The St. Louis Cardinals placed two teams in the Dominican Summer League for the 2018 season. In the last 14 years the organization has only featured one but had a club in the Venezuelan Summer League from 2006-10, before economic conditions forced them to close it down. Of those 14 years, the Cardinals have had six winning seasons, including the two from 2018. The last time any foreign affiliated Cardinals club made a push for the playoffs was in 2009.
The 2009 ball club featured minor league stars like Luis Perez, Grabiel Hernandez, Jesus Montero, Juan Castillo, Roberto Reyes, Charllan Jimenez, Willy Paulino, Eduard Estalis (later known as Jose Almarante), and future top prospect Oscar Taveras. The team finished with a 46-26 record and that tied them for first place, with the Mariners in the Santo Domingo Division, and forced a tiebreaker game. The game was all Mariners as they plated five in the second and three in the fifth, while holding the Cardinals to two hits and one run. The Redbirds committed an astonishing six errors during the contest.
The DSL Cardinals have only had winning seasons during 2010, 2012, and 2016 since, but never a postseason berth.
Fast forward to 2018. The Cardinals Blue dominated during the season and put up tremendous offensive numbers to help offset some of the pitching woos that hurt them at the beginning of the year. The club stayed within striking distance of the division title and over took the Twins in the final week, actually eliminated the team themselves.
The 2018 club saw Carlos Soler, Diomedes Del Rio, Dionis Zamora, and Enmanuel Solano (later returned), promoted stateside. They also had the best hitter in the league in Malcom Nunez with Ramon Mendoza, Jean Selmo, Adanson Cruz, Darlin Moquete, and Freddy DeJesus complimenting him. Francis Ventura, Julio Puello, Inohan Paniagua, Martin Cordova, and Solano held down the rotation. Leonardo Taveras, Anthony Trompiz, and Saniel Santana were the main arms from the bullpen.
On August 27th, the Cardinals Blue began a best-of-three series with the Rangers One for the division series.
Steady arm Ventura was on his game as he tossed five innings allowing three hits, one unearned run, three walks, and struck three out. The one run scored by the Rangers came on a Nunez error as he missed played a ball while manning first base.
Nunez had only covered first base a handful of times previously. Probably not the wisest decision to put him there for the playoffs, but might of been done to utilized more hitters in the lineup with Mendoza at third and DeJesus (normally the first baseman) starting as designated hitter.
In the fifth inning the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead. Moquete hit a ground-rule double on a fly to right field, with one out. Moquete advanced to third on a wild pitch and Cruz walked and moved to second on a passed ball. Nunez doubled in both runs, making up for the error in the third.
Angel Cuenca came on in the sixth and pitched two innings. First batter he faced reached base on a fielding error, by Moquete, and later scored in the inning to tie the contest. He cruised through the remaining frame and the next with ease.
Anthony Trompiz struggled in the ninth, loading up the bases and giving up a sac fly to give the Rangers the victory. The Cardinals offense went silent as they struck out a total of 13 times in 34 at-bats.
On August 28, both teams saw their bats come alive and fight right to the end. The Cardinals played singles ball as all their 12 hits were not for extra-bases. The Rangers tripled twice and hit one home run.
Both teams exchanged three runs each in the first three frames resulting in the starting pitchers exiting early. The Rangers continued to hammer the Redbird relievers and tacked on three more two-run innings over the next four, putting them up 9-4.
The Cardinals made a strong comeback in the eighth. They loaded up the bases on the first three batters to the plate and Elvin DeJesus, Moquete, Cruz, and Nunez each collected RBIs and cut the lead to one run.
The Rangers closed the door in the ninth as Darlyn Del Villar was the only batter to reach base and was held there.
Notes:
Angel Ortega (Blue) was released the day after the final playoff game. The 18-year old Venezuelan signed with the Cardinals on June 19th after spending the 2017 season with the Astros. The right-hander made made 13 relief appearances posting a 2-0 record, 1.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and two saves. He allowed 19 hits, five runs (four earned), 11 walks, hit three batters, and struck 28 out over 26 innings.
Up Next:
Venezuelan League and Mexican Pacific League open mid-October and some of the players born in these countries may participate during the fall/winter offseason.
Past Notebooks:
June 11, 2018: Darlyn De Villar, Pablo Gomez, Ludwin Jimenez, Luis Montano, Yowelfy Rosario, Jean Selmo, and Carlos Soler.
June 18, 2018: Freddy DeJesus, Darlyn Del Villar, Wilfredo Pereira, Julio Puello, Jean Selmo, Hector Soto, and Leandro Taveras.
June 25, 2018: Diomedes Del Rio, Cristhian Longa, Jose Moreno, Freddy DeJesus, Freddy Pacheco, Inohan Paniagua, Franklin Soto, and Francis Ventura.
July 2, 2018: Martin Cordova, Adanson Cruz, Joerlin De Los Santos, Ramon Mendoza, Sander Mora, Freddy Pacheco, Hector Soto, and Francis Ventura.
July 9, 2018: Martin Cordova, Adanson Cruz, Joerlin De Los Santos, Francisco Hernandez, Jean Selmo, Hector Soto, and Francis Ventura.
July 16, 2018: Martin Cordova, Adanson Cruz, Ramon Mendoza, Malcom Nunez, Carlos Soler, Franklin Soto, and Leandro Taveras.
July 23, 2018: Martin Cordova, Adanson Cruz, Freddy DeJesus, Ludwin Jimenez, Ramon Mendoza, Julio Puello, and Carlos Soler.
July 30, 2018: Hector De Los Santos, Wilman Madera, Ramon Mendoza, Malcom Nunez, Inohan Paniagua, Julio Puello, and Franklin Soto.
August 6, 2018: Joerlin De Los Santos, Francisco Hernandez, Cristhian Longa, Wilman Madera, Malcom Nunez, Julio Puello, and Francis Ventura.
August 13, 2018: Allinson Benitez, Freddy DeJesus, Joerlin De Los Santos, Francisco Hernandez, Cristhian Longa, Luis Montano, Darlin Moquete, Malcom Nunez, Erik Pena, Claudio Ramirez, Enmanuel Solano, Franklin Soto, Anthony Trompiz, and Francis Ventura.
August 20, 2018: Hector De Los Santos, Joerlin De Los Santos, Ludwin Jimenez, Wilman Madera, Malcom Nunez, Inohan Paniagua, and Leonardo Taveras.
August 27, 2018: Francisco Hernandez, Ramon Mendoza, Darlin Moquete, Malcom Nunez, Erik Pena, Julio Puello, Sebastian Tabata, and Leonadro Taveras.
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