About two weeks before he took the field Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, Cardinals infielder Jose Fermin talked with Jose Oquendo, a Cardinals Hall of Famer and the organization’s minor league coordinator of instruction. Of the things that came up in Fermin’s conversation with the longtime Cardinal was the topic of pinch-hitting and Oquendo’s history in those situations. “He told me .
.. read what a team wanted from me if it was like, 'OK, you need to get on base.
You need to come swinging,’” Fermin on Thursday. “Things like that. He was just telling me about patience.
Being a little patient sometimes is not a bad thing, especially because he told me we are kind of similar hitters where we make a lot of contact and we don't strike out much.” Fermin put Oquendo’s words of wisdom into practice in his first game back in the majors since July 6. After being told around 11 a.
m. he was being recalled to the majors — and after traffic slowed him on his drive from Memphis, Tennessee, to St. Louis — Fermin arrived at Busch Stadium by the third inning of Wednesday’s National League Central matchup against Milwaukee.
Fermin recalled getting stretched and preparing to come off the bench if needed as some of the first things he did upon his arrival. “I said (hello) to everyone, and it was just like, roll right into it. Right into getting ready,” he said.
That need came in the top of the eighth inning when Fermin was used as a defensive substitution for Luken Baker after Baker delivered a pinch-hit home run in second baseman Brendan Donovan’s spot in the bottom of the seventh. Fermin’s spot in the order came up in the bottom of the ninth when the Cardinals trailed 6-4. Fermin lined a double to right field off Brewers closer Devin Williams to put runners on second and third after Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch to begin the frame.
Fermin and Contreras scored to tie the game after Lars Nootbaar, Matt Carpenter and Tommy Pham drew walks against Williams, a former two-time All-Star and a Hazelwood West graduate. In the 10th inning, Fermin stepped to the plate with runners on first and second base after Masyn Winn began the extra-inning frame as the automatic runner and after Contreras was intentionally walked. Fermin drew a walk in a five-pitch battle vs.
Trevor Megill to load the bases for Nolan Arenado, who clubbed a walk-off grand slam. “The first at-bat was more of like: OK, (Contreras) got on base. It's more like: Let's try to drive the ball,” Fermin said.
“The second at-bat, I had a chance to win the game. The same thing. Get a good pitch and try to put a good swing on it.
” Fermin’s at-bats helped the Cardinals even a three-game series vs. the Brewers as they look to keep pace in the NL Central and in the chase for one of the NL’s three wild-card spots. “He takes a really pesky at-bat,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Fermin.
“Bat-to-ball skills are really high, and he takes his walks. We saw that yesterday.” Longtime Reds 1B Votto retires Longtime Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Wednesday via Instagram.
Votto, 40, played parts of 17 seasons with the Reds. He made six NL All-Star teams, became an NL MVP in 2010 and posted a .294/.
409/.511 slash line for his career. The Cardinals’ longtime divisional rival signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in March in hopes of playing for the only MLB club to represent Votto’s home country of Canada.
Votto dealt with an injury and played in 31 games within the Blue Jays minor league system before retiring. Votto did not reach the majors this year. He’ll end his career having only donned a Reds jersey at the major league level.
"I feel like the Reds were so lucky to get, of course, the Hall of Fame-caliber player he is, but Joey is one of the rare veterans who still worked like he was a rookie when I played with him, and it's the end of his career,” said Cardinals outfielder Pham, who played with Votto in 2022. “..
. You can't quantify that.” Votto played in 224 games against the Cardinals — the third-most games against any opponent in his career.
“He's a great player, and I consider him to be a Hall of Famer,” Cardinals designated hitter Carpenter said of Votto. “The guy accomplished a lot as a player. He was a great ambassador of our game, and he was a Cincinnati Red icon.
I've had the luxury of getting to know him personally over the years. He's just a good human, and I want to congratulate him on a great career. Against the Cardinals, Votto batted .
298 with a .929 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), 50 doubles and 36 home runs. Votto’s .
929 OPS against St. Louis was the highest he produced against any of the NL Central teams he faced. “I think for a long stretch — 10-plus years — there was nobody in baseball who was taking a better at-bat than he was,” Carpenter added.
Extra bases Starting pitcher Steven Matz (lower back strain) will "most likely" make another rehab start before he is activated from the injured list, Marmol said. Matz completed five innings on 85 pitches and allowed four runs on nine hits during his Wednesday rehab start with Class AAA Memphis. Two of the four runs he allowed came on a home run.
Since returning to game action on Aug. 1, Matz has completed 18 innings in five starts and has posted a 3.00 ERA in that span.
Michael Siani (right oblique strain) progressed to taking indoor batting practice thrown by a coach on Thursday, Marmol said. Marmol said before Thursday’s game that Siani was nearing the start of a rehab assignment, but the date for when that may start had not yet been determined..
