The Cardinals are finally getting some much needed contributions from Wacha and Ozuna

Don't look now, but Michael Wacha is making his claim to be the best pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals' starting rotation.

The guy who was on the verge of being exiled to the bullpen a year ago came three outs away from pitching a no-hitter Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates. While a two-strike single sank Wacha's chance to etch his name in Redbirds' history, he improved to 7-1 with a 2.41 earned run average. In addition to being healthier than he's been in the past, Wacha finally seems to have found consistency. And the third pitch for the fastball and change-up specialist has been too much for opposing batters to deal with.

Wacha moved ahead of Mikes Mikolas with the Sunday victory to lead the team in wins and his eight strikeouts in the game put him in first place in that category. The only starter with a lower ERA is Carlos Martinez, and he's missed enough time on the disabled list that he doesn't really count.

When they were both youngsters, I always expected Wacha to end up being the better pitcher over Martinez. While they both had great stuff, Wacha seemed more composed. He was the one who was pitching in do-or-die September and October games his rookie season while Martinez couldn't stay out of the bullpen. It would be a great rebound if Wacha can overcome his health issues and reclaim his place as a potential future ace.

Speaking of big boosts for St. Louis, it was just a few days ago that many of us were lamenting the lack of power from the bat of cleanup hitter Marcell Ozuna. Now the big slugger seems to have found the switch to turn the power on, hitting a pair of big homers over the weekend, including the grand slam that propelled the Cardinals to their Sunday win.

I was afraid that Ozuna was hurt because he's hitting for a relatively decent contact rate. It just seemed that the ball didn't go very far when he hits it. But that all changed over the weekend. And I'm still unconvinced that he doesn't have more in the tank. The first ball he hit carried out to the deepest part of the park. But it didn't seem as if Ozuna got all of that ball. It didn't sound crisply hit and it looked as if he might have hit the ball a little low of the sweet spot of the barrel of his bat.

Although we haven't seen it in St. Louis at this point, Ozuna seems like the sort of slugger capable of getting hot and carrying his team on his back for a couple of weeks or so at a time. Hopefully, this is the beginning of one of those times.

Meanwhile, word is that the Cardinals will activate both catcher Yadier Molina and Martinez from the disabled list Tuesday to give the roster a big boost. While the Birds have done relatively well plugging in minor league help in the outfield and on the pitching staff, they haven't been so fortunate in the catching corps without the undisputed team leader, Molina.

While Francisco Pena has certainly had his moments at the plate since Yadi went on the disabled list following a gruesome injury suffered when a 102-mph fastball was tipped into a very sensitive area, he's only hitting .233 for a team that can use offense any way it can get it. Carson Kelly is hitting a very disappointing .080 with a .148 on-base percentage when he's had a chance to get into games. It seems the folks who thought Kelly was robbed when the birds extended Molina's contract can relax a little bit. Because, as of right now, Kelly looks completely over-matched by major league pitching. Hopefully he can continue to work on his hitting skills back in the minors after Yadi is back on board.

Finally, the other big change the Cardinals have seen in their roster makeup over the past few days is the ability of reliever Jordan Hicks to find another gear. Hicks, who has lit up radar guns wherever he's pitched with triple-digit octane had a disturbingly low strikeout rate up until a few days ago when he started to effectively mix his slider in with his fastballs. Now the strikeouts are coming and, with Bud Norris hitting a couple of bumps in the road recently, I'm not sure the youngster Hicks isn't the best closer candidate currently on the roster. Nothing seems to shake up the kid. But, of course, it would be nice if Greg Holland can come back from his trip to the disabled list with his stuff back intact and reclaim the ninth inning. While Hicks can do the job in the ninth, if he does, who does the job in the seventh or the eighth? Perhaps prospect Austin Gomber, who made a spectacular big league debut over the weekend with three dominant and scoreless innings, will figure into the mix. But it would be nice if the Redbirds can get some bang for the 14 million bucks they invested in Holland.

This story was originally published June 5, 2018 at 11:17 AM with the headline "The Cardinals are finally getting some much needed contributions from Wacha and Ozuna."