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“More than anybody I’ve been around as far as just appreciating taking it in every single day,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s a new day, and he’s happier than hell to be out there.�

Pozo explained how he doesn’t want to miss a thing.

A similar approach at the plate has carved out an unexpected role.

With a go-ahead, pinch-hit RBI late Monday night at Dodger Stadium, Pozo affirmed his place as the Cardinals’ most effective bat off the bench. That is, when he’s not in the lineup. The right-handed contact creator upped his pinch-hit average to 6 for 12 this season with his single in the ninth inning that provided the difference in a 3-2 victory against the Dodgers. He’s slugging .917 in those at-bats with as many extra-base hits (three) as singles (three). But that only hints at his success in the pinch.

New to the role when thrust into it earlier this season, Pozo went hitless in his first five pinch-hit at-bats. Since, he’s 6 for 8 with six RBIs. He went five consecutive pinch-hit at-bats with a hit. His RBI single Monday was the fourth time he’s put the Cardinals ahead with his hit.

“If you asked me if I was able to do this at the beginning of the year, I would say, ‘I don’t know,’� Pozo said. “Doing it and having it is really impressive and makes me super-happy. I always like to hit (and) compete. Maybe it’s the way that I see the game.�

At the start of spring training, Pozo wasn’t sure of his vantage point for the coming season. With no offers from a major league organization during the winter, he was ready to sign with a team in Mexico’s professional league. The Cardinals, concerned about their catching depth after evaluating it in the first few weeks of camp, signed Pozo to a minor league deal during spring training, assigned him to the minor league fields and made no promises.

Midway through March, he had played his way into big league camp.

An injury to Ivan Herrera during the first road trip of the season led to Pozo’s promotion from Class AAA Memphis — and he hasn’t gone back.

His performance as a pinch hitter is part of the reason, and his production at the plate has steadily increased his starts behind the plate. Pozo paired with starter Miles Mikolas for Tuesday night’s late game at Dodger Stadium. It was his third start of the six-game road trip and his seventh in the Cardinals’ past 16 games. In the games he does not start at catcher, he prepares as a pinch hitter.

“If we’re losing by a lot, I pinch hit,� he said. “If we’re winning by a lot, I pinch hit. In the closest games, I pinch hit. I’m always ready for that.�

Pozo ducks into the batting cage at the start of the sixth inning and prepares for a pinch-hit spot by getting his body and swing loose. He’ll hit fastballs off the pitching machine. In the seventh, he’ll dial up the breaking-ball pitching machine and hit off of it. In the eighth, if he hasn’t been used already, he goes back to the fastballs.

“I’m ready to go,� he said.

Pozo remains an aggressive hitter — “I know I can make contact with pitches out of the zone and hard contact,� he said — and that approach can play in a pinch. That ability to make contact allows him to hit against lefties or right-handers as a pinch hitter. He gives Marmol a more universal option that rarely strikes out and can put the ball in play to generate a run or, in the case of Monday’s ninth inning, rescue a rally with a two-out single.

As he walked across the same field where he took photos hours earlier, Pozo looked at the Dodgers defense in the ninth. The Cardinals had runners at the corners — and they’d been there for two outs already. Pozo saw a “deep hole between first and second� and figured he could send a variety of pitches through it to right field. He got a cutter and lifted it for the winning hit.

“We take our shot, and he comes through often with a really good at-bat,� Marmol said. “He’s in the zone for a pretty long time (with his swing), and that allows for him to put a lot of (pitches) in play. You need contact, and he gives you a shot at it.�

Said Pozo: “I signed for an opportunity.�

He’ll get more as a result of what he’s done with it so far.

Running numbers on Noot’s clutch catch

Both of the Cardinals’ key defensive plays in the ninth inning Monday after Pozo’s hit came in right field by Lars Nootbaar. He quickly cut off a ball in right-center to hold Shohei Ohtani to a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth. The next batter, Mookie Betts, skied a fly ball that appeared ready to parachute down the right field line for a base hit unless one of three Cardinals’ fielders reached it.

Nootbaar did with a diving catch and sent him sliding into foul territory.

“To make that grab that part of the game,� Marmol said. “Huge.�

According to Statcast data, Nootbaar covered 116 feet to make the catch, and he did so at his highest sprint speed of the season. The catch was considered a four-star play on a five-star scale for its difficulty. An average outfielder has a catch probability of 35% on the play. It’s one of the lowest-probability catches of Nootbaar’s season.

“You try to just put your head down,� said Nootbaar, who started in center on Tuesday. “You kind of just sell out for the out in that situation there, and you kind of just have disregard for your body, your safety, and just go after it. ... You try to do everything you can, especially on this stage. Trying to suppress the momentum as much as possible.�

Extra bases

• Tucked into Monday’s night victory against the Dodgers was Riley O’Brien’s first big league win. It came at the ballpark he made his Cardinals debut in the season-opening series at Dodger Stadium in 2024 — and then missed a long stretch of time due to injury.
• Brendan Donovan is the Cardinals’ winner of the annual Heart and Hustle Award, which has been given annually for the past 20 years by the players’ alumni association. The overall winner who can capture “a true passion for the game and who best embody the values, spirit, and tradition of the gameâ€� will be revealed in November. The initial winner of the award, in 2005, was Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein. Other Cardinals to win were Albert Pujols (2009) and Paul Goldschmidt (2022).