Zack Thompson's aggressive pitching leads Cardinals to win

In today’s 10 a.m. “Ten Hochman” video — brought to you by Siteman Cancer Center and Window Nation — Ben Hochman shares the story of Bernard Gilkey, the University City High grad who was signed on this day in 1984 by the Cardinals — and had a great MLB career for the Cards, Mets and other te…

PITTSBURGH — Pitching with a lead for the first time as a starter in the major leagues, Cardinals rookie Zack Thompson faced a moment in the third inning Wednesday when his game was at its most brittle, ready to break in a direction that could decide it.

With two on and two out, Pittsburgh had its one-time MVP Andrew McCutchen up. McCutchen had seen one pitch from Thompson earlier in the game — a 93-mph fastball — and drilled it for a double. Thompson got ahead 0-2 on McCutchen in the third and decided that was the time to reveal what no Pirate had seen.

The velocity.

“I know that is a big spot in the game right there,” Thompson said later Wednesday. “That could be the spot that defines my outing if it goes well or it goes poorly. Step on it. Empty the tank right there. And see what happens.”

Thompson tested McCutchen with a 97.4-mph fastball to see if the veteran designated hitter would chase it. McCutchen did not. Neither did the next Pirate to see the same heat. But Thompson flashed it. Thompson utilized it. What happened is he fell behind and walked McCutchen and hit another batter to load the bases. But both dugouts took note of the speed the lefty had at his fingertips. Plus, he had other pitches.

He used them to get outs all afternoon.

In another in a string of strong starts, Thompson pitched five commanding innings before a rain delay, and he piloted the Cardinals toward a 6-4 victory at PNC Park that rescued them recreating a 100-year-old shipwreck.

The Cardinals avoided losing every game of a season in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1907, snagging a win in their sixth and final game at Pittsburgh’s riverside palace. The Cardinals, still marooned in last place beneath the Bucs in the NL Central, stormed to a quick 3-0 lead, scored five runs in the first two innings, and gave Thompson his first run support in four big-league starts. With that tailwind, the rookie lefty challenged the Pirates with four different pitches at four different octaves — he went high with the fastball, low with a 72-mph curveball, and harmonized the midrange with a biting, 86-mph cutter.

Cardinals starting pitcher Zack Thompson delivers against the Pirates in the first inning Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Pittsburgh.

“The main thing with Thompson is mentality,” Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner said. “He’s embracing the opportunity. He’s being aggressive. He’s going after guys. He’s not playing around.”

In Thompson’s previous 14 innings as a starter in the majors, the Cardinals did not score a single run. They gave him three before he reached the mound Wednesday.

Alec Burleson’s cagey bunt single turned into a runner at second base after a throwing error. Paul Goldschmidt brought Burleson home with an RBI single, and a big inning started to blossom. Walks to Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras loaded the bases — and that big inning started to wilt. Knizner struck out. The game found center fielder Richie Palacios, who spent the week playing against his older brother and in front of dozens of friends and family. He got all of them involved when he drilled a two-run double toward his brother and Pirates right fielder Josh. Palacios’ two-run jolt revived a foundering inning from a 1-0 edge into a three-run head start.

“That is a big swing,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Because it gives you a little bit of cushion, especially with two outs there. That was a big part of that game.”

Arenado followed with a two-run double in the second inning to give Thompson a 5-0 lead to hold and the Cardinals eight innings to protect it and avoid the series sweep.

Thompson, 25, was plucked from the bullpen and thrust into the rotation out of need — and some curiosity. Viewed as a potential starter since the Cardinals drafted him 19th overall in 2019, Thompson made the team out of spring training as a reliever only to return to Class AAA Memphis to rebuild as a starter. His games came apart. Thompson had an 8.65 ERA in 34 1/3 innings, and he walked nearly as many batters (39) as he struck out (41). The Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) system short-circuited his ability to exploit the top of the zone. And he had to rethink how he pitched.

He found guidance by watching the classics.

Studying Clayton Kershaw’s games gave him direction.

The slider he abandoned to become more focused as a reliever had to come out of storage, and if he wasn’t going to get the call atop the zone, he had to be better with it lower. That meant tightening it. His command improved. He watched how Kershaw mixed pitches and followed that plan, and he scrutinized how the Dodgers great and former MVP established poise with an aggressiveness, a doggedness.

Cardinals center fielder Richie Palacios gives his brother, the Pirates' Joshua Palacios, a tap as he comes off the field after pulling in his brother's fly ball to end the third inning Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Pittsburgh.

“When Kershaw is on the mound, the guys in the other dugout know it’s going to be a tough day,” Thompson said. “I think the most recent revelation on that was probably over the past four to six months trying to find what works for me. I was looking for more punchouts after last year and just trying to learn more about the way I throw things. I’m good at the things that are comfortable. Some guys can do the sinker-slider, throw these big sweepers, and that’s not comfortable for me being a vertical guy. I don’t know if there’s a better blueprint for a high-slot lefty.”

With a bloated walk rate and a pitch recently ditched, many young pitchers would find their command by simplifying, narrowing to a few trustworthy pitches.

Thompson did it by expanding what he threw.

In 23 1/3 innings in the majors since the shift, he’s walked five — and struck out 26.

“The conversations are clean slate,” Marmol said. “Don’t let one outing kind of lead into the next and don’t allow what you did in Triple-A to trickle into what you do up here. Some players are really good down there and get up here and can’t do it. There are other guys who perform better (in the majors). Hopefully he continues to do what he’s doing.”

He threw 25 of those sliders Wednesday and got 11 swings, five of them misses. In the third-inning bind, having flashed the higher-octave velocity, Thompson dropped a slider on Josh Palacios for a fly ball to his brother to end the threat.

Thompson calls the pitch a slider.

BaseballSavant.com calls it a cutter.

Tomato. To-mah-to. Let’s call the whole thing an out.

Only three of his slider/cutters were put in play. Thompson needed 90 pitches to get 15 outs. He allowed two runs, one on the bases-loaded hit by pitch and the other a solo homer to Ke’Bryan Hayes. He was already coming out of the game when a 92-minute rain delay interrupted the sixth inning. The bullpen held from there, punctuated by JoJo Romero’s two-inning save. Thompson (3-5) had plans to watch Kershaw’s start late Wednesday at some point. But there was another lefty he had watched a lot that he was starting to emulate. Saw him back in college, in the SEC. Used a variety of pitches — all of them assertively.

Him.

“Looking back at college, I was always known for my aggressiveness on the mound, and some of that presence I carried with me,” Thompson said. “Starting to bring that around.”

in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Luis Ortiz delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals Paul Goldschmidt celebrates with Willson Contreras after scoring on an RBI double hit by Nolan Arenado in the second inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes slides safely into second base with a double against St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman in the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Cardinals starting pitcher Zack Thompson delivers against the Pirates in the first inning Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Pittsburgh.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Zack Thompson delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen gets into second baes with a double against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Zack Thompson delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Luis Ortiz delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals' Alec Burleson celebrates in the dugout after scoring on an RBI single hit by Paul Goldschmidt against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado scores on an RBI double hit by Richie Palacios against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals' Alec Burleson scores on an RBI single hit by Paul Goldschmidt against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Cardinals center fielder Richie Palacios gives his brother, the Pirates' Joshua Palacios, a tap as he comes off the field after pulling in his brother's fly ball to end the third inning Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes slides safely into second base with a double against St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman in the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Grounds crew members pull the tarp on the field during a rain delay in the sixth inning of a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Connor Joe is hit by a pitch from St. Louis starting pitcher Zack Thompson in the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Jason Delay scored on the play.

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado tries to pull in a base hit by Pittsburgh Pirates' Liover Peguero in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Joshua Palacios reaches for an RBI single hit by St. Louis Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals' Richie Palacios hits an RBI double against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen hits a double against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals' Alec Burleson scores on an RBI single hit by Paul Goldschmidt against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals' Alec Burleson celebrates in the dugout after scoring on an RBI single hit by Paul Goldschmidt against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Luis Ortiz delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Zack Thompson delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Zack Thompson delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Luis Ortiz delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen hits a double against the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Liover Peguero, right, gets safely into second base on a steal against St. Louis shortstop Masyn Winn in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Jose Hernandez delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Andre Pallante delivers against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Tyler O'Neill celebrates with center fielder Richie Palacios after their team got the final out against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher JoJo Romero, right, celebrates with catcher Andrew Knizner after getting the final out against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.

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