Throwing darts: Leake fans season-high 11 as Cardinals wallop Padres
Mike Leake has pitched to contact throughout his career.
But Leake doesn’t mind missing a few bats, either, as he did Monday when he struck out a season-high 11 in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 10-2 thumping of the San Diego Padres.
Leake (7-7) lasted six innings in the sticky 91-degree heat, allowing one run on six hits. He walked none and narrowly missed his career-high of 12 strikeouts. His only mistake came in the fourth when he allowed Matt Kemp’s homer that put San Diego ahead 1-0.
“I’m trying to attack and trying to get a few more strikeouts,” Leake said. “That’s kind of helping. I’m feeling good, feeling healthy and going after guys. It’s just more of an aggressive mentality, I guess you could say. It’s all kind of coming together a little bit. I’m able to put the ball where I want a little bit better right now than I was earlier in the season, for sure.”
Leake recorded two double-digit strikeout performances in the first 189 starts of his career. Now he’s posted two in two games, with no walks and 21 strikeouts 13 innings.
I’m trying to attack and trying to get a few more strikeouts. That’s kind of helping. I’m feeling good, feeling healthy and going after guys. It’s just more of an aggressive mentality, I guess you could say. It’s all kind of coming together a little bit. I’m able to put the ball where I want a little bit better right now than I was earlier in the season, for sure.
Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake on his 21 strikeouts in two starts
Leake had not registered more than six strikeouts in a game until he fanned 10 in a 5-1 triumph July 10 at Milwaukee. He cooled a Padres unit that was coming off a three-game sweep of the mighty San Francisco Giants.
Leake said his body is more cooperative than it was the first three months of the season.
“I think my body was still kind of getting in shape a little bit. Now it’s starting to get a little stronger, and hopefully it keeps going,” said Leake, who is the first Cardinals pitcher to have double-digit strikeouts in consecutive games since Lance Lynn in June 2012.
Leake struck out Wil Myers, the National League Player of the Month in June, three times. He fanned Derek Norris, Ryan Schimpf and counterpart Christian Friedrich two times apiece.
“Leake was very good again,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “We talk about him being a guy that just pounds the (strike) zone and gets ground balls, but he was so good on the corners today that he racked up a lot of strikeouts. It was a very good start for him.”
He’s got the ability to do that, and not just with his fastball. He was putting good movement on it. You were seeing swings and misses on the sinker (and) you were seeing swing-throughs on the slider. The slider had good bite and he was putting it where he wanted.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny on Mike Leake’s climbing strikeout rate
Matheny said Leake was “throwing darts.”
“He’s got the ability to do that, and not just with his fastball,” he said. “He was putting good movement on it. You were seeing swings and misses on the sinker (and) you were seeing swing-throughs on the slider. The slider had good bite and he was putting it where he wanted.”
San Diego batters finished with 15 strikeouts.
“He was good,” Padres manager Andy Green said of Leake. “His sinker was really doing well today. We were swinging over the top of it. His off-speed stuff was very good. I think he was very effective in mixing his pitches against us. We didn’t stay in the strike zone. The best way to describe that is we spent a good portion of the game chasing his stuff.”
Offensively, Leake was 1-for-1 with a walk and a run scored. The Cardinals had 13 hits against four pitchers, with Randal Grichuk, Jedd Gyorko and Stephen Piscotty hitting home runs.
Pinch-hitter Matt Adams broke open the game with a two-run double in the sixth that put the Cardinals on top 4-1. Aledmys Diaz’s RBI triple and Piscotty’s run-scoring ingle made it 6-1.
Gyorko is 9-for-14 (.643) with three homers and five RBIs in four games this season against the Padres, who traded him to the Cardinals in December for Jon Jay.
His sinker was really doing well today. We were swinging over the top of it. His off-speed stuff was very good. I think he was very effective in mixing his pitches against us. We didn’t stay in the strike zone. The best way to describe that is we spent a good portion of the game chasing his stuff.
San Diego manager Andy Green on Cardinals pitcher Mike Leake
“It’s just one of those things. I’m seeing the ball well,” Gyorko said. “I’m putting good swings on it. I think that’s all it pretty much comes down to.”
Gyorko’s homer in the seventh, his eighth of the season, came against Jose Dominguez. It was a low line drive that whistled into San Diego’s bullpen in left.
“That guy throws hard,” Gyorko said. “All you really have to do is just get the barrel to it and let him kind of supply the power from there. I wasn’t sure it was going to get out. You never know, playing here, whether it’s going to carry or get knocked down. I was pleasantly surprised.”
David Wilhelm: 618-239-2665, @DavidMWilhelm
This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Throwing darts: Leake fans season-high 11 as Cardinals wallop Padres."