MLB NEWS

Cardinals off to aggressive start on basepaths

The Sports Xchange

April 16, 2015 at 8:03 pm.

ST. LOUIS — OK, so these may not be the running Redbirds of Whitey Herzog, Vince Coleman, Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith.

However, the St. Louis Cardinals definitely are making strides to avoid being the station-to-station that which often needed three hits — every once in a while four — to score a run last year.

The Cardinals’ 4-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday was another example of that. In the sixth inning, left fielder Matt Holliday drove in the first run with a single that plated third baseman Matt Carpenter from second.

On the first pitch to shortstop Jhonny Peralta, who took the pitch, Holliday lit out for second. Getting a big jump on pitcher Mike Fiers, who probably didn’t suspect he would have to worry about a steal, Holliday beat catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s throw on a close play and later scored on a Mark Reynolds double.

Aware that the Cardinals probably won’t be among the league leaders in homers — they were last in the National League last year with 105 — manager Mike Matheny is encouraging more aggression on the basepaths.

“If you say you’re going to open it up, you’ve got to let them be aggressive,” Matheny said. “When you see Matt take advantage of that opportunity and then score, it shows they’re staying consistent with what you want.”

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