ATLANTA聽鈥 When he rolled to his feet at 4:40 a.m. Saturday and headed for the airport to spend a few hours in the majors as the extra, 27th man on the Cardinals鈥 roster, Kyle Leahy knew anything from long relief to short burst awaited him. Or, maybe nothing at all.
What happened sure was something.
During his one-night engagement, Leahy pitched arguably the most pivotal and obviously the most combustible inning of a lengthy day. He shepherded a one-run lead through a spring-loaded eighth inning so the Cardinals could split a doubleheader against Atlanta. The Braves already had聽hit four home runs off starter Sonny Gray, three of them by hitters Leahy was about to face in the eighth inning with the slimmest possible lead that still qualifies as a lead.
鈥淎nd closed the door,鈥 Gray said. 鈥淭hat was huge for us.鈥
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Leahy retired three of the four batters he faced, struck out slugger Matt Olson, and got the lead to the ninth inning where the Cardinals widened it into a 9-5 victory. Leahy entered a pinball game, brought calm to it, and finished the game to earn his first big-league save.
The gravity of the moment was only increased by its similarity to how the afternoon game slipped past the Cardinals鈥 bullpen. Atlanta got a home run in the seventh inning off reliever Ryan Fernandez to erase a two-run lead and ultimately win, 3-2, in the 10th inning. With Fernandez, Andrew Kittredge, and Chris Roycroft used in an attempt to win Game 1, that left Leahy available as the right-hander to bridge a lead to closer Ryan Helsley in Game 2.
He started the day with Class AAA Memphis and returned to Class AAA Memphis when it was over, but in between Leahy was essential to the Cardinals.
鈥淗e does not speed up,鈥 manager Oliver Marmol said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I love about him. He slows the game down. He doesn鈥檛 make it any bigger than it is. He continues to show that. That鈥檚 a big moment there. This ballpark. Eighth inning. Up by one. And for him to have the demeanor and composure that he showed was pretty impressive.鈥
The Cardinals stormed twice to four-run leads, boosted along the way by Nolan Gorman鈥檚 two-run homer and Brendan Donovan鈥檚 solo homer. Alec Burleson finished the doubleheader with four RBIs, three of them coming in Game 2. The Cardinals socked Atlanta with 14 hits in the evening game, and they needed most of them to stay ahead of the Braves鈥 flexing. Marcell Ozuna hit two home runs off Gray, and just when the Cardinals had retaken a four-run lead, Atlanta hit three solo homers off Gray in the span of 10 pitches in the sixth inning.
The five runs Gray (10-6) allowed in his seven innings came on four home runs and the result of a triple. What would have been another homer off Gray was overruled after review.
鈥淚鈥檝e always said that solo homers won鈥檛 beat you,鈥 Gray said. 鈥淔ortunately, you give up four solo homers and you鈥檙e cutting it close. But our offense put some runs on the board.鈥
The inning when Atlanta hit three homers off Gray began with Ozzie Albies at the plate and continued with three more consecutive All-Stars.
It was the same spot Leahy faced in the eighth.
These Braves had produced three runs off Gray in their previous at-bats.
One run would be enough to capsize Leahy.
The Cardinals had lefty JoJo Romero available as well, but with a switch-hitter in Albies followed by right-handed boppers Austin Riley and eventually Ozuna, the preferred answer for Marmol was Leahy, who was in the Redbirds鈥 bullpen Friday night he found out he was headed to the majors due to that day鈥檚 rainout in Atlanta.
鈥淗e鈥檚 just the 27th man coming up and JoJo has been our guy,鈥 Marmol said. 鈥淏ut when you look at facing four or five guys, Leahy鈥檚 not overly splitty. He does a nice job against both. Yeah, the game found him based on the other guys being down. We trust him.鈥
The leap he鈥檚 made in the past year is trusting himself.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e just got to trust yourself,鈥 said the rookie right-hander. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 look at who is in the box and freak out. I have to think that I鈥檓 better than them. Obviously, that鈥檚 just the mindset and then go out there and take it to them. 鈥 I haven鈥檛 been as good at it as I hope I am now, and I鈥檓 not as good as I hopefully will be at that mindset. It鈥檚 a work in progress every day. And today it worked out.鈥
Pride of Erie (Colo.) High, Leahy has 19 appearances in the majors this season, and his most recent ones have been as the 27th man added for a doubleheader. He is a leading candidate for most-improved Cardinals reliever after taking a bruising in his debut a year ago and leaving the majors with a 21.60 ERA after a swift, unsuccessful 1 2/3 innings. Part of what has shifted for the right-hander is exactly what he referenced聽鈥 a shift to his mindset. He鈥檚 ditched any trepidation about the majors.
It helps that he鈥檚 only added confidence in as many as five pitches.
And he鈥檚 willing to use them all, even in brief, high-leverage outings.
鈥淭hat was a leaning curve,鈥 Leahy said. 鈥淏eing able to just come out and have everything ready as a reliever was a big adjustment. I can鈥檛 say I鈥檝e mastered it. I don鈥檛 know if you ever will. I have definitely gained more feel of everything quicker.鈥
Leahy threw each of his four pitches at least once. He got two swings and misses on his sweeping slider. He got one foul ball on the lone changeup he threw. Ranging from 97.1 mph with his fastball to 80.3 mph with his curveball, he also mixed in a tighter slider. Of the eight four-seam fastballs he threw, the Braves did not connect on any of them.
Six were either called a strike or got a swing and miss.
The one hit he allowed was a double with one out by Riley. That meant Leahy pitched the majority of the inning and got two of the outs with the tying run in scoring position.
The bullpen did not stir.
鈥淚t shows a lot of confidence that Oli has in him,鈥 Gray said. 鈥淚 think our bullpen is just very, very, very deep and very, very good. I think, yeah, I think he鈥檒l be here. He鈥檚 a very good pitcher.鈥
He will be eventually.
But after collecting a baseball from his first save and getting the requisite showering of whatever liquids (preferably cold over sticky) is available from teammates, Leahy was at his locker packing up the gear that had only been unpacked a few hours earlier. A transaction will send him back to Memphis鈥 roster before Sunday鈥檚 game starts. Widespread travel issues will impact his return to the Redbirds. His performance Saturday will hasten his return to the Cardinals.
鈥淚 probably could have thrown three innings in a lopsided game or go in that situation,鈥 Leahy said. 鈥淚 take pride in being a versatile pitcher and being able to do a lot of different things. Whenever they call my name, I鈥檓 going to go out there and pitch.鈥