Brenden Schaeffer breaks down the Cardinals 4-2 win over the Pirates on Wednesday, June 12. 2024 at Busch Stadium.

Sonny Gray was looking to rebound from a rough outing last Thursday in which walks came back to haunt him. That meant a gameplan Wednesday of attacking hitters in the middle of the strike zone and trusting his stuff to do the rest.

Well, after Gray had allowed a walk and a double to begin the game, he had to mentally lock back in and tell himself to put up or shut up. He wasn't adhering to the plan he had discussed with his catcher and coaches leading into the game, and didn't want to be the type to talk about something without doing it.

Needless to say, Gray did it the rest of the way, striking out the side in the first on his next 10 pitches to escape the jam and set the tone for his night.

Although the final RISP numbers for the Cardinals look more favorable than it was (we'll explain), the offense did enough to back Gray in his eighth win of the year.

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