In a game that showcased grit as much as talent, the St. Louis Cardinals pushed San Diego Padres superstar closer Mason Miller to his limits on Saturday night at Petco Park—even if the final score, a 4-2 loss, didn't go their way.

Manager Oliver Marmol has often preached the importance of "tiny victories" for his young squad, the second-youngest in MLB. Those small wins—like teaching 23-year-old slugger Jordan Walker to lay off sliders outside the zone, or helping pitchers Michael McGreevy and Matthew Liberatore thrive without elite velocity—have built the foundation for the Cardinals' surprising success this season. Saturday night offered another example of that philosophy in action.

The star of the show was Miller, who entered the game with a perfect 11-for-11 save record and a microscopic 1.04 ERA. The flamethrower had been dominating hitters all season, ranking in the 100th percentile in nearly every key category: average fastball velocity (101.2 mph), chase rate (44%), whiff rate (57.8%), strikeout rate (55.7%), and hard-hit rate (16.7%). He had allowed just seven hits and two earned runs in 17⅓ innings while striking out 34 and walking only three.

But the Cardinals refused to be intimidated. In the ninth inning, they forced Miller to battle. After drawing two walks and watching Yohel Pozo reach on a wild pitch, the Cardinals loaded the bases against the game's most dominant reliever. Rookie JJ Wetherholt—who had already singled in the third inning and scored in the eighth after being hit by a pitch—worked the count full. He saw three sliders before finally getting a 101.8 mph fastball that he couldn't pull the trigger on, ending the game with a strikeout.

While the Cardinals didn't complete the comeback, they made Miller throw 29 pitches—17 for strikes. That workload likely means the Padres' dominant closer will be unavailable for Sunday's series finale, a tiny victory that could pay big dividends. For a team built on small wins adding up to something bigger, that's a step in the right direction.