Crucial Oli Marmol Decision Ignites Cardinals' Comeback Victory

St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol has been pushing all the right buttons this season.

That trend continued on Saturday during the Cardinals’ 9-6 comeback victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field.

With Victor Scott II prepared to step into the batter’s box during the sixth inning, Marmol was faced with a pivotal decision, as noted by MLB.com’s John Denton.

“The lefty-hitting Scott came into the day batting just .179 against left-handed pitchers, and the Guardians went with southpaw Tim Herrin with his team clinging to a 6-4 lead in the sixth,” Denton wrote.

“Marmol contemplated pinch-hitting for the speedster, but he ultimately stuck with Scott because he knew that hitting coach Brant Brown had been drilling with Scott on fixes before the game. Scott turned around an 89.9 mph slider and drilled it into right to knot the game at 6.”

After the game, Scott revealed the nature of the “fixes” that he’d been working on with Brown (per Denton):

"He was just trying to unlock some of my athleticism because sometimes I can get clammed up and just try to use a put-the-ball in play swing and that defeats my athleticism and takes it out of play. We just started implementing more athletic moves so I could be more on time and more adjustable.”

Scott went 2-for-4 on the day with the pair of RBI described above.

St. Louis overcame six earned runs through four innings from starter Miles Mikolas, much thanks to the resilience of the Cardinals lineup.

Scott tossed around another “r” word following the victory to describe what makes the 2025 Cardinals special.

"Going all the way back to the first day, that practice [in Spring Training], we talked about being relentless, and I feel like it’s showing up throughout this year,” Scott said, per Denton. “Everybody is coming to the ballpark with a purpose and for their work and that’s showing up on the field.”