Cardinals Rotation 'Back To Earth' Following Atrocious Outing Vs. Reds

St. Louis is trending in the wrong direction

Aug 12, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (54) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports / Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals addressed the rotation concerns over the winter after finishing last season well out of playoff contention with an embarrassing 71-91 record.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Moeliak hoped that adding veteran hurlers to the pitching staff would help accomplish the job for 2024 but sadly, that's not turning out to be the case.

"But there is so much more to why the 2024 Cardinals have fallen," St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Ben Hochman wrote Thursday. "The starting pitching has come back to earth — in the Reds series, Nos. 1-2-3 Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde and Kyle Gibson all got rocked;"

Not only did the Cardinals get swept by the National League Central division rival Cincinnati Reds but the aforementioned starting pitchers accumulated 16 earned runs on 18 hits, 17 strikeouts and six walks in 15 2/3 innings pitched.

The retooled rotation was pitching well at the beginning of the year and it looked like Mozeliak made the right moves by signing Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson and Sonny Gray in the offseason.

Since then, however, it's been a slow but steady downward slope, leading to the Cardinals' rotation ranking No. 24 in the league with a 4.56 ERA.

The offseason acquisitions of Lynn, Gibson and Gray have accumulated a 24-16 record with a 4.08 ERA, 380-to-122 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .243 batting average against and a 1.26 WHIP throughout the season. Although not terrible, their cumulative stats are average at best.

With only 41 games remaining in the season, fans can only hope that the rotation will turn things around quickly but so far, there have been no signs of that happening anytime soon.

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