Baseball is a game of threes. Three strikes and you’re out and three outs in an inning are both basic rules. The former rule was forgotten by the home plate umpire in Game 1 of the series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays. The latter rule was forgotten by a St. Louis pitcher in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
Tampa was up in the bottom of the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out. Cardinals pitcher TJ McFarland jammed Randy Arozarena on a pitch. Arozarena hit a ball weakly back to McFarland. While it probably was not hit hard enough for a double play, McFarland had plenty of time to force Harold Ramirez out at home. Unfortunately for the Cardinals and their fans, he seemingly forgot how many outs there were and retired Arozarena at first.
With that, Ramirez crossed the plate for another run.
TJ McFarland forgets how many outs there are pic.twitter.com/gozCbWj82w
— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) June 9, 2022
Things got even worse for McFarland when, one hitter later, Vidal Bruján singled and drove in Yandy Díaz to put Tampa up 8-3.
Naturally, McFarland was the target of some criticism.
The cardinals very well could have gone on to lose the game anyway, but McFarland forgetting how many outs there were was basically a signal to his teammates to quit trying the rest of the night. Absolutely can’t happen https://t.co/OGAvM1rXC4
— Ben Johnson (@BenJohnsonTUL) June 9, 2022
If you’re John Mozeliak, and you see TJ McFarland coming in to relieve Nick Wittgren, do you put your feet up on your desk and say, “I’ve done it again” as you light your cigar? #STLCards
— JBIF Stupid Town ™ (@johnrabe) June 9, 2022
https://t.co/LskqnJIbDR pic.twitter.com/7WmgHkBZ4l
— Josh Brown (@jbrown116) June 9, 2022
He was so proud of himself that he made what he "thought" was the final out. Even punched his glove in celebration at the end. https://t.co/Y8eb774DzL
— Sam Dakota (@thesamdakota) June 9, 2022
McFarlandpic.twitter.com/kcmmNiwM1q
— Quinn (@QuinnSTLCards) June 9, 2022
McFarland did pitch the seventh inning as well, but things didn’t get any better. Tampa scored three more runs to open up an 11-3 lead.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, McFarland was eventually removed from the game in favor of Yadier Molina. While McFarland had a miserable day on the mound, allowing three runs on five hits with two walks in two innings, Molina was fantastic. Molina did allow two hits, but he pitched a scoreless inning and even notched a strikeout.
Yadi gets the strikeout and Albert loves it! pic.twitter.com/MsJKrLKFId
— MLB (@MLB) June 9, 2022
Another observation was made at the end of Molina’s inning.
https://twitter.com/CardinaIsCritic/status/1534720173021724674
Yadier Molina had a better pitching outing than TJ McFarland tonight.#STLCards
— Griffin Lester (@cardsfan3636) June 9, 2022
It definitely wasn’t a birthday to remember for McFarland.