MILWAUKEE 鈥 The four-seam fastball that got a hunk of the strike zone but not the call was only the beginning of how Andre Pallante鈥檚 start came apart on him in the first inning. What followed was an overreliance on a pitch he had purposefully avoided, walks galore and baseballs soaring in ways they don鈥檛 normally against the Cardinals right-hander.
He had a brief diagnosis of the issue.
鈥淚 reverted to who I was before,鈥 Pallante said.
He means before he returned as a starter who steadied the Cardinals.
As Pallante鈥檚 reinvention as a starter shifts to his education as a starter and audition to remain a starter, he let one inning get away from him before the Cardinals eventually watched Milwaukee walk away with the game. The Brewers asserted once again their hold over their rivals and the National League Central with a 9-3 victory Monday afternoon at American Family Field. The Brewers slugged three home runs, including Willy Adames鈥 29th of the season on his 29th birthday and rookie Jackson Chourio鈥檚 grand slam.
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Each of those homers brought home two runners who had been walked by the Cardinals. They gave more walks away (eight) than Milwaukee had hits (seven) in the loss.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been good at not walking people,鈥 manager Oliver Marmol said. 鈥淭oday, that wasn鈥檛 the case.鈥
The Brewers lead the National League in walk rate and are one of three teams in the majors with more than 500 walks this season. They鈥檝e nourished their offense with it and on Labor Day used it to increase their lead in the division to 12 games on the Cardinals. Milwaukee is a remarkable 30-17 against division foes.
Milwaukee lowered its magic number while increasing the Cardinals鈥 magic-trick number. At 69-69, the Cardinals have 24 games remaining to overtake as many as three teams and at least five games in the standings for a playoff spot. They鈥檝e rallied to win or split recent series against winning teams after dropping the first game, but any momentum the Cardinals had from their jubilant weekend of winning at Yankee Stadium vanished fast in the first inning.
It began with a call that should have ended the inning.
Pallante wedged a four-seam fastball on the inner edge of the strike zone against Brewers designated hitter Jake Bauers. The pitch caught the zone, but home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez called it a ball. Instead of a strikeout to end the inning, Pallante lost his grip on the plate appearance and walked the left-handed-hitting Bauers.
鈥淚t was unfortunate that that pitch should have ended the inning there,鈥 Marmol said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a punch-out. And it leads to a walk and a homer. So (Pallante) did his job in the first of making pitches. Unfortunately, he has to throw some extra ones there, and it leads to runs.鈥
Pallante said it wasn鈥檛 just extra pitches, it was too many of the same pitch.
As part of his transition from reliever to starter over several weeks at Class AAA Memphis, Pallante had to develop a pitch to attack right-handed batters. He had pitches that foiled lefties. Right-handers did all the damage to him. His solution was to improve a two-seam fastball, one that could keep right-handed hitters on the ground with its sink and also chase some strikeouts up in the zone. That pitch helped him become a starter.
So with two on, two out and the right-handed hitting Adames at the plate ...
Pallante threw him eight consecutive fastballs, only one of which was a two-seamer.
Adames crushed the seventh four-seam fastball he saw for a three-run homer that tied some Major League Baseball history. Only Ken Griffey Jr. in 1996 has had as many three-run homers as Adames鈥 13 in a single season.
鈥淭hat should not be a primary pitch,鈥 Pallante said of the four-seamer. 鈥淭hrowing five of them in a row 鈥 of any pitch 鈥 is a bad idea, especially one that is not my best pitch. ... Really what I鈥檓 more upset with is the way I wasn鈥檛 throwing my fastball in to righties. That鈥檚 a very important pitch for me. That鈥檚 the biggest thing I changed. It鈥檚 given me a lot of success this year. Not doing that in the first inning, I felt a little trapped, kind of felt like I reverted back to where I was, not where I鈥檝e gotten.鈥
Pallante (6-7) walked a career-high five batters and pitched through the fifth inning, but he did so leaning into the four-seam fastball. He threw 51 of them 鈥 twice as many as any other pitch.
He got only one swing and miss on it.
He allowed two homers total.
鈥淏oth of those home runs were poorly sequenced at-bats from my part,鈥 Pallante said. 鈥淭hey were horrible sequenced.鈥
Down quickly after Adames鈥 home run, the Cardinals played catch-up all game. Rookie catcher Pedro Pages hit two solo homers for his first multi-homer game of his career, and he hoisted the Cardinals within reach of the Brewers each time. The Cardinals were down by two after three, down by three after five and then in the sixth went aggressively to pinch hitter Luken Baker to potentially flip the game. The Brewers called on lefty reliever Bryan Hudson, and Baker, who homered off Hudson earlier this season, greeted him with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly. That cleaved the Brewers鈥 lead down to 5-3.
The game went haywire from there with more walks.
Reliever Riley O鈥橞rien walked two of the first three batters he faced in the sixth inning and sandwiched a double in between. The bottom of the Brewers order all reached base to get the inning back around to Chourio at No. 2. The 20-year-old arriving star drilled a 1-1 pitch 420 feet to put it and the game out of reach for the Cardinals. Chourio鈥檚 second career grand slam set the final score and assured four of the eight Brewers who walked scored.
Opposite Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (10-7), Pallante felt he strayed from his game plan because of early misses in the strike zone. He did not have an immediate feel for his sinker but thought after the game that wasn鈥檛 a reason to pocket it so early, so often.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 all of it, right?鈥 Pallante said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 learning from poorly sequenced at-bats or maybe not understanding where I鈥檓 at in the lineup. Or how to get myself prepared to go out there and pitch. My first couple of starts, I had a really good stretch in the first innings. I felt comfortable out there. The last couple, I have not felt comfortable out there. Now it鈥檚 come back, learn, try to make the adjustment and come out in the first inning feeling strong.鈥
And he knows he鈥檒l get that chance.
As Steven Matz returns to the rotation from injury Tuesday and Lance Lynn鈥檚 return is on the horizon for as soon as next week, the Cardinals feel Pallante has pitched well enough as a starter to remain a starter 鈥 and see how far it takes him, not just this season but into the offseason and their planning for next. Marmol鈥檚 first comments after the loss Monday reflected that as he said, 鈥淓veryone is allowed an outing that doesn鈥檛 go their way.鈥
鈥淵ou get out of that first (inning), it just feels different, confidence-wise,鈥 Marmol said. 鈥淵ou stay locked in. But you have to overcome that. It鈥檚 part of the game. You鈥檙e not going to get every call.鈥