(Viera, FL) Swinging the bat wasn’t the issue as Randal Grichuk showed when he delivered a 3rd inning home run against the Nationals in the Cardinals 6-5 loss on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s good for the confidence,” smiled Grichuk, who had previously missed some practice due to discomfort in his back when leaning forward to field ground balls. “It’s been feeling good for a couple days, they eased me back into it. Yesterday was the first full day, so was able to play today.”
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“He’s got special kind of power,” said Matheny. “That was a good swing he put on, nice first day for him.”
Grichuk was also aggressive going first to third after walking in the second inning.
“It’s Spring Training, I felt why not press the envelope a little bit,” he explained. “Actually got up, felt fine, scored and then came back in the dugout and said ‘wow’ my back didn’t hurt. That’s a good sign. Adrenaline, didn’t think of it in the moment.”
The test had some added measure as Bryce Harper was in right field.
“Definitely, he’s got a great arm,” said Grichuk. “Good outfielder right there but it was kind of chopped into the ground so I knew he would have to charge it pretty hard to get to it and it’s Spring Training, see what you can do. So I felt why not test him and go try and see what happens.”
“Yeah, doing that and nobody out right there too,” commented Matheny. “Just trying to get that extra jump and then Scottie Moore following right behind him and really pushing the extra base as well. We saw some good base-running today. I thought the guys were very aggressive and got us into a good position to even come back and win right there.”
–Tommy Pham singled in the 9th inning and now has five hits in his last six at-bats.
–CJ McElroy, who is in camp early to participate in the Cardinals Spring Training Early Program (STEP), pinch-ran in the 9th inning.
