WASHINGTON — Sitting at his locker late Friday night in the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park, Willson Contreras was only a few minutes removed from being at bat when the winning run scored and about an hour after his game-tying home run made winning even possible.
He was mulling over his timing.
With 21 at-bats on a rehab assignment and a week of games back from the fractured forearm that put him on the injured list, Contreras said some recent lofty hits did not mean he had his swing in sync, no sir. He was asked to rate his timing on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being best.
“I would say four or five,” Contreras said. “You can have all the power in the world, but if you don’t have the timing, it doesn’t work. The timing comes. When the timing comes, solid contact is going to be there, and the homers are going to come.”
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The Cardinals' Willson Contreras (40) and Michael Siani, right, are congratulated after Contreras hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning gf a game against the Nationals on Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Washington.
They got a glimpse Sunday, in an 8-3 victory against Washington, of what’s possible if their slow-burning stars shine at the same time in the second half of the season. Nolan Arenado delivered two pivotal two-out RBIs with his third consecutive multi-hit game, Paul Goldschmidt doubled, and Nolan Gorman broke a tie game with his third RBI of the afternoon at Nationals Park. In the seventh inning of another taut game, Contreras rocked his second homer of the series to give the Cardinals a lead that flipped the script and provided the bullpen some relief. No save needed.
A drag on the Cardinals’ offense all season — and a co-conspirator for all the close games — has been the lack of right-handed thump in the lineup from their three highest-paid hitters and usual All-Stars. Contreras had his All-Star candidacy snapped with the broken arm in May, and Arenado and Goldschmidt have lagged from their career standards. Not one of them will be shining bright next week deep in the heart of Texas at the All-Star Game.
Any talk of the Cardinals shopping for a right-handed bat at the trade deadline is cosmetic compared to the team’s need to get more from the hitters acquired and hired to drive the offense.
“That’s what we were missing while he was gone — a big, right-handed bat,” manager Oliver Marmol said Sunday about Contreras. “He was doing a nice job before getting hurt. Having him back and he’s starting to find his timing. We’re seeing the results of it. This is a guy who takes a really tough at-bat, and he hits the ball hard.”
A day after losing 14-6 to the Nationals, the Cardinals received a steadying start from veteran Kyle Gibson before the bulk of the offense took over. Washington pounced on starter Lance Lynn in Saturday’s rout, hitting two first-pitch home runs in the first inning and scoring nine runs in the first two innings. Gibson appeared to take Washington’s eager approach and ability to mulch fastballs and flipped it. He threw his curveball more often than usual, relied routinely on off-speed pitches, and came within one swing of a season-high for any Cardinals starter with 18 swings-and-misses in the game.
Gibson (7-3) said his outing had “zero” to do with what he watched happen to Lynn and everything to do with his previous start.
“That was just me trying to make a decision to not be a two-pitch pitcher,” Gibson said. “I thought against the Pirates my slider felt so good that I threw so many of them, and I was throwing fastballs or sliders. That’s just not how I pitch. I’m not a two-pitch pitcher. For me, it was using all of my pitches early, using them at the right times.”
Gibson faced Washington leadoff hitter C. J. Abrams in the first two innings and struck him out both times — first with a sinker tucked under the zone and then with a curveball. Gibson ended the fifth inning with a sweeping slider to strike out Lane Thomas. Through five innings, not one of Gibson’s 15 outs came in the outfield. Eight came at the plate. Gibson used six different pitches at least six times in his start, and of the 43 non-fastball pitches he threw only four were put in play.
As a group, the Nationals connected once on 16 curveballs.
They whiffed five times.
“So, that’s probably why you saw a little bit more of them,” Gibson said.
Gibson did not retire any of the three batters he faced in the sixth, bringing Ryan Fernandez into the game for three outs on two groundballs. He began a relay of relievers to complete the game that ended with 1⅔ scoreless innings and three strikeouts from rookie Chris Roycroft. Not one of the Cardinals’ “big three” — JoJo Romero, Andrew Kittredge, or All-Star closer Ryan Helsley — had to appear. Two didn’t even warm up. That was because of an offense that showed its recurring variety and its essential veracity.
The Cardinals’ took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Brendan Donovan broke from first base with two outs and did not give up on a fly ball to left. When the ball dropped in front of a fielder, Donovan was past third — not heading toward the dugout as if the inning was over but heading home for the game’s first run. Five of the Cardinals’ first six runs scored with two outs. Goldschmidt’s leadoff double in the third threatened to become another marooned runner until Gorman’s two-out, RBI single broke a 2-2 tie.
Gorman’s second RBI of the game gave him four in the series.
In the fifth, Contreras delivered an RBI single up the middle and participated in a double steal that primed the bases for Arenado. The Cardinals’ third baseman pulled a two-run single to left. In the series, Arenado is eight for 14.
“And they’re (all) even dating back to Pittsburgh (where) we started to see Arenado take some better swings, and just the path looked a lot better today,” Marmol said. “Really big day for him. And we’re going to continue that. He’s starting to feel it. That’s a really good thing for us. Gorman, same thing. He’s been working hard. It’s starting to translate into the game. Staying on the ball. He’s not spinning as much. Those two guys getting going and Contreras getting his timing — it’s a big deal.”
That is what Contreras was back talking about Sunday at his locker.
“To be honest,” he began and then detailed how he missed some fastballs and had difficulty picking up Nationals starter D. J. Herz’s pitches. He greeted reliever Dylan Floro with a lash up the middle. Two innings later, Contreras received a 75-mph curveball that he launched into the left-field seats. He wasn’t expecting a curve and credited the 34-inch bat he’s using now instead of the 33 ¾-inch bat he used last year that would have come up short against the slower pitch. After his third homer in five days, he was asked for an update on his timing, on the one-to-10 scale, and Contreras didn’t boast.
Still four, maybe five.
“The same,” he said. “I’m missing some fastballs that I shouldn’t be missing. That is what tells me my timing is not at the best point right now.”
So what happens when he feels it’s a seven or eight … or nine.
Contreras smiled before shifting gears.
“I’m accepting what baseball is giving me right now,” he said. “I celebrate everything right now. Every walk. Every single. Every homer.”