Rookie Gorman propels Cards with 2 HRs, 4 RBIs

MILWAUKEE -- When he was first promoted to the big leagues on May 20, Cardinals rookie Nolan Gorman featured a high leg kick at the plate to generate some of the massive power that allowed him to hit numerous 400-foot home runs.

However, when Major League pitchers adjusted and attacked him with high hard pitches, Gorman had to adapt and shed the leg kick in favor of a toe-tap stance that helped him get his timing in sync.

After thinking it through the past few days, Gorman unveiled a hybrid move Tuesday where he went back to a modified leg kick. That move -- and the 22-year-old rookie’s willingness to continue to evolve at the plate -- led to another jaw-dropping power surge in the Cardinals’ 6-2 defeat of the Brewers.

Gorman delivered the first multi-home run game of his young MLB career Tuesday, launching two solo home runs as St. Louis moved back into a tie with Milwaukee for the NL Central lead. Gorman went 4-for-4 with two singles and four RBIs. It’s the second four-hit game and the second game with four RBIs of his career -- both against Milwaukee. He is the first MLB player at 22 years of age or younger with four hits, two home runs and four RBIs since Fernando Tatis Jr. on Aug. 15, 2021, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The success, he insisted, is all about being willing to adapt his swing according to how he is being attacked. His adaptation Tuesday produced more massive results.

“There was a little bit there where I was sliding forward when I was doing the toe tap or whatever, so I went back to the leg kick to get back on my backside [leg],” Gorman said. “It’s a game of adjustments, and I’ve got to be able to adapt quickly. … We’ll see what comes next [with pitching adjustments], but I’ll keep adapting. It’s a game within a game and adjusting pitch by pitch.”

Gorman broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning with a 428-foot no-doubter of a home run that left the bat at 107.9 mph and hit halfway up the batter’s eye.

Gorman led off the seventh inning with a line-drive home run that had an exit velocity of 108.7 mph. That home run, the sixth of his young career, went 396 feet -- the first that failed to reach 400 feet.

The first five home runs of Gorman’s career traveled 449, 403, 424, 440 and 428 feet. The Phoenix-area native has an average distance of 423.3 feet on his six MLB home runs. That average distance is tied for sixth among all MLB hitters (minimum: five HRs), as of Monday night’s games, according to Statcast. Also, it is tied for first among rookies with MJ Melendez and Jake Burger.

“This is what Nolan does, and he’s always done this,” said fellow rookie Zack Thompson, a Triple-A teammate of Gorman’s when he hit 15 home runs to open the season with Memphis. “It’s even more exciting to see him do it on this level and help the club win.”

More so than the mammoth home runs, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has marveled at the high baseball IQ and the lack of ego when it comes to Gorman’s willingness to adjust. Continuing to evolve, Marmol said, will be key for Gorman.

“He hits it hard, he’s been preparing well and he’s loose on the bench regardless of how it’s going,” Marmol said of Gorman, who is hitting .280 with an .866 OPS. “The adjustments he’s made are real, and they were needed. We continue to say the kid has a lot of power, but with his aptitude, approach and adjustability, I think we are going to see less swing-and-miss and more contact. When he makes contact, the ball goes a long way.”

Gorman’s exploits helped make a winner out of Thompson, who earned his first MLB victory.

It also overshadowed a second shaky outing from Jack Flaherty, who allowed two runs on three hits and five walks in just three innings of work. Flaherty, the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter in 2020 and ’21, missed the first 2 1/2 months of the season because of right shoulder inflammation.

After his second home run of the night, Gorman received a bear hug from Albert Pujols, the last Cardinal to have a two-home run night within his first 29 MLB games. He said it is somewhat mind-blowing to him now to accomplish feats Pujols racked up 21 years earlier.

“It’s awesome to be a part of a list with such great players,” Gorman said. “This is a game I like to play, and I’m just playing hard and trying to compete.”