Central STL News

Nathan Church, a rookie center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, recorded his first Major League Baseball hit and home run during Friday’s 10-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Church, 25, had been called up after Victor Scott II was placed on the injured list with a sprained left ankle.

Church made his MLB debut last Sunday at Busch Stadium but struggled in his first few games, going hitless against both the Yankees and Marlins before finally breaking through against Tampa Bay starter Adrian Houser. In the fifth inning, he singled with a 99.4 mph liner through the left side of the infield for his first big league hit. Two innings later, he homered off Houser with a Statcast-projected 414-foot shot.

“I mean, it's a dream come true because I have been wanting this since I was a kid,” said Church. “Being here is something special. As a kid, you don’t really know what the big leagues will be like, but it’s actually better than imaginable. I’m just so excited to be here and I want to make the best of it.”

Church's family traveled from St. Louis to Miami and then Tampa to witness his milestone week in person.

Despite early struggles at bat, Church demonstrated defensive skill during Thursday’s win over Tampa by throwing out Nick Fortes at third base in a key moment that prevented an additional run from scoring.

“I knew if the ball was hit hard to me, I’d throw it to third, but if it took me longer to get to the ball, I’d throw it to second to keep the double play in order,” Church said about that play. “[The Rays] probably had no idea about my throwing arm, but they know now not to run. It was a good play and a huge play because the run didn’t score, and it was a momentum stopper.”

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol praised Church's contributions: “I just like the way that he plays. The hit will come for him, but he does a lot of other things well for us. He has that strong arm, he runs balls down and plays great defense for us. He works hard at it, and it shows."

Veteran pitcher Miles Mikolas struggled again on Friday night as Tampa Bay built an early lead against him; Mikolas allowed ten hits—five of which were soft contact—and five runs (four earned) over less than three innings pitched.

“You go in knowing that this is going to be a tough place to pitch and the balls they hit out, at least one of them, they hit pretty good,” said Mikolas after seeing his ERA rise above five on the season. “But five of the hits, I don’t think they even left the infield grass. It’s tough because I was making good pitches. I kept the ball down for the most part and kept the ball on the ground, but it didn’t work out.”

Church sparked some hope for St. Louis late in Friday’s game by hitting his two-run homer in seventh inning—a shot leaving his bat at 104.3 mph—after already recording his first career hit earlier.

“I had a good feeling about it and was hoping it was going over because I pimped it a little bit,” he said following his home run swing.“It was an exciting moment.I was just looking for agood pitchtohitandIgotit.”