Pallante makes case to stay in rotation with strong outing

KANSAS CITY -- Andre Pallante made a statement to keep his rotation spot.

Lance Lynn’s imminent return from right knee inflammation has put an unknown future on Pallante’s spot in St. Louis’ starting staff, but the 25-year-old righty has put together a resume that deserves a second look. Pallante pitched around multiple defensive miscues to toss 5 2/3 strong innings of two-run ball (one earned) in the Cardinals’ 8-3 loss to the Royals on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.

And it’s something the Cardinals have seen for a better part of a season now. Pallante didn’t make his first start until May 29, but since moving into that role, he has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of 12 starts. His control wavered against the Royals, walking four, but he allowed just three hits and didn’t allow a ball to land past the infield grass until Freddy Fermin’s flyout to right in the fourth inning.

“He’s really unique,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “The four-seam [fastball] characteristics are different. The two-seam [fastball] characteristics are different. The ball just takes off in different directions. He’s got the high front side that’s deceptive. Good slider, too. You see his ground ball rates are through the roof. It’s not just us that puts the ball in play against him. He’s tough.”

Pallante induced 10 ground ball outs and struck out four Royals. His only run through the first five innings came on a groundout after a Willson Contreras throwing error, one of several mistakes behind Pallante during his 12th start of the season.

The most costly defensive mistake could have been Nolan Gorman’s error on a potential double play ball in the fourth that put runners on first and second with nobody out, but Pallante buckled down to get out of the inning -- not allowing the runner (former Cardinal Paul DeJong) to even reach third.

“The game didn’t speed up on him today. ” said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, whose club entered Saturday with 51 errors -- tied with Atlanta for the third least in baseball. “He did a really nice job of just locking in on the things he can control.

"We’ve been playing good defense. Our guys have done a really nice job. I trust [Gorman] at second. I trust [Tommy Pham] out there. Things are going to happen, but he did a really nice job of not letting it affect him, and just stayed true to what he was trying to do.”

What he was trying to do was a little different than his normal routine. Pallante is still learning to make adjustments when he faces hitters for a second and third time, but he started the crucial sequence in the fourth with a strikeout of MJ Melendez -- going to his slider twice after three straight four-seam fastballs. Pallante followed that with Fermin’s shallow flyout before getting Garrett Hampson to ground out to end the threat.

“I think I had a plan to pitch the guys a little differently,” Pallante said. “ … I got out of my normal plan a little bit, and I was able to get a pretty big at-bat, get a strikeout. It just comes down to making pitches.

“I feel like being able to see hitters multiple times and kind of see what they’re doing, I’m able to make an adjustment because I can pitch in multiple ways.”

His slider-curveball combination has tricked hitters all season -- he’s allowed just five homers in 72 2/3 innings -- despite pitching out of the rotation for the first time since 2022. He had the Cardinals’ best starter ERA (3.33) in July.

But on Saturday, mistakes piled up around Pallante after his two-out, nobody-on walk to DeJong forced him from the game in the sixth.

Ryan Fernandez allowed the inherited runner to score, before giving up two more in the sixth -- exacerbated by two mistakes in right by Pham and a bad throw from Brandon Crawford that took away a double play.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer in the second, tying Carlos Lee and Yogi Berra (358) for 89th all-time, but St. Louis went down quietly offensively during the next five frames.

Pallante may or may not be St. Louis’ fifth starter down the stretch of a playoff push, but he’s continued to prove he can be an effective Major Leaguer -- no matter what happens behind him.

“[Pallante] did a nice job,” Marmol said. “He really did. … You think of some of the other kind of non-plays behind him. He was able to stay focused, stay in the moment, stay present and just keep attacking. And I thought he did a really nice job with that today.”