ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Cardinals have been in a slow funk to begin August losing four of their first five games in the month, but the club was able to get back on the win column on Tuesday, winning a tight 4-3 game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Home runs by Victor Scott II and Tommy Pham proved to be the difference maker in Tuesday's victory for the Cardinals, but Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn helped seal the win with a great throw to get Rays infielder Taylor Walls for the final out of the game.
"I can't think of another shortstop who makes that play," said Cardinals manager Oli Marmol on KMOX's Total Information A.M. "The athleticism, the arm, the combination of those two things were incredible. My goodness, that was one way to end the game."
Winn has had tremendous season on both sides of the plate. Offensively, where there were a lot of questions into the season, Winn has been one of the Cardinals best hitters, amassing a .280/.329/.416 slash line and hitting nine home runs this season.
Defensively, Winn has been the one of the best defenders in the sport, with Winn's defensive runs saved (DRS) of 12 being top-five in MLB and outs above average of five being in the top-10 among shortstops across the majors.
Marmol says this season has shown how complete of a player that Winn can be.
"Defensively, he has had an incredible season for us, he has been so steady. He has slowed the game down more and more," said Marmol. "Offensively, he has put a really nice year. The combination of gap to gap power but his ability to hit with two strikes. He doesn't mind getting to that two strikes count and driving the baseball to the middle of the field and just playing the overall game."
