Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Milwaukee, during the third inning of a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals, manager Oliver Marmol gets into a heated argument with home plate umpire Alan Porter. Marmol was taken out of the match.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (AP) – After being dismissed from Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol stated he was attempting to spark something. He was joined by bench coach Daniel Descalso in this regard. The strategy was successful. Now, the Cardinals (16–24), who are in last place, are hoping that this will be a turning point in an otherwise disappointing season.

After first-base umpire Sean Barber’s two missed calls, which the Cardinals successfully challenged, Marmol and Descalso were ejected by home plate umpire Alan Porter, putting St. Louis behind 3-1 in the third inning. The Cardinals ended a seven-game losing streak against the NL Central-leading Brewers by rallying from a three-run deficit, with hitting coach Turner Ward overseeing the remainder of the game.

“Alan Porter and Sean Barber are good umpires,” Marmol said. “That had more to do with getting something going. Those guys do a nice job. Their job is tough. But at times, you’ve just got to — a little skid — get something going. I don’t have anything against that group.”

The Cardinals said the ejections provided a lift.

“I think that’s just kind of publicly letting everyone see exactly how the coaches feel,” first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said. “There’s times when they stay calm and kind of keep everyone even-keeled, and there’s sometimes when they probably need to do stuff like that. Today, that’s what it called for, I guess, for them. They felt like that’s what it called for. Fortunately we were able to respond.”

In the bottom of the second, on a fielder’s choice, the first replay challenge resulted in a double play that ended the inning. After initially ruling Milwaukee’s Brice Turang safe, replays revealed shortstop Brandon Crawford’s throw beat him to the bag. Barber decided that Iván Herrera of St. Louis was out at first on what seemed to be a double play that ended the inning in the top of the third. Once more, the Cardinals contested the decision, and replays revealed Herrera was initially safe, converting the double play to a fielder’s choice.

The Cardinals also got a tough call as they fell behind 3-0 in the first inning when Rhys Hoskins drew a bases-loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch from Miles Mikolas that was ruled to be just high. Mikolas held out his arms in apparent protest as soon as the call was made.

“We’ve been put through the wringer here early,” Mikolas said. “Obviously there’s a lot of emotions and tempers flaring. Umpires have a real hard job, but it gets real frustrating when things aren’t going your way, and it seems like the deck can be almost stacked against you sometimes. … Sometimes you’ve got to let that frustration out and get the boys fired up. I think after they got tossed, we got a little fired up. It’s a nice reminder that they’ve got your back.”

Due to their victory, the Cardinals would not be travelling to the West for a three-game series starting on Monday against the Los Angeles Angels with an eight-game losing skid. In the NL Central standings, a loss would have put the Cardinals ten games behind the Brewers. As recently as 2022, St. Louis was the NL Central champion, but last year’s 71-91 record was mostly the result of subpar pitching. With the signings of Sonny Grey, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn in the summer, the Cardinals strengthened their rotation, and each player has contributed differently.

But their lineup has let them down. Only the Chicago White Sox have scored fewer runs than the Cardinals this season. The Cardinals went 4 for 35 with runners in scoring position during their four-game series at Milwaukee and won Sunday.

Perhaps Sunday’s comeback will turn things around. Although the Cardinals left 13 men on base, they also saw Goldschmidt break out of his slump.