Tuesday night the St. Louis Cardinals lost for the third time in five games this season (ATL 4, STL 1), mostly because starting pitcher Steven Matz could not keep the Atlanta Braves off the board in the early innings. Atlanta led 2-0 after the first, 3-0 after the second, and 4-0 after the third.
There was a pivotal play in the seventh inning of Tuesday's game. Ronald Acuña Jr. threw Tyler O'Neill out at the plate on Brendan Donovan's single to right field. O'Neill was trying to score from second base, and, had he made it home safely, the Cardinals would have cut the deficit to 4-2 and had two runners on base. Instead, the inning was over.
Here's the play at the plate:
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol did not mince words after the game. He called out O'Neill for his effort on the bases, saying: "That's not our style of play as far as the effort, rounding the bag there. It's unacceptable," according to the Associated Press.
O'Neill missed 46 total days (two injured list stints) with left hamstring injuries last season and acknowledged having a tense conversation with Marmol. "I just got to get a better jump next time and I guess just get around the base a little quicker and be in there in next time," he told the Associated Press.
Here is the overhead view of the play. O'Neill is the runner at second base:
Boy, I don't know. For Marmol to call O'Neill out for his effort level, I would have expected him to slow up more than he did. Maybe O'Neill is a little slow to round third base there, but I wouldn't say he dogged it, and we are talking about a player coming off a series of hamstring injuries. The season is five days old and O'Neill is trying not to reinjured himself.
Ultimately, it's not up to me to determine what is an acceptable effort level. Marmol believes O'Neill did not do his best there and the out at the plate cost the Cardinals a run, and potentially a big inning. And, for what it's worth, O'Neill is not in the starting lineup for Wednesday afternoon's series finale with the Braves.
"There is going to be a style of play we are going to be known for. And we are going to keep guys to it," Marmol told reporters Wednesday, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "… You stay on the field by playing hard."
O'Neill is 5 for 17 (.294) with a home run in the early going. The Cardinals have moved the two-time Gold Glove left fielder to center as a way to get rookie Jordan Walker in the lineup.
