Right-hander Erick Fedde makes his St. Louis debut on Friday afternoon as the visiting Cardinals try to bounce back from a walk-off loss to the Chicago Cubs in the series opener.
Fedde (7-4, 3.11 ERA), one of the more coveted starting pitchers at the trade deadline, was obtained along with outfielder Tommy Pham from the Chicago White Sox as part of a three-team trade that included the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
“Obviously, it was a big day,” said Fedde, a former prep teammate of Bryce Harper at Las Vegas High School. “So much excitement coming to a team that’s pushing for a playoff berth, and I’m hoping to affect the team in a very positive manner.”
Fedde left a White Sox team that has the worst record in baseball and is more than 40 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central to join a Cardinals team that is in second place in the National League Central, 5 1/2 games behind Milwaukee and just two games out of a wild-card spot.
In three career starts against the Cubs, Fedde is 0-0 with a 5.51 ERA. He faced Chicago on June 5 and got a no-decision after tossing five innings of three-run ball.
The Cubs are last in the NL Central and six games out of a wild-card spot after rallying for a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Cardinals on Thursday.
St. Louis looked to be in good shape after taking a 4-2 lead with three runs in the seventh inning: a two-run homer by Masyn Winn and an RBI single by Nolan Arenado.
The Cardinals brought in All-Star closer Ryan Helsley, tied with Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase for the major league lead for saves with 33, for the ninth inning. However, Cody Bellinger cut the lead to 4-3 with a home run, Dansby Swanson tied it with an RBI double and pinch hitter Mike Tauchman followed with an opposite-field double down the left field line to win it.
“Yeah, that was fun,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The ninth inning against a really good closer. The (Bellinger) home run and then three straight two-out hits. Not easy to do. Guys put together great at-bats.”
“It’s a great feeling,” said Tauchman, who battled back from an 0-2 count to slice a 2-2 fastball that clocked 98.9 mph into the left field corner. “You always want to contribute to the team. We’ve battled a lot of adversity this year. It’s no secret we’re not where we want to be (in the standings) right now.”
Tauchman said of Helsley, “Power arm. Made a couple of really good pitches. You’re just trying to foul off anything close. I just snuck it inside the line.”
Now the question is, can the Cubs, who will start right-hander Javier Assad (5-3, 3.23 ERA) on Friday, be able to build on the momentum generated by arguably the team’s biggest comeback win of the season?
“It’s a good start to the month,” Tauchman said. “We’ve got two months left, and we have to play our best baseball. Simple as that.”
Assad is 0-2 with a 3.80 ERA in eight career appearances (three starts) against St. Louis. He has started twice vs. the Cardinals this year and struggled each time. Assad gave up four runs in five innings during a loss on May 26, then yielded three runs in 2 1/3 innings during a no-decision on July 13.
–Field Level Media