Cardinals Shouldn't Be Overly Concerned After Matt Svanson's Tough Outing

It was a rough night for Matt Svanson.

Jun 17, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Matt Svanson (49) throws in relief against the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images | Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals lost a tough game on Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. After a dominant start from Kyle Leahy, the game entered the ninth inning scoreless. Unfortunately for St. Louis, Matt Svanson allowed four runs, which was too much to overcome as St. Louis fell 4-3.

Three of Svanson's four runs were earned in Tuesday's loss, and a late rally couldn't save the Cardinals. However, Svanson had been quite a bit better since returning from a brief stint in Triple-A Memphis.

His numbers in his eight appearances before Tuesday night's blowup were quite good, and prove that the Cardinals do not need to panic.

The right-hander had pitched 11 scoreless innings, allowing only 15 percent of the batters he faced to reach base while also recording a 26 percent strikeout rate.

Cardinals Shouldn't Panic About Matt Svanson

Jun 13, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Matt Svanson (49) throws to the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Svanson has not been the same pitcher this year. The young right-hander owns a 7.27 ERA as opposed to a 1.94 mark last season. However, the Cardinals still shouldn't be concerned.

He had been much better since returning from Memphis and had been showing signs of his old self from 2025. He also is still only 27 years old. He's very early in his career, so some regression isn't too big of a surprise.

Aside from Tuesday's outing, he had been dominant since returning from Triple-A and had proven that he still is capable of being one of the more reliable arms out of the bullpen for manager Oli Marmol. The bullpen had also been taxed over the past two days, so going to arms like Riley O'Brien, JoJo Romero and George Soriano wasn't exactly an option on Tuesday, so Marmol had less to work with.

Svanson is certainly capable of being used in high-leverage spots, and his numbers since being in Memphis back that up. Going to Svanson was not a mistake on Marmol's part. The right-hander simply had a bad outing, which will happen from time to time for a reliever.

It has happened a lot this season for Svanson, but there is still a lot of hope that he has turned things around and will soon be back to where he was in 2025.

The Cardinals acquired Svanson in 2023 in exchange for former Paul DeJong. As long as he can stay healthy, then he should be just fine working out of the Cardinals bullpen the rest of the way.