Olivier Marmol makes feelings clear on Cardinals’ success vs. Paul Skenes

The St. Louis Cardinals have completed a four-game sweep of their NL Central rival Pittsburgh Pirates. In the fourth matchup, the Cardinals had to face off against reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes.

St. Louis was up for the task and came away with a 10-6 victory. Manager Oliver Marmol admitted facing off against a pitcher like Skenes made his team more eager to compete, via MLB.com.

“Four in a row on the road is never easy. These guys did a really nice job coming out,” Marmol said. “You never want to ask for Skenes. But at the same time I think it brought out the best in everyone. Knowing that if you win the first three, you can kind of come in and lock in against their best, see what you can do. Really good series.”

Rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt started the game with a leadoff home run. Two batters later, right fielder Jordan Walker hit a two-run blast of his own. While Skenes then ended the inning with a pair of strike outs, the damage had been done.

In all, the Cardinals managed to tag Skenes for five runs and eight hits over his five innings pitched. They then added salt into the wound with a five-run eighth inning. The sweep moved St. Louis to 18-13 on the season, putting them just two games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central.

With the Cardinals just beginning a rebuild, not many expected them to be real contenders. Whether their solid start continues over the full season is yet to be seen. At the very least though, St. Louis proved they aren’t afraid facing off against a Cy Young winner.

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