Monday, June 30

CLEVELAND -- Pedro Pagés, batterymate of Cardinals ace Sonny Gray during his epic one-hit, 89-pitch masterpiece on Friday, left Progressive Field later that night with a keepsake baseball, a knowing smile from his pitcher and enough memories to last a lifetime.

To show Pagés just how much he appreciated the prep work that went into the outing, his framing behind the plate and even the run support he provided with a third-inning, line-drive home run, Gray selflessly handed over the game ball from Friday’s stellar performance to his young and likeable catcher. Pagés wasn’t even off the field yet and he already had a spot in mind where the baseball will sit in his offseason home in South Florida.

“[Left fielder] Lars [Nootbaar] gave Sonny the ball, and he gave it to me and said, ‘You keep it!’ and I was like, ‘No, no, that’s your ball,’ but he told me to keep it,” a somewhat incredulous Pagés recalled following the 11-strikeout, zero-walk outing for Gray. “I’m definitely keeping this one, and it’s super special to me. It’s going in this room I have -- my little man cave -- with my other stuff.

“Sonny giving me that ball means a lot. I’m going to be able to get a lineup card from the game, too. I did the same thing with [Erick] Fedde’s [shutout on May 9]. Those are obviously special, and hopefully, I’ll have a chance to do it many more times.”

How dynamic and dominant was Gray on Friday in Cleveland? He needed just 89 pitches to throw a “Maddux,” which is defined as a complete-game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches. For the record, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux did that 13 times, and the fewest pitches he ever threw in one was 84, per MLB.com Research. Gray nearly matched that with a pitch count that read like lottery numbers: 8, 10, 12, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 and 11 pitches over his nine-inning effort.

Here's how 13-year MLB veteran and 10-time Gold Glover Nolan Arenado summed up Gray’s coolly efficient night: “That was as good a performance as I’ve ever played defense behind in my career. It felt like we were running out there and then running back in [to the dugout] again. The way he located everything and commanded the zone, that was a masterclass of pitching.”

Pagés, of course, shared in the effectiveness of the outing, studying the Cleveland lineup and knowing it well enough to call 23 sweepers, 23 four-seam fastballs, 22 curveballs, 11 changeups, eight sinkers and two cutters. Gray pointed out afterward that the only Cleveland hit -- Nolan Jones' single through the right side in the fifth inning -- came on the one pitch he shook off from Pagés.

The bond between Gray and Pagés has been so good this season that the Cardinals are 13-3 in games their ace starts. Pagés has earned the respect of Cardinals hurlers because of the exhaustive work he puts in to studying hitters’ tendencies and knowing which pitches to call in which spots. Cardinals pitchers have a 3.56 ERA in 61 games this season with Pagés behind the plate -- a full run better than when Yohel Pozo or Iván Herrera catches (4.60 ERA in 35 games).

“There’s a lot of communication that goes into it, knowing what the hitter likes to do and staying away from that,” said the 26-year-old catcher who others “gravitate to,” as Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol puts it. “The relationship you build with a pitcher and the trust you have -- it’s about going out there and competing and building that trust. That’s something I’m trying to do with all these guys. I care a lot about them, they care about me, and we trust one another.”

Gray’s trust in Pagés was shown in how Friday’s pregame work played out. Gray, 35, is a bit maniacal when it comes to the work he puts in before games, detailed down to the very minute he puts himself through the paces of each warmup drill. With the timing of Friday’s hitters’ meeting scheduled at the same time Gray and Pagés usually go over the scouting report, the veteran pitcher gave the young catcher clearance to attend the hitters’ meeting.

“Sonny is usually very strict about his times, but he told me to go ahead and go to the hitters’ meeting and I said, ‘Are you sure?’” Pagés recalled later. “As soon as the hitters’ meeting ended, I went and hit BP, and then I met with Sonny. That was when he told me, ‘Hey, just go and hit a home run for me today!’”

As was the case with almost every perfect aspect of Friday night, Pagés did just that in the third inning by breaking a scoreless tie with his sixth homer of the season.

“Once I [hit the homer], I looked at [Gray] in the dugout and he smiled back at me,” Pagés joked. “It was just a really cool moment on a special night.”     

The Cardinals appear to have avoided a tougher setback by catching Jordan Walker’s appendicitis last Tuesday before the appendix ruptured and required emergency surgery. Instead, doctors were alerted early to the intense pain that the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Walker was feeling in his lower right abdomen and were able to treat the condition with antibiotics -- something that allowed Walker to be back on the diamond much earlier than if he had needed surgery.

Walker, 23, showed up early to Busch Stadium for some extra batting practice on Tuesday, when he started feeling pain in his right side. Upon making the Cardinals’ training staff aware of the situation, Walker was put through some testing to determine the source of the pain. When trainers detected potential appendicitis, Walker was sent to a St. Louis hospital for further imaging, which showed issues with the small, finger-like pouch attached to the large intestine.

Walker was kept in the hospital overnight for observation while antibiotics were administered, and he was released a day later. Following three days of rest, Walker was in the lineup for Triple-A Memphis in Durham, N.C., on Saturday night.

Walker’s 10-day injured list stint was backdated to Monday, meaning he is eligible to return as soon as Wednesday, when the Cardinals close a series in Pittsburgh. If not then, he could be back by the start of the July 4 weekend series against the rival Cubs at Wrigley Field.

“Forget baseball, just health-wise I’m glad he was at the stadium when it happened and we were able to detect it early and get him to the doctor,” Marmol said.

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