St. Louis

Cardinals

Nootbaar’s home run was his third. He hit a three-run home run off Reynaldo Lopez in the first inning. Nootbaar walked, stole second base and came around to score in the fourth inning. He’s hitting .265 with a .781 OPS and 12 RBI in 102 at-bats.

O’Brien’s save was his 24th. He pitched around a walk to put up a scoreless ninth inning while recording a strikeout. O’Brien hasn’t been scored on in his last seven innings, lowering his ERA to 3.43.

Liberatore gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He improved to 5-6 with the win. Liberatore has won two of his last three starts. The 26-year-old left-hander was excellent Saturday as he shutdown the Braves’ offense. Liberatore takes a 5.00 ERA into the All-Star break, though his 4.37 xFIP points to better starts in the future.

No relation to Charlie. Condon is one of the best prep bats in the class, and he has a swing from the left side that suggest he’s going to hit for a high average thanks to its plane and quickness through the zone. There’s serious questions about the power, and right now, asking for more than 12-15 bombs in a season is asking too much. He’s an elite baserunner, however, so he should compensate with a good amount of steals — assuming he gets on enough to run, of course. Condon is also a terrific defender, and even with the lack of pop, there’s a lot to like here.

Shuster will presumably stick around as organizational depth for St. Louis after getting torched for seven runs over 1 1/3 innings of work in relief during a doubleheader against the Brewers earlier this week. The 27-year-old lefty has made five appearances in the big leagues this season.

Home-field advantage. In the top of the eighth, Michael Harris II hit a flyball to right that would have been a homer in 26 ballparks, only to see it caught by Jordan Walker. In the bottom of the inning, Crooks sent one to right-center that was a homer in 24 ballparks, and in this case, Busch was one of them. In the top of the ninth, Drake Baldwin hit a ball to center that was a homer in 12 ballparks, but again, it was an out in St. Louis. Crooks’ homer was his second in 66 plate appearances since being called up. Having fallen back behind Pedro Pages on the depth start, Crooks has started just one of the last nine games, leaving his roster spot in doubt heading into the second half.

Leahy allowed one hit, walked none and struck out two before the nearly three-hour delay. He ends the first half 7-4 with a 3.86 ERA and a 73/33 K/BB over 86 1/3 innings. He spent the previous three years pitching in relief, so in order to keep his workload in check, the Cardinals might return him to the pen down the stretch. He figures to remain a starter for at least the next several weeks, though.

O’Brien has bounced back with six scoreless innings in a row over the last couple of weeks. He posted a 6.88 ERA with 10 walks and four hit batters in 17 innings from the beginning of May through June 21.

It’s the first trip to the Mid-Summer Classic for the 26-year-old backstop. Herrera has had a solid first half at the plate, slashing .249/.384/.395 with 11 long balls, 40 RBI and a 68/51 K/BB ratio over 411 plate appearances.

Wetherholt has been an instant hit for the Cardinals, batting .267/.362/.411 with 13 homers and nine stolen bases as we near the end of the season’s first half. Passan doesn’t put a dollar figure on this, but notes it’s a “nine-figure deal,” while New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported it was a eight-year, $112.5 million contract. Wetherholt should be a long-term building block for the Cardinals, as the former top prospect instantly took over as the Opening Day second baseman and never looked back. He’s currently 12th in FanGraphs’ WAR at 3.6.