Oli Marmol is justified in late-game controversial decision

The St. Louis Cardinals lost an incredibly winnable game on Tuesday, which, of course, upsets the fan base. Losing a game in which Miles Mikolas shut the Pittsburgh Pirates out for seven innings, going toe-to-toe with Paul Skenes in the process, is infuriating, and fans should be upset about it. They're just directing frustration at the wrong individual.

Marmol is being blamed for letting the light-hitting Michael Siani take an at-bat with the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth instead of using his bench for a guy like Dylan Carlson or even Brandon Crawford.

As hard as it might be to hear, because Marmol is far from perfect as a manager, he made the right call.

Oli Marmol should not be blamed for latest Cardinals loss

Ryan Helsley allowed two runs in the top of the ninth to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals had a tall task in front of them against Pirates closer David Bednar, but Nolan Gorman got the ninth inning started for St. Louis with a leadoff home run. Each of the next two hitters were retired but then Jose Fermin and Ivan Herrera got on base in succession to put the pressure squarely on Bednar's shoulders.

The only issue is that the No. 9 spot in the order was coming up. Statistically, the Cardinals' No. 9 hitters have been among the worst in baseball all year, ranking 26th with a 52 WRC+. Light-hitting Michael Siani has a lot to do with that. His spot came up with two on and two out in a one-run game, but Oli Marmol did not hit for him.

Siani wound up striking out, swinging through a fastball to end the game. The red-hot Masyn Winn was in the on-deck circle. As frustrating as it is to have lost the game with Siani at the plate, who should Marmol have used?

Carlson might have a better track record, but he does most of his damage against left-handed pitching. Meanwhile, Siani was hitting .270 against righties this season. Sure, he lacked power, but all the Cardinals needed was a single. Carlson had been doing nothing all year and had been even worse against righties. Marmol ignored the past and focused only on numbers this season, which is exactly what he should've done.

The Cardinals lost this game in large part because their lineup is not good enough. John Mozeliak did not field a good enough team for Marmol to realistically win with. It was dependent on older stars like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado carrying the load and both of them have proven to be incapable of doing so at this stage of their careers. The bench is lackluster thanks in large part to the rather unnecessary Brandon Crawford signing. Crawford is hitting just .194 against right-handed pitching this season.

It's annoying to hear because in reality the Cardinals should have hit for Siani had they had a realistic option, but they don't. Marmol made the most out of the players he has at his disposal. Mozeliak didn't give him enough to work with.