Two is better than one: Edman delivers HRs for wife's birthday

KANSAS CITY -- Tommy Edman had a very special request ahead of Saturday night’s game.

Edman’s wife, Kristen, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child, asked for one simple birthday present: a home run.

Instead, Edman went above and beyond and clobbered two, providing the game-winning run in the Cardinals’ 5-4 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

With Edman’s dad strength already in full form, St. Louis’ shortstop notched his first mulithomer game in over two years (May 26, 2021).

“A big part of it was that it’s my wife’s birthday,” Edman said smiling. “She wasn’t expecting two.”

Since the Cardinals dealt Paul DeJong to the Blue Jays ahead of the Trade Deadline, Edman has found a groove offensively since being penciled in as the Cardinals’ everyday shortstop. He has at least one hit in 8 of his past 10 games, batting .351 (13-for-37) with 7 extra-base hits (3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs).

“I made a little adjustment at the plate recently. Without getting too mechanical, I changed the direction of my swing and am making sure I’m staying through the middle of the field,” Edman said. “It’s funny that both [home run] balls were pulled today, but I’ve been working through the middle and the opposite-field game.

“But that just shows you that when you’re doing that, you can still pull the ball.”

Edman got things started with a two-run dinger in the top of the second, but it was his 403-foot solo shot in the eighth that solidified his big day, and the Cardinals’ winning road trip. The blast cleared the bullpen in left and left his bat with a 104.5 mph exit velocity.

In 112 fewer at-bats against lefties, Edman has the same number of homers (5) as he does against righties (5). His OPS against lefties (.833) is also significantly higher than it is against righties (.696), and both of Edman’s homers Saturday were off the only two lefties the Royals trotted out to the mound.

“From that right side, he can slug,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We’ve seen it before. This is a guy that drives a baseball well, especially from left-handed pitching … he’s pretty powerful.”

Edman’s big day at the plate allowed Steven Matz to pick up another win, his fourth in his past five outings, after tossing his fourth consecutive quality start.

Matz has now gone four straight starts of at least six innings for the first time since joining St. Louis ahead of last season. Before this stretch, he had never done it in back-to-back outings with the Cardinals.

“He’s put [enough starts] together where we’re not saying, ‘Let’s see if he can repeat it,’” Marmol said. “This is who we were hoping to see all the way through. He’s done a nice job. … This is who Matz is. He threw a lot of pitches for strikes today.”

The lefty struck out more batters (five) than he gave up hits (four), and he didn’t walk a batter in a six-inning outing for just the second time this season. Matz’s turnaround has been critical for a club looking for consistency in the rotation after Adam Wainwright’s recent struggles and the players traded at the Deadline.

In his seven starts since being thrown back in the rotation after spending time in the bullpen, Matz has pitched to a 1.86 ERA and a 4-0 record. He has allowed just eight earned runs over that span and has more strikeouts (38) than hits (27) and walks (7) combined over his past seven outings.

“This is the type of pitcher I am,” Matz said. “There’s a few different things you could put your finger on [for the change], but I think mindset is one of them. Going to the bullpen changed my mindset a little bit. I think I’m locating my changeup better and keeping it down for the most part [too].”

“He’s a different pitcher than what I remember from seeing him the last time,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “More sinkers and changeups to righties … his delivery looks really smooth, he located, he didn’t back down.”

With Matz continuing to shove, and Edman adding to an already power-heavy offense, the Cardinals are starting to figure out who they can rely on in 2024.

“We’ve got a good mix of guys who have been around the league for a long time and guys who have only been around for a few years, and I think that’s part of the reason why it works,” Edman said. “You see Goldy and [Arenado] always talking about their swings, and I think that is trickling down to the young guys, who can learn a lot from that.”