Games at AL ballparks allow Cardinals to get Reynolds in lineup at DH
Mark Reynolds picked just the right time to start heating up at the plate.
The versatile utilityman went 3 for 4 in Tuesday night's 8-3 win over Cleveland, giving him five hits in his last six at-bats and raising his batting average in May to .333. Finding a spot for Reynolds' bat will be much easier for manager Mike Matheny in five of the next 12 games, thanks to a pair of series in American League ballparks.
It's not as if Reynolds can't play defense, and he's already started games as a first baseman, third baseman and left fielder this season. But even with regular first baseman Matt Adams in a bit of a slump and third baseman Matt Carpenter sitting out only rarely, Reynolds' opportunities will be limited as long as the Cardinals lead the National League with 307 hits.
"We've got a really good lineup," Carpenter told reporters during the Cardinals Live postgame show Tuesday night. "It really helps, obviously, in the American League you can throw Mark in there, but our lineup's really good."
This three-game series at Cleveland and another three-game set at Kansas City next weekend will be six of just 10 games St. Louis plays on the road against AL teams, with a pair of two-game series with Minnesota and the Chicago White Sox scheduled for later this summer. With 11 pinch-hit at-bats -- six more than the next-closest Cardinals -- and the start at DH in the first two games of the Cleveland series, Reynolds looks to be Matheny's preferred choice for designated hitter.
Matheny has said throughout the season the Cardinals are getting more or less what they expected when they signed the 31-year-old veteran to a one-year contract last December. Two home runs and five doubles in 62 at-bats show Reynolds' game-changing power, but he also has a 32.4 percent strikeout rate, the highest mark on the team.
"Strikeouts are going to happen, but we still want him going up there and trying to make something big happen," Matheny told reporters on Cardinals Live Tuesday night. "But every once in a while, that happens with just a base hit."
That comment referred to Reynolds' first at-bat against the Indians, when he reached out and went the opposite way for a two-out, two-run single to break a 0-0 tie. Matheny said he saw a similar approach in Pittsburgh, when Reynolds lined a tough, low cutter from closer Mark Melancon up the middle for a ninth-inning single.
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Two innings earlier, Reynolds had crushed a pitch off the high wall in straightaway center at PNC Park for his longest double of the season. But Reynolds' recent willingness to shorten his swing and take what pitchers are giving him has impressed Matheny.
Several of Reynolds' hits this season have been vital to wins, including a first-inning grand slam to spark a comeback from a 5-0 deficit against the Cubs and a game-winning RBI double the following night. Thanks to his combination of power and timely hitting, Reynolds has 11 RBIs, or one every 5.6 at-bats, which ranks third on the team.
Meanwhile, St. Louis starting pitchers are batting .092 with three RBIs, just one off the National League lead. All five have at least one hit, and John Lackey doubled home a run in his 5-1 win over the Cubs last Thursday.
In AL ballparks, though, they'll gladly hang up their bats in favor of Reynolds.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
