Finally, at long last, Gorman strung together a couple of uplifting performances that should give him some feel-good material to jot down.
The Cardinals’ losing streak reached seven games on Saturday when slugger Rhys Hoskins smacked a 3-2 pitch for a three-run homer that handed St. Louis a 5-3 defeat. Before that latest gut-punch moment for a Cardinals club that dropped to a season-worst nine games below .500, there were some signs of life from an offense that has been languishing for weeks.
Paul Goldschmidt struck out four times, but he ended an 0-for-32 skid with a line-drive single in the ninth. Veteran Matt Carpenter was activated off the injured list and not only played in an MLB game for the first time since April 1, but he recorded two hits as the DH. Lars Nootbaar also had three hits, including a two-run single in the fifth inning after Masyn Winn ended a stretch in which the Cardinals had been 0-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
Then there’s the curious case of Gorman, who spent most of his 24th birthday on Friday on the bench before entering as a defensive replacement in the eighth and smashing a solo home run. On Saturday, Gorman was on base three times, and his RBI double in the sixth inning gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.
For Gorman, Friday’s smash and Saturday’s hits were welcomed signs following an April in which he struck out 29 times and hit just .188. Also, he came into Friday without a hit in his previous five games, but he had been seeing the ball better as evidenced by the four walks he drew in that span.
