Rust? What rust? Cards sweep DH from Sox

Leading up to the Cardinals' resumption of play with a doubleheader against the White Sox on Saturday, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and manager Mike Shildt agreed that getting back on the field was like a second chance at a season. After a coronavirus outbreak affected 18 people in the organization and paused the Cardinals’ schedule for more than two weeks, the chance to play was one they weren’t going to take for granted.

Two wins later, the players made the second chance count on their first day back.

• Box score

The Cardinals beat the White Sox, 6-3, in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field, following their 5-1 win in the first game. The Cardinals batted around in an inning for four runs in both games and are now 4-3, tying the Pirates in the win column and jumping to 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Cubs in the National League Central.

After Saturday, it’s one doubleheader down, 10 more to go as the Cardinals work to make up most of the 17 days they missed as they tried to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Isn’t it crazy what we just did?” Tyler O’Neill said, laughing. “I think the craziest thing was getting no text message this morning saying we’re postponed. Actually waking up for a ballgame. Luckily, we got two.”

It’s hard to put into context the Cardinals' situation because, well, this entire season is unprecedented. As the campaign continued for most of the other teams, St. Louis was stuck at five games and hadn’t played since July 29. The Cards were quarantined twice -- once for six days in a Milwaukee hotel and most recently for one week in their St. Louis homes -- and since that last game had two formal workouts on the field before Saturday’s first game. Then the traveling party drove to Chicago in separate rental cars and didn’t reunite until an hour and a half before the first game, when players, coaches and staff dropped off those rental cars in the parking lot at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Then they swept a doubleheader.

“I think we all know we’re in a historic situation here,” Shildt said. “But we’re also very present-minded. It’s not easy. We do recognize that this is unprecedented on a lot of levels. But the fact of the matter is, we’re going to stay present, we’re going to stay together, we’re going to enjoy what we’re doing and get after the moment.”

With Jake Woodford making his Major League debut -- joining top prospect Dylan Carlson and second baseman Max Schrock as the Cardinals who made their debuts on Saturday -- in Game 2, Paul Goldschmidt tied the score in the fourth inning with a solo home run and again in the fifth with an RBI single.

O’Neill gave the Cardinals the lead with a two-run home run, and Carlson’s first Major League hit landed as a double that continued the rally.

“I think for most of us, we’re just trying to see some pitches right now, see some spin, see some velo. Just get our eyes back,” O’Neill said. “We’ve kind of obviously been isolated for a little while here, so you have to train those again.”

After the Cardinals took the lead, former top prospect Alex Reyes came back to the Majors by striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth.

Saturday was not without procedural changes, starting with the amount of people allowed in the dugout in an effort to be even stricter with health and safety protocols. If a player wasn’t playing, he was sitting in the stands and out of the dugout. Most baserunners wore masks. Air high-fives were frequent. Shildt wore two masks and gave a round of air high-fives from his seat in the dugout after each win.

The Cardinals know that if they want to stay on the field, they’ll need to tighten the on-field protocols.

“It’s tighter for sure,” Game 1 starter Adam Wainwright said. “Obviously, we had to tighten the ship a lot. But guys were trying to do the right thing before. Unfortunately, this thing is very contagious and easy to pass, so there’s no touching at all. Nobody all day long has touched anybody else. No handshakes, no high fives, no fist bumps, not even with batting gloves on. Nothing, from what I can tell. We’re making adjustments as we need to, and probably not done making adjustments yet.”