the pitching staff!
The bottom of the 7th featured a Brendan Donovan line out to center, a walk for Arenado who the radio announcers called “authoritative” at the plate today, a Burleson pop out making him 0-3 with a walk and run scored, an Ivan Herrera double, and a sort of anticlimatic Jordan Walker flyout to left field.
JoJo Romero was in for the 8th inning. Mickey Gasper picked up the Twins third hit of the day to start it off. Will Castro lined out and Jose Miranda grounded into a force out.
Victor Scott II bunted and was called out but the play was challenged and he was actually safe! Nice to have some wheels on the team. Masyn Winn matched Alec Burleson’s day with a walk, and an 0-3 earlier. Lars Nootbaar finally flashed his walking skills and got on base AGAIN. 2-3 with a walk. The bases were loaded for the cold hitting Willson Contreras. Was he trying to do too much? He took ball 1. Then two strikes. Contreras ended up striking out, displaying undisciplined hitting so far. Hopefully he can hit like he did in spring training soon. It could just have something to do with the strike zone today. But that was only the first out. Brendan Donovan hit a sacrifice fly to score a run. 5-1 upon Victor Scott II scoring. To end the scoring at 1 run in the 8th, Nolan Arenado struck out.
Phil Maton was served up a 5-1 lead for the 9th inning, saving Ryan Helsley for tomorrow maybe. Masyn Winn ran down a popup and made a great catch to retire the first batter of the 9th. Michael Siani was in as a defensive replacement and he also made a superb defensive play to make out #2! And then Maton struck out Byron Buxton to go 2-0! What a game!
Notes and other miscellany
- as a kid I consumed most baseball via radio. today i was limited to the radio because i have to pay my internet bill still, and get fanduel setup. it ended up being the easiest way to write a fast and in depth recap, and enjoyable as i was able to scan the gamethread and gameday well enjoying that radio suspense… Rooney and Horton aren’t too bad outside of the homerism and overreacting.
- https://www.mlb.com/gameday/twins-vs-cardinals/2025/03/29/778528/final
- it’s nice to see such good defense and a more legit plate approach on offense!
- my player(s) of the game go to Fedde and Nootbaar! Fedde produced a 47.1% groundball rate, only allowed one earned run, and picked up that quality start today. Nootbaar was 2-3 with a walk and an RBI and made a nice catch to boot.
- Arenado was 2-4 with a walk and had a good day.
- The bullpen looked great and overall the pitching staff only gave up 3 hits and we didn’t even have to use Helsley.
- Jordan Walker 1-2 with a BB.
- Herrera 2-4!
- Victor Scott 2-4 with a stolen base and a run!
- Masyn Winn was clutch on defense and unclutch on offense, missing some scoring opportunities.
- Cardinals bad stuff: Burleson and Winn 0-3 with a walk, Contreras 0-5 with 3 K. Burleson 1-8 on the year albeit only two games, and Contreras 0-9.
- Twins ugly stuff: Jorge Alcala 3 earned runs and had a rough day. Offense produced 3 hits and only 1 walk.
Next game is tomorrow, March 30th again at 1:15 PM central standard time. Free Cardinals hoodie for those lucky enough to get there early enough. Twins’ Ober will face Cardinals’ Pallante. Cardinals will go for the sweep after today’s series win. Monday another American League team will visit us: The Angels.