Piscotty cleans up in new-look lineup’s debut

ST. LOUIS — Though the deficiencies of the Cardinals’ cleanup hitters had been somewhat masked by the team’s overall offensive success, the four-hole in the lineup had become a black hole that manager Mike Matheny concluded he could no longer ignore on Thursday.

And so he moved Stephen Piscotty down and Aledmys Diaz up, a switcheroo that subsequently sparked a 13-7 win over the Rockies. In Matheny’s quest to optimize production, he may have found his best look yet.

“I like the look of it,” noted Matt Carpenter, who set the tone from his permanent leadoff position with a career-best six RBIs. “You saw tonight Diaz did a good job in the two-hole. Piscotty responded well hitting cleanup. We have some guys who can move around.”

A rotation of Matt Adams, Randal Grichuk and Brandon Moss had brought no potency to the cleanup spot through the first 40 games. In fact, the club ranked last in the Majors in average (.186) and slugging percentage (.333) from its No. 4 hitters. Piscotty emerged a natural fit for the spot, as he entered the night with a Major League-most 19 hits with runners in scoring position, most of those coming as a two-hole batter.

By the time the Cardinals rolled off a series victory, he …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com