Oli Marmol is sticking by his criticism of Tyler O'Neill.
With the Cardinals down 4-1 against the Braves in the bottom of the seventh, O’Neill stood on second with Brendan Donovan at the dish. Donovan roped a single into right and Cardinals third base coach Ron Warner elected to send O’Neill home.
It should have been a close play, but Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. threw out O’Neill by a mile. O'Neill didn’t really seem to turn on the burners until he realized the throw home was going to beat him.
That out ended the inning, and the Cardinals wouldn’t score again in the loss. Marmol responded by calling the effort “unacceptable.” He addressed – and expanded on – those comment Wednesday in his weekly interview on KMOX’s “Total Information AM.”
“I think the comment was pretty clear," Marmol said. "There’s a style of play that we’re going to uphold and keep guys to and that didn’t meet it. We had a private conversation about it prior to me doing media and one after.
“I understand everybody’s out there and they’re working hard, they’re playing hard and there’s a style of player we’re going to make sure everybody is upholding. So when you look at the play, it was one that we thought there could’ve been more effort, and we addressed it in-house for sure.”
O’Neill admitted after the game that he needed to get a better jump and move around the bases quicker. However, he seemed to dispute the effort part, saying "I’m out here every day grinding my a-- off and giving it my all and trying to stay on the field for (162) games.
The 27-year-old has dealt with hamstring injuries in the past, and that comment seemed to suggest self-preservation was part of the rationale.
“I understand it,” Marmol said. “Here’s where I’m at with it: We have 26 guys that are going to prepare every day to play 162 games. We have 26 guys that are eager and hungry to be out there every day. And we’re going to make sure that that’s the standard. The last thing you want to do in competition is open up a window.
“But the guys are hungry, and they’re going to get after it. Yesterday was an example of a lack of effort in my opinion. It was addressed and we’re going to move on.”
Marmol said the O’Neill isn’t in the starting lineup Wednesday, but that he will get an opportunity to show he’s learned from it and turn the page.
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