CLEVELAND — Although catcher Pedro Pages and starter Sonny Gray had little conversation Friday while Gray completed a nine-inning shutout of the Guardians on Friday at Progressive Field, Gray did have a message for his catcher before the series opener when Pages returned from the Cardinals’ hitter’s meeting.
“He was like, ‘Hey, just go hit a home run for me today.’ I was like, ‘OK,’ ” Pages said following the Cardinals’ 5-0 win.
When he stepped to the plate in the third inning, Pages followed through on Gray’s words.
Pages belted a 2-0 sinker from Guardians starter Luis Ortiz over the left field wall for a solo home run that gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead and snapped a stretch of 24 consecutive scoreless innings that stretched back to Tuesday. Pages’s homer was his sixth of the season and his first since June 6.
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The Cardinals’ Pedro Pages hits a home run in the third inning against the Guardians on Friday in Cleveland.
The 26-year-old catcher’s swing resulted in the hardest hit ball of the season as it came off his bat with a 111.7 mph exit velocity, per Statcast, and allowed him and Gray to share a moment in the dugout after he made his home run trot.
“It’s just something I think was very special once I did it. I looked at him (Gray) in the dugout. I gave him a little smile. He smiled back. It was just a good moment,” Pages said.
Later that night, Pages came away with another moment with Gray.
After Gray retired Steven Kwan on a flyout to left field to complete the seventh complete game of his career, left fielder Lars Nootbaar handed the baseball from the final out to Gray, who then handed it to Pages to keep.
“I’m like, no, no, that’s your ball. And he goes, no, no, you keep this one,” Pages said of the moment immediately after the series-opening win.
Pages plans to put the baseball in his “man cave” at his home. He planned to get a lineup card from Friday’s game just as he did after he caught Erick Fedde’s complete game shutout in early May.
“It’s obviously something special. It’s always fun to do, and hopefully I’ve got many more in my career,” Pages said.
The shutout was the sixth Pages caught this year and lowered his ERA as a catcher to 3.56, which ranked fifth in the National League entering Saturday. All six of the shutouts the 26-year-old has caught this year have come since May 7.
The two complete game shutouts authored by Cardinals pitchers this season mark the only two they’ve had since the 2022 season. Both have been aided by Pages.
“Obviously, a lot of things need to go your way in the beginning,” said Fedde, who noted he kept the baseball from his first career complete game shutout earlier this season. “(Pages) stays very locked in. Comes up to you like ... ‘We faced this guy in the third inning, and we did this to him. Why don’t we mix it up?’ He stays very locked in and engaged on what has already happened, which helps a lot as you go deeper. He’s really good about that.”
Walker to begin rehab
Jordan Walker was set to begin a rehab assignment with Class AAA Memphis on Saturday after going on the 10-day injured list with appendicitis earlier this week. Walker was in line to be Memphis’s designated hitter Saturday, and depending on how his body responds to his first game back, would start in right field Sunday.
“If he responds well, he’ll play right field (Sunday) and keep going type of thing,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.
The 23-year-old right fielder’s IL stay is retroactive to June 23. He is eligible to be activated as early as July 3, a day before the Cardinals open a three-game series vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Barrero elects free agency
Utilityman Jose Barrero elected free agency after he was designated for assignment by the Cardinals on Tuesday, team president of baseball operations John Mozeliak confirmed on Saturday.
Barrero, 27, had been designated for assignment when the Cardinals claimed Garrett Hampson on waivers from the Reds and placed him on their 40-man roster. Barrero inked a minor-league contract with the Cardinals in November.
A former top prospect in the Reds’ system, Barrero had his contract selected by the Cardinals in late April. He appeared in 22 games in the majors for ӣƵ. He batted .138 and posted a .470 on-base plus slugging percentage while receiving playing time at shortstop, center field, second base, third base, and right field.
Extra bases
- Gray’s one-hit complete game shutout Friday night marked the 11th time since 1943 that a Cardinals pitcher completed nine innings, allowed one hit, and did not walk or hit a batter while facing 28 batters or less. Before Gray, Jordan Montgomery was the most recent Cardinals pitcher to turn in a near perfect game when he allowed one hit to 28 Cubs batters on Aug. 22, 2022.
- Although he eclipsed 10 years of service time in majors earlier this season, Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary of Steven Matz’s MLB debut. Teammates including Miles Mikolas, Nolan Arenado, and Matthew Liberatore congratulated Matz on the milestone before Saturday’s game.
