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CHICAGO — There was no time between games Thursday for his Cardinals teammates to stuff Andre Granillo into a laundry cart for the customary car-wash celebration after his first big-league win, and by the end of the doubleheader he’d collected another first for a daily double never done before in Major League Baseball.
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Granillo threw four pitches and retired his only batter to be the pitcher of record when the Cardinals’ rallied for a 5-4 victory in the first game of the doubleheader. He pitched the 10th inning in the second game to secure an 8-6 victory and his first big-league save.
Since 1969 and the advent of the save as an official stat, Granillo is the only player to collect his first career win and first career save in a doubleheader, per Elias research. He’s the first Cardinal to have a save and a win in a doubleheader at any point in their career.
Oh, and he picked up the ball from his first career strikeout, too.
“I don’t have enough time up here to be asking for days off after throwing four pitches,†Granillo joked. “I’ll do whatever they need me to do to get a win, whether it’s get one out and get a win or it’s get three outs in extra innings to get a save in the same day. As long as we’re winning ballgames that is all that matters.
“My objective obviously is to stay,†he continued. “Anything I can do to stay in the big leagues. If it’s throwing three games in a row, I don’t care. I want to stay here.â€
Eight days before pulling double duty, Granillo wasn’t even on the roster.
The burly right-hander had all of the numbers for a promotion and he had his advocates in the majors for the promotion, but as the Cardinals churned through relievers, Granillo lacked one thing the others all had: a spot on the 40-player roster. His road roommate, Michael McGreevy, told him his results were too good to keep at Class AAA Memphis for too long. Later that day, in the hotel room they shared in Gwinnett, Georgia, McGreevy woke up to Granillo talking on the phone with Triple-A Memphis’ manager Ben Johnson.
“All of sudden I hear him say, ‘Hey B.J.,’†McGreevy recalled. “Oh gosh, it’s really happening. No one more deserving than him right now.â€
Granillo, 25, struck out 46 batters in 29 2/3 innings for the Redbirds, and as the Cardinals’ search for and prioritize strikeouts from the bullpen, he was the obvious promotion. They added him to the 40-player roster and promoted him during the road trip, and four appearances and five innings into his career he’s already collecting souvenirs.
His first appearance Tuesday was eventful for only four pitches. He entered the game with two runners on base. A wild pitch moved one to third, and on another pitch Luis Robert Jr. stole second. With two runners in scoring position and the Cardinals trailing 4-2, Granillo got a fly out to center to end the seventh. Willson Contreras’ homer tied the game in the top of the eighth, and Yohel Pozo’s pinch-hit single delivered the eventual winning run just in time for Granillo to receive the win.
Between games, he handed over his jersey so that it could be marked with his achievement and eventually framed as a gift for his parents.
He had a new jersey ready when the manager asked how he felt.
“Said he was ready to go for the second one,†Marmol said.
It appeared like the Cardinals could avoid the double-dip usage. As a spot starter, McGreevy provided five solid innings in the evening game. The Cardinals took a five-run lead into the seventh inning. And then things quickly went sideways on relievers John King and Kyle Leahy. Andrew Benintendi crushed a game-tying grand slam, sending the clubs toward extra innings. The Cardinals got an RBI single from Nolan Arenado and a solo homer from Lars Nootbaar to hold a lead going into the bottom of the 10th.
Marmol outlined two reasons for turning to the rookie in the moment with the runner starting the inning at second and a doubleheader to sweep. One, he saw Granillo as a good matchup for the hitters due up. Two, well, uh …
“He was our last arm,†Marmol said.
Granillo got fly outs from the first two batters he faced. He walked the third and then faced Austin Slater as the potential winning run at the plate. Granillo elevated with a 95.8-mph fastball to finish his first career strikeout on three pitches. Granillo collected the second and third pieces of his MLB firsts hat trick on the same pitch, securing the save with the strikeout.
He explained one way he kept “cool, calm on the mound†in the midst of his first big-league save opportunity in extra innings with a runner on base and a doubleheader to sweep. He didn’t realize the score was that close.
“I didn’t really think about it, so maybe that played a part in it,†Granillo said. “I thought we were up by more. I didn’t think, ‘Hey, this is a save situation.’ I just thought go in there and get the job done. Throw strikes. Make them hit the ball.â€
Finally, after 19 innings, teammates had time to celebrate his firsts.
Granillo's first MLB win, first MLB strikeout, and first MLB save were part of a day laced with history for the Cardinals. Steven Matz joined Bob Gibson as the only two Cardinals with four-strikeout innings on the road. Arenado's homer in the second game of the day was his 350th of his career, making him only the seventh ever with that many homers and at least 10 Gold Glove awards.
Many baseballs were kept as mementoes from the game.
Granillo had his second jersey of the day set aside to be tagged with the save and also eventually framed so that his parents have a matching set of game-used jerseys from the same day. They traveled to Milwaukee for his big-league debut at the start of this road trip, but by Chicago they’d headed back to California to attend Granillo’s sister’s college graduation. Saves and wins aren’t usually bunched like that. McGreevy made the point that “it definitely can’t happen†when there’s only one game. Baltimore’s Tommy Hunter was the most recent pitcher to get a save and a win on the same day on May 1, 2014. No Cardinal had in the save era.
That doesn’t leave many firsts for Granillo except the obvious one.
All of this and he’s yet to take his first step into the Cardinals’ home clubhouse at Busch Stadium or appear in his first home game.
“I guess I’ve got to get a—,†Granillo said, stopping abruptly. “I don’t even know what else you could do as a pitcher.â€
***
The Write Fielder drops every Friday morning around 9 a.m. St. Louis time, and in addition to a lede story like the one above it includes exclusive interviews, deep dives into statistics, crowdsourcing suggestions for the experience at Busch Stadium, and even some travelogue or other personal tidbits from venturing around the majors on the baseball beat.
With a solo homer, Arenado became the seventh player in history with 350 homers and 10 Gold Gloves. Five others are in the Hall of Fame; the sixth will be.
A five-run lead vanishes in the vapor trail of a grand slam, but Cardinals, led by Nolan Arenado's historic homer and presence in 10th, win 8-6 to sweep White Sox.
Willson Contreras tied the game with a two-run homer in the eighth, and Pozo's single won it, 5-4, against Chicago in the first half of a doubleheader.
Columnist Lynn Worthy joined Jeff Gordon to discuss breakdowns with the relief corps and some outfield slumping.
