Confident Cardinals bank on Quintana to get Redbirds off to a good start in Wild Card

The announcement of the starter for the first game of a playoff series is met with a great deal of attention in part due to the ceremonial honor, but also in part due to the necessity of getting off to a good start.

Momentum matters in short bursts, and ahead of Friday’s commencement of the best-of-three Wild Card series, the Cardinals opted to lean on he who most recently pitched best, pitching first.

José Quintana will start game one, followed by Miles Mikolas in game two, manager Oliver Marmol said. Acquired at the trade deadline, Quintana has allowed no more than two earned runs in any of his 12 starts with the Cardinals and will make his first postseason appearance since a pair of difficult starts for the Cubs in the 2017 National League Championship Series.

“As soon as I got traded [from Pittsburgh] and start to pitch for the Cardinals, I feel that energy in how they see the games, and I was so excited all the time,” Quintana said. “To get this opportunity, to me it means a lot. I think we play baseball to be in October.”

“‘Q’ has done a phenomenal job,” Marmol added. “He’s on a mission, and he’s performed extremely well.”

In highlighting Quintana’s performance against the top of the Philadelphia order, Marmol revealed more about the decision to lean on Quintana. Left fielder Kyle Schwarber and designated hitter Bryce Harper are the pillars of the Phillies lineup, and typically hit first and third in their batting order.

They’re both also left-handed, and are a combined 1-for-12 (a single by Schwarber) with no walks and five strikeouts in their careers against the Cardinals’ southpaw.

“He can draw from experience,” Marmol said. “He’s done it a while, and he understands what gives him success. He’s confident in who he is.”

Early inning success could be an important bellwether in determining the path of Friday’s game and, therefore, the series. Phillies game one starter Zack Wheeler has started twice against the Cardinals this season, and in back to back appearances on July 3 and July 8, he threw a combined 14 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and nine hits – all singles.

“Both teams are going to want to score early,” said first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, 1-for-6 with a strikeout against Wheeler this year. “Anytime you can score early, that’s good. But if we don’t, then try to score in the middle or late, and try to find a way to win. We’re gonna do our best every pitch, every inning.”

The early going will be especially important for Wheeler, making just his fourth start after spending a month on the injured list with tendonitis in his right forearm.

In three starts to end the regular season, he threw just 58, 62 and 77 pitches. While that workload was part of a prescribed pattern to allow him to compete in the postseason without limitations, it also has the potential to leave him scrambling to play catchup should the Cardinals work deep counts early. Though, to speak with the hitters likeliest to see Wheeler earliest, that may not be in the cards.

“If it’s a good pitch to hit, it’s good to go on,” said second baseman Brendan Donovan, Friday’s likely leadoff hitter. “Guys like him, they’re aces. You don’t want to get into deep counts against him. You want to be ready to go early.”

Donovan’s 2022 line against Wheeler is identical to Goldschmidt’s – 1-for-6 with a single and a strikeout. He explained that studying prior matchups has value, but staying within himself will, in his view, lead to a superior approach at the plate.

“For me, it’s just try to get the fastball down and out over [the plate] and try to get a good pitch to hit.”

Lars Nootbaar, likely batting second Friday, was at Triple-A Memphis for both of Wheeler’s earlier starts and is yet to face him in his Major League career. He, like, Donovan, seemed skeptical of committing too heavily to focusing on Wheeler’s workload.

“With a guy like that, he’s got really good stuff,” Nootbaar said. “You don’t want to get behind in the count to a guy like that.

“But,” he added, “at the same time, you don’t want to go out chasing. So that’s kind of our main focus right now, is just kind of getting a good pitch to hit just like any other pitcher.”

Getting a good pitch to hit and swinging at strikes is perhaps the most simplistic way to look at hitting, but against a talent like Wheeler, simplicity can generate results. With two starts’ worth of recent experience and little to no success, dialing in on the basics certainly can’t hurt.

“He’s been tough against a lot of people,” Marmol said Thursday, politely interrupting a reporter who mentioned the Cardinals’ struggles against Wheeler. “We’re gonna see some good pitching here over the next couple days. It’ll be a nice challenge, and one we welcome.”

In that, Marmol was including Quintana, Mikolas and his other pitchers, as well as those in the opposing dugout. And among that group, the first to buckle will leave his team facing a steep hill to climb with a short road to get there.