|
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday's performance may have declined a bit this season, but you can still count on him for a high second-half RBI output. A day after driving in five runs in a win over the Chicago Cubs, Holliday had four RBIs (including the game winner) in a rally from a five-run deficit that put the Cardinals into a first-place tie with the fading Milwaukee Brewers. Holliday now has 33 RBIs in 39 games for the Cardinals since the All-Star break. This matches Holliday’s history. Holliday has 528 RBIs in 875 career games prior to the Break (a pace of 98 RBIs pace over 162 games). After the break, he has totaled 509 RBIs in 686 games (a pace of 120 RBIs per 162 games). Holliday has found his swing in the past six weeks as his power numbers have increased dramatically in the second half. You can see the full breakdown in the chart to the right. Much of the improvement is due to better performance against left-handed pitching. Holliday did not have a homer against a lefty prior to the break, but has five since the break. He started the Cardinals rally on Sunday with a fourth-inning homer against Cubs southpaw Travis Wood, then had an RBI double against Wood in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 5-4.
Holliday’s game-winning hit came against righty Carlos Villanueva in the eighth inning. That gave Holliday the major league lead in go-ahead hits this season with 27, one more than White Sox slugger Jose Abreu.
For all of Holliday’s issues earlier this season, he has been very successful in RBI situations. He’s hitting .338 with runners in scoring position in 2014, which ranks seventh in the National League. Holliday became the first Cardinals player to drive in at least four runs in consecutive games since he did it in 2012. He joined Hall-of-Famers Jim Bottomley and Stan Musial as the only players to do this multiple times for the team. Holliday also joined Oswaldo Arcia of the Minnesota Twins as the only players to have consecutive games with at least four RBIs this season.
|
