Central STL News

Michael McGreevy, a native of San Clemente, California, achieved a personal milestone Saturday night by earning a win at Petco Park against the San Diego Padres. The game held special significance for McGreevy, who grew up rooting for the Padres and pitched in front of about 100 friends and family members.

After the St. Louis Cardinals' 8-5 comeback victory, McGreevy received an unexpected message from former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright. “I looked at my phone after and Waino had texted, which is just so sick,” said McGreevy. “He gave me some pointers and I’m hoping to use that resource going forward now that he graced me with his phone number. … The message said, ‘Hey Micheal, this is Waino,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! I need to dive into this later.’ That [curveball to Merrill] felt great.”

McGreevy overcame a difficult start in which he allowed early runs to Manny Machado, Ramon Laureano, and Jackson Merrill. However, he regained composure mid-game by trusting his pitches and managed to hold the Padres scoreless after the third inning. He attributed his turnaround to determination following previous struggles: “It’s just that aggression of, ‘I’m not going to let this happen twice.' Baseball is a cruel game sometimes because I thought I was making pretty good pitches, especially in that second inning. But I was just trying to really compete and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t happening to me twice and I’m putting my team in a good position to win.’

“Sometimes it takes getting punched in the face and you have to wipe the blood off and keep going. That’s what I did after the third inning by putting up some zeroes.”

Catcher Pedro Pagés played a key role with both his defense behind home plate and a three-run homer in the fourth inning that tied the game at four runs apiece. Pagés praised McGreevy’s approach: “His attitude and the way he goes about his business out there, it’s impressive,” Pagés said. “No matter how many runs he gives up, he just keeps attacking. That’s something he does very well, and I’m happy for him.”

The Cardinals’ bullpen contributed as well despite recent trades involving key pitchers Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, and Steven Matz. Kyle Leahy finished 1 2/3 innings with a crucial strikeout of Machado using his curveball—a pitch selection Leahy credited catcher Pagés for calling effectively: “I kind of did leave it in not the best spot,” Leahy said regarding an 84 mph pitch Machado missed on a big swing. “I give all the credit to Pagés because he called a great game. He had all their guys in between. McGreevy had them all off balance because him and Pedro were working so well together. And Pedro kept it going with me.”

JoJo Romero closed out the final 1 1/3 innings for his first save of the season.

Reflecting on pitching at Petco Park with so much support present—and after spending time celebrating postgame—McGreevy described fulfilling a lifelong dream: “I’ve seen that [Petco Park] backdrop on TV so many times, so it felt very familiar to me,” McGreevy said. “My stuff felt great, this is a great stadium and the crowd was very electric. I’ve known about [the environment] since I was a kid, so to be back here and get the win, it’s amazing.”