Oli Marmol fruitlessly pushes the right button with leadoff spot change

The St. Louis Cardinals are a mess. They just lost two of three at home to the lowly Chicago White Sox to drop to 15-19 on the season. That, after everything that transpired last season, was not what Cardinals fans were hoping for.

Monday gave the Cardinals a chance to bounce back, beginning another home series this time against the New York Mets who were just swept out of Tampa Bay. A rarity occurred for Monday's contest as Oli Marmol put a new face, Jose Fermin, into the leadoff spot.

The move actually worked.

Oli Marmol shockingly pushed the right button with the leadoff spot

Fermin led off the game for St. Louis with a single, being the table-setter that the Cardinals need in front of their supposed big bats. Unfortunately, they did not score or even get another base runner after the single.

In his third at-bat, Fermin led off another inning with a base hit. He'd score on a Willson Contreras RBI double and spark a game-tying rally. The Cardinals were stymied offensively the rest of the way and took a tough 4-3 loss, but Fermin immediately showed some value out of the leadoff spot.

Brendan Donovan had led off 33 of St. Louis' 34 games before Monday's affair and hadn't had much luck, hitting just .215 with an 89 WRC+. Victor Scott II was the only other player Marmol used at the top of the order this season before Monday and he was hitless when given the change.

The end result was the same, another Cardinals loss, but it was nice to see the Cardinals actually get some production at the top of the order. Marmol will almost certainly go back to Donovan for Tuesday's game with the team set to face a right-handed pitcher, but perhaps Fermin can see more time at the top against lefties. It worked on Monday against Sean Manaea and the Mets, why not try again? It can't go much worse than it has.

Good to see Oli Marmol get a rare managerial win even if the game itself resulted in a loss.