Pallante outduels Skenes to earn victory in dynamic outing?

ST. LOUIS – Even though he had established himself as a solid rookie reliever in 2022, Cardinals pitcher Andre Pallante knew that when he was sent to Triple-A Memphis on April 21 that his big league career likely hung in the balance if he couldn’t transform himself into an efficient and effective starter.

Tasked with adding to his arsenal so that he could better attack the right-handed hitters who had feasted on him in 2023, Pallante asked and was granted a switch from a relief role to a starting slot in the Minors. In that role, Pallante had enough pitches – both during off-day bullpen throwing sessions and during games – to finally cultivate the tailing sinker that would go in on righties and keep them off the plate.

Even though the Cardinals are in the throes of a second straight forgettable season that will likely leave them outside the playoffs, Pallante has emerged as an unquestioned success story with his discovery of a repeatable delivery, the revelation of the tailing sinker and the evolution of his presence as a pitcher who can be counted upon.

“I’m definitely proud of the work that I put in, but in a lot of ways that opportunity that came to me, who knows how that could have gone,” said Pallante, who struck out a career-best nine, twirled seven scoreless innings and outdueled Pittsburgh star Paul Skenes in the Cardinals' 4-0 defeat of the Pirates.

“I know that guys on the coaching staff pushed for me to get that [Minor League] opportunity and go down there and figure some stuff out. That was something I talked to them about at the end of last year and they gave me that opportunity. I’m just proud of the way I went down there, stayed focused and took advantage of it.”

What better argument for Pallante to remain in the Cardinals starting rotation – both for the remainder of this season and when the 2025 season begins – than the third-year right-hander outpitching Skenes? Making one run of support stand up over seven innings told the Cardinals and manager Oli Marmol plenty about the progress the 25-year-old Pallante has made while becoming one of the feel-good stories of the season.

“He was really good and when you look at that entire outing, he just pounded the zone,” said Marmol, whose starters have not allowed an earned run in the Cardinals' three times facing Skenes this season over 19 innings. “He got ahead of everybody and the slider was a big pitch for him.

“You talk about growth, and you look at Pallante with where he was last year and where he’s at today and he’s done a nice job of every outing targeting something to improve on. You talk about the process and showing a ton of improvement and development and Pallante is the poster child. He’s been a better version of himself every time out.”

Saddled with a 6.30 ERA over his first nine relief appearances, Pallante was optioned to Memphis with the expressed intention of him going to a lower-stakes environment and working to become a different pitcher. As much as he was given an opportunity to reinvent himself as a starter, the demotion happened because he was struggling so badly to get right-handers out.

“I mean I got sent down because I wasn’t getting guys out,” Pallante said bluntly. “That was going to happen regardless. I just tried to reframe it. They could have just sent me down as a bullpen guy and said, ‘We’ll call you back up when we need an arm.’ But they told me to get better and they put me in a position to get better.”

Moved into the rotation in late May following a back injury to Steven Matz and struggles by Matthew Liberatore, Pallante (7-8) improved enough to beat the likes of Skenes on Monday. The All-Star starter was perfect through three innings, but the Cardinals got to him in the fourth when Alec Burleson reached on an infield single and scored on an RBI hit by Nolan Arenado. Skenes has been a family friend of the Arenados for years and both were baseball stars previously at El Torro High in Lake Forest, Calif.

That run was all the support Pallante needed, especially after the way he pitched out of trouble in the first, third, fifth and seventh innings.

“To Andre’s credit, the way he’s embraced the grind, the focus and the hard work, he deserves a lot of credit,” said Arenado, who along with Burleson are the only two big leaguers with four hits off Skenes this season.