In leadoff spot debut, Fermín records pair of hits

ST. LOUIS -- Moved into the leadoff spot for the first time on Monday in hopes that he could spark the Cardinals’ languishing offense, José Fermín couldn’t help but think about the success he had from that slot at the top of the lineup earlier this season with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

Twice, Fermín opened first innings with home runs from the leadoff spot. He couldn’t afford to think quite that big against Mets left-hander Sean Manaea on Monday, but he still wanted to stay aggressive, hoping to give the Cardinals a much-needed jolt on offense.

“I mean, that would have been cool if I could have [hit a leadoff home run] here, but even when I did it [with Memphis], I wasn’t thinking about hitting homers,” said Fermín, who had two hits from the leadoff spot Monday as the Cardinals fell 4-3 to the Mets at Busch Stadium. “For me, it’s about not trying to do too much and put a good swing on pitches. But, hopefully, at some point I can [hit a leadoff homer] here.”

As it turns out, Fermín did lead off the game with a high chopper down the third base line for a single that caused Mets third baseman Brett Baty and umpire Doug Eddings to collide and fall to the turf. Later, Fermín jump-started the Cardinals’ biggest rally of the night by lacing a single past New York star Francisco Lindor to open the sixth inning. Fermín came around to score on a Willson Contreras double, and the Cardinals added two more on an Iván Herrera double to tie the game.

However, it simply wasn’t enough production from an offense that can’t string together enough hits to consistently generate runs. Monday’s result was the 22nd time this season that the Cardinals scored three runs or fewer in a game.

The Cardinals came into Monday averaging just 3.5 runs per game, good for 29th in MLB and ahead of only the eight-win White Sox, who took two of three from St. Louis over the weekend. On Monday, all three of the Cardinals' runs came in the sixth inning. It was similar to Saturday’s 6-5 loss in 10 innings, when the Cardinals pushed across all their runs in the fifth inning and failed to score the rest of the way.

“I thought early on at-bats weren’t great, but we did string together some there,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Early on, I just didn’t think the at-bats were extremely competitive. We had that good inning, but then we ran into a pretty good bullpen. We competed better, but it still wasn’t what was needed tonight.”

The lack of offense ruined another solid start from Kyle Gibson, who worked six innings for the seventh straight start this season. Gibson had trouble locating his changeup and it was hit hard at times, but he still limited the damage to three New York runs. He said he tries to not let the offense’s struggles affect his pitching when he takes the mound. And he still thinks the Cardinals have the makings of a special team if the offense can break out of its weeks-long slump.

“I don’t think there is a guy in here that believes anything different about ourselves than they did on March 27 [prior to the season opener],” said Gibson, whose streak of seven straight starts with at least six innings is the longest active streak in the big leagues. “I know that might sound crazy, but we signed up for 162 games and that’s what we’re going to do.

"I’ve been on teams that have been in much worse situations at this point of the season and we’ve finished in a really good spot. Sometimes those statements can come off [as] complacency or chalking it up to bad luck, but I don’t think this group is doing that. These guys are working hard.”

Fermín, 25, worked hard in Triple-A to get another shot in the big leagues. After dealing with the disappointment of not making the Opening Day roster, Fermín earned his way to St. Louis by hitting .350 with four homers and six doubles in 18 Triple-A games. With lefty Jose Quintana scheduled to start the series finale on Wednesday, Fermín figures to stay at the top of the lineup in the coming days.

“He’s got a nice approach, he doesn’t swing and miss much and he controls the strike zone,” Marmol said. “He puts it in play and finds a way to get the barrel on the baseball. He took some good at-bats today. We wanted to give him as many shots at the lefty as we could, and he came through. He showed well.”