Cardinals notebook: Marmol trusts Flaherty; righthander will face Pittsburgh

“I wouldn't say getting my way," Flaherty said Tuesday afternoon. “But they've seen how I've looked. I think the work that everybody put into this whole process of getting back from Day 1 ... has been so well thought out and well done that it's been a good process.”

Marmol, who has had several conversations with Flaherty in the past few days, said the final verdict was a matter of trust. He trusted Flaherty when the 26-year-old, fourth-youngest member of the rotation, pleaded to the staff he was ready.

“We operate out of honesty,” said Marmol. “You’ve got to be able to trust your guys. They trust me. I trust me.”

Flaherty said, “I appreciate that.”

He related that Marmol had said, “If you feel good, you feel good. We're not going to have any in-betweens. We're trying to win a World Series and you're not going to do that on June 13 or June 14, but if you feel good and you want to be back, we'll talk about it. And then eventually we came to the decision.”

The difference in Flaherty starting in Memphis and here against Pittsburgh is 15 pitches. Given the relative intensity between a big-league start and one in the minors, Marmol on Wednesday wants to hold Flaherty to 60 or so pitches, about what he had last Friday in Memphis, instead of the 75 he would have had in Memphis this week.

Then, 75 might be the target when Flaherty would pitch at Milwaukee probably next Tuesday.

Marmol said, “He was very adamant about a couple things, physically and mentally. Increasing not just the workload but the intensity of what he’s doing and that could only happen here."

Once Marmol and Maddux were comfortable that they could get 60 pitches out of Flaherty, with Wednesday scheduled starter Andre Pallante in reserve, the decision was made to keep Flaherty here.

Flaherty’s point has been that intensity was more important than pitch count, and it was difficult to maintain intensity in a minor league setting.

“Rehab is a hard thing,” said Flaherty. “Mentally, for me, when you’re getting up there in pitch count, it becomes a little bit harder. You don’t want to have lack of focus or slip in focus. It’s real easy for your mind to start drifting, your mind to stand wandering.”

“I think I know where my focus is going to be here ... it’s about that time. At this point, I’m just another piece of the puzzle, and I’m going to go out and compete.”

Since Flaherty last pitched, the rules have changed. Pitchers don’t bat anymore.

“I hurt my oblique once doing that, said Flaherty. “I got my home run.”

Flaherty was 9-2 last season between his oblique and shoulder problems, the latter of which bothered him late in the season, into the offseason and well into the spring. His start will be the first he has made here since last Aug. 24.

“If you’re playing well and winning and you get one of your best guys back ... I’m in on that,” Marmol said.

Molina, Pujols milestones

Catcher Yadier Molina had 11 putouts in Tuesday’s first game, running his total to 14,870, passing Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez (14,864) for first in putouts among catchers. Molina also did a little umpiring, catching Pittsburgh starter JT Brubaker lapsing into a windup before stopping while Molina was running at second base. Brubaker caught Molina at third for what appeared to be the final out, but the umpires, acting on the complaint by Molina and Marmol, correctly called a balk.

Albert Pujols passed another Cardinal on the charts Tuesday in the first game. Pujols played his 1,739th game as a Cardinal, moving him past Curt Flood into seventh place. Red Schoendienst is next at 1,795. His appearance at first base was No. 1,340, tying Jim Bottomley for tops at first in Cardinals history.

Marmol criticizes Marmol

If he had it to do over again, Marmol said he would not have pinch hit right-handed batting Harrison Bader for left-handed hitting Nolan Gorman against Pittsburgh left-hander Anthony Banda on Monday night in the sixth inning. The score was tied at 5-5 and the go-ahead run was at second.

Bader popped up, but Tommy Edman then moved over to second on a defensive switch, replacing Gorman, and made a spectacular grab of a line drive to start the seventh. But Marmol said he should have left Gorman in the game, with one reason being that the Cardinals were out of left-handed relievers after Banda, who came out of the game when Bader pinch hit.

Marmol said he had made the move to improve his defense for the last three innings, with Bader going to center and Dylan Carlson to right.

“A couple of balls already had dropped in the outfield,” said Marmol, “and when you’re playing a team, you want them to earn every time they get on base.’

But, Marmol said, “I wouldn’t do it again. That was a bad move,” citing the fact Gorman’s next at-bat would have been against a right-hander. 

Sacrifice means success

Andrew Knizner, the ninth-place-hitting catcher Monday, pushed a successful sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning, moving an insurance run to third and reaching first anyway on a Pittsburgh error.

The sacrifice was just the Cardinals’ second successful one of the season. “It was the right time to bunt,” said Marmol. “You’ve got a guy who’s been struggling trying to figure it out. For him to have a positive at-bat, that’s the time to get (the runner) over and go from there. It was a good bunt.”

Another shot for Matz

Left-hander Steven Matz, who has been progressing in his recovery from a shoulder impingement, had a shot in his AC joint Tuesday and will resume playing catch on Wednesday, said Marmol.