SAN FRANCISCO — Tommy Edman was a Pac-12 standout at Stanford, and just 35 miles up the road from Palo Alto, the second baseman found himself still benefiting from the Bay Area chill with a three-hit, three-RBI performance at Oracle Park, carrying a revived Cardinals offense to a 7-1 win in their series opener against the Giants.
The Cardinals have scored 17 runs in their last two games while allowing just one run behind back-to-back quality starts from Adam Wainwright and Miles Mikolas.
On Thursday, it was Edman’s turn to serve as the offensive spark. In the fifth inning, after Yadier Molina and Dylan Carlson kicked off the inning with hits, Edman cashed in with a two-RBI single that put the Cardinals up 3-0. The second baseman is now six for his last seven with runners in scoring position.
“The guys did a good job getting on base in front of me, and I saw a few good pitches to hit. It all comes down to everyone having good, consistent at-bats throughout the lineup,” said Edman.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol appreciated Edman’s hit to break open what had been a 1-0 game until then.
“That at-bat with the base hit up the middle was a big one,” he said. “[Edman’s] done a nice job. He’s feeling good about where he’s at.”
Edman is feeling like the Cardinals are starting to make the most of their firepower.
“We’re in the swing of things at this point,” he said. “Hopefully this is the start of something new.”
Two innings later, Edman singled to bring in Carlson again, once again kicking off the scoring in a four-run seventh inning. With well-rounded offense and defense, he now sits at third among MLB’s WAR leaders, just behind teammate Nolan Arenado. Thursday was just his latest piece of consistent hitting — Edman has reached base in seven of his last 11 plate appearances.
“Tommy is doing a nice job on both sides of the plate. Lefty, right, it doesn’t matter. He’s driving the ball from both sides,” said Marmol.
Edman is just one of a few Cardinals heating up. Carlson continued to hit well — after a career-long 0-for-18 drought, he has reached base in six of his last 12 plate appearances, including two hits on Thursday. And Juan Yepez, making his second consecutive start, earned his first Major League RBI during the seventh-inning explosion.
Yadier Molina tallied his first RBI and homer of the year with a solo shot to left, which tied him with Ted Simmons for ninth on the franchise home run list with 172. It also put the 19-year veteran just one away from 1,000 career RBIs.
“I’m starting to see the ball pretty good, I’m having better at-bats, I’m feeling good,” said Molina. “Hopefully I can keep doing what I’m doing right now.”
Overall, the Cardinals had their way with a Giants rotation that utilized nine pitchers in a bullpen game.
“It’s sometimes a challenge, but our guys did a really nice job of transitioning from guy to guy and knowing exactly what they were going to go to,” said Marmol. “It was good to get in their ’pen.”
Mikolas had his most inconsistent outing since his season opener, but after the Cardinals bats gave him just four runs in his last four starts, he got the offense he needed to earn his second win of the season. The righty put together 5 2/3 innings of one-run baseball, despite allowing seven hits, and the bullpen held the rest of the way through 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Mikolas finished with an ERA that ticked up slightly to 1.53, still good for third in the National League among starters.
“We won, so it’s great. On a personal level, it felt like I was a little bit all over the place, a little bit all over the zone today,” said Mikolas. “It felt like everything they hit hard was an out, and everything they hit soft got through, so it was an odd day.”
Marmol agreed with the analysis, stating that Mikolas “wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen in the past, but he made some good pitches when we really needed it.”
But as Marmol jumped from player to player who contributed to the dominant win, his assessment of overall team health was clear. “The guys are looking better,” he said. “There were several wins today.”