ST. LOUIS -- During his start on Monday night at Busch Stadium, Kyle Leahy logged more innings than in any other game appearance of his MLB career -- and toward the end of the outing, the converted reliever seemed to wear down. After getting through a career-high five innings, Leahy went back out for the sixth, failed to record an out in the inning.
"I wouldn't say it was just the sixth," Leahy said, lamenting some sporadic incidents of missed location on his pitches throughout the start. "But yeah, I threw a couple really good pitches to the guys in the sixth, but then I threw not great 3-2 pitch. And that was the last pitch I threw."
Leahy surrendered a single and a double before being replaced on the mound by reliever Matt Svanson, who eventually allowed those two inherited runners to score. That left Leahy's final line -- at one point, rather sterling after four efficient innings of one-run baseball -- in a more underwhelming place: 5.0 innings, four runs, all earned.
"I thought he did a really nice job early. Mixed really well," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "Then going into that sixth, you could tell he hit a little bit of wall. He needs to be able to feel that -- I think it'll be better for it in his next outing, just experiencing a little bit of that."
Marmol acknowledged before the game that the assignment of a loaded Mets lineup would serve as no small challenge for Leahy in his first real opportunity in a big-league rotation. The Cardinals considered slotted Leahy into the mix on Saturday against Tampa Bay to provide a less menacing opposing batting order for his first look, but prioritized giving Leahy more 'normal' circumstances for his first starter, rather than pitching him the game following the team's scheduled off-day Friday -- an assignment that comes with its own challenges for MLB starters.
The 28-year-old's only previous MLB start came in a truncated three-inning effort in the final game of the 2025 regular season, but Monday was a test that pushed him beyond his previous limits in a new way.
"My hope Is that it gives him confidence," Marmol said. "You look, one through nine, that's a really good lineup... Hopefully, you can walk away from this one knowing that his mix is plenty good enough. His preparation showed today."