Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol discusses recent performances by Andre Pallante

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Cardinals starter Andre Pallante is making the most of his opportunities as a starter.

Since Pallante has been reinserted into the Cardinals rotation, he has been quite a welcoming development for the rotation, throwing 3.34 ERA and 3.94 FIP in the seven starts he has had since May 29, striking out 30 and walking 14 in 35 innings. During the seven starts, opponents have a .685 OPS against him in this stretch.

Pallante's 3.34 ERA is best among all Cardinals starters in this stretch and his SIERA of 4.07 is third-best among Cardinals starters, behind only Kyle Gibson and Sonny Gray.

Cardinals manager Oli Marmol joined Tom Ackerman on Total Information AM right before the Cardinals play a doubleheader with the Kansas City Royals to discuss Pallante's solid performances over the last few weeks and says he is seeing more confidence from Pallante.

"You watch him pitch, his mound presence has been a lot better," said Marmol. "He feels like he belongs, he's pitching like he belongs and there's definitely a confidence in what he's doing."

Marmol credits Pallante's increased confidence to how effective Pallante is using his sinker and fastball pitches.

"The sinker has been a good pitch for him to run into righties and keep them honest," said Marmol. "The fastball has a natural cut which makes it tough on lefties."

According to Baseball Savant, Pallante's sinker has been thrown 41% of the time to right-handed batters, with batters only hitting a batting average of .200 against it, while his fastball has been good against lefties, with lefties only hitting .206 against it and have posted a wOBA of .262.

Marmol says that Pallante has seized the opportunity and he has been able to go deep enough for the Cardinals to use their bullpen effectively as they can.

"Once that position opened up, he's kind of ran with it and has done a really really nice job," said Marmol.

Pallante will start the Cardinals first game of their doubleheader against the Royals Wednesday, matchup up against Alec Marsh. Gordon Graceffo will be the Cardinals starter for the second game of their doubleheader. You can listen to both games right here on KMOX or on the free Audacy app.