Burleson Hits Three Homers as Cardinals Outslug Yankees, 13-7

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Burleson Hits Three Homers as Cardinals Outslug Yankees, 13-7
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals almost let a six-run lead disappear into the Bronx night.

Then Alec Burleson made sure it did not matter.

Burleson hit three home runs and drove in six, Nathan Church added four RBIs, Jimmy Crooks joined the home run parade, and the Cardinals stormed back with a seven-run eighth inning Monday night to beat the New York Yankees, 13-7, at Yankee Stadium.

It was loud.

It was messy.

It was needed.

And after the way the last few weeks have looked, the Cardinals were not in a position to apologize for any win, especially one that came against the Yankees in New York.

St. Louis built a 6-0 lead, watched the Yankees answer with seven runs across the fifth and seventh innings, then punched back in the eighth with three home runs of its own. For a club that has spent too many nights wasting pitching and waiting for one big swing that never came, Monday was a reminder of what this lineup can look like when it does not stop after the first good inning.

The Cardinals did not just answer.

They answered loudly.

Burleson started the night’s scoring in the first inning. JJ Wetherholt reached ahead of him, and Burleson drove a two-run homer to right field off Yankees starter Cam Schlittler, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead before the Yankees had a chance to bat.

That was only the beginning.

In the second, Nathan Church reached and came around when José Fermín doubled to deep center, stretching the lead to 3-0. In the third, Iván Herrera scored when Church singled to left, making it 4-0.

The Cardinals had early traffic, early pressure and early damage.

Then Burleson struck again.

With Jordan Walker aboard in the fourth, Burleson hit his second home run of the night, another shot to right field, pushing the Cardinals ahead 6-0. At that point, St. Louis looked like it had taken control of the opener of the series.

Schlittler, who entered the game with one of the better ERAs in the American League, lasted only three innings. The Cardinals made him work, drew walks, forced traffic and punished mistakes. He allowed four runs on four hits, walked five and struck out six.

The Cardinals had done what they needed to do.

They had attacked early.

They had built the lead.

Then came the hard part.

Holding it.

Michael McGreevy started for St. Louis and worked four scoreless innings before the Yankees finally broke through in the fifth. Ryan McMahon reached, and Austin Wells followed with a two-run homer to right field, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 6-2.

One batter later, Trent Grisham homered to right, and suddenly the six-run lead was down to three.

That ended McGreevy’s night.

McGreevy finished with 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking one and striking out five. He had given the Cardinals a solid start, but he did not get through the fifth and did not qualify for the win. Justin Bruihl came in and allowed Grisham’s homer, then settled the inning enough to keep St. Louis in front.

For a while, it looked like the Cardinals had absorbed the first New York push.

They had not.

The seventh inning nearly turned the game into one of the worst losses of the season.

Ryan Stanek entered with the Cardinals still leading, 6-3. McMahon opened the inning with a solo home run to right-center. José Caballero followed with a solo homer to left. In a matter of minutes, the lead was 6-5.

The Yankees were not done.

Grisham doubled, and after George Soriano replaced Stanek, Luis García Jr. delivered the swing New York had been waiting for in his Yankees debut. García drove a two-run homer to right-center, giving the Yankees a 7-6 lead.

Yankee Stadium came alive.

The Cardinals had blown a 6-0 lead.

The game had completely flipped.

And for a team sitting below .500, trying to keep some kind of pulse in the National League postseason picture after the trade deadline, that kind of collapse could have lingered.

Instead, the Cardinals answered with their best inning of the night.

The eighth inning belonged to St. Louis.

Masyn Winn and Blaze Jordan reached ahead of Church, and Church hammered a three-run homer to right field off Angel Chivilli, putting the Cardinals back in front, 9-7.

It was not just a big swing.

It was the swing that stopped the bleeding.

After the Yankees had taken control of the ballpark, Church changed the tone with one at-bat. He finished the night 2-for-2 with a home run, four RBIs and two walks. That is production from the lower part of the order, and on a night like this, it mattered every bit as much as the headline bat.

The Cardinals were not finished.

Fermín reached, and Crooks followed with a two-run homer to right, pushing the lead to 11-7. For Crooks, the swing was another important moment as he continues trying to establish himself in a crowded Cardinals catching picture. The batting average may still be low, but power from the catcher spot always gets attention.

Then Burleson capped the inning.

With Wetherholt aboard, Burleson hit his third home run of the night, another shot to right field, giving St. Louis a 13-7 lead and putting the game out of reach.

Three home runs.

Six RBIs.

One massive night.

Burleson finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored, three homers and six RBIs. It was the kind of game that stands out on any schedule, but especially right now, when his name has been part of trade deadline conversations and roster-shape debates around the Cardinals.

That is what makes nights like this interesting.

The Cardinals have spent weeks trying to decide what they are, who fits, who stays, who goes and how much of the current roster should be part of the next serious push. Burleson, like Lars Nootbaar, Iván Herrera and others, has been part of those discussions in one form or another.

Then he goes into Yankee Stadium and hits three home runs.

Production still has to matter.

Monday night, Burleson produced.

So did the rest of the lineup.

The Cardinals finished with 13 runs on 13 hits. Wetherholt reached three times and scored twice. Walker had two hits and scored ahead of one of Burleson’s homers. Herrera walked twice and scored. Church had the three-run homer and an earlier RBI single. Fermín doubled, singled and drove in a run. Crooks homered. Blaze Jordan came off the bench and helped set up the eighth-inning rally.

That is the kind of full-lineup pressure the Cardinals have not shown often enough.

And they needed every bit of it.

The Yankees hit five home runs of their own. Wells hit a two-run shot. Grisham homered and doubled. McMahon homered. Caballero homered. García hit the two-run homer that briefly put New York ahead. The Yankees did not beat the Cardinals with long rallies. They beat them with a wave of power swings.

For one inning, it looked like that power would be enough.

Then the Cardinals hit back harder.

The bullpen line was not pretty. Stanek allowed three runs while recording only one out. Soriano gave up García’s go-ahead homer. Bruihl allowed one run over 1 2/3 innings. Gordon Graceffo gave St. Louis a clean eighth, striking out one and keeping the Yankees from creating another push.

That clean inning mattered.

After the Cardinals had spent the night watching leads shrink and disappear, Graceffo gave the offense a chance to hand the game over with space. By then, the eighth-inning explosion had changed everything.

The Cardinals entered this series needing to show something. They had salvaged the finale in Toronto behind Matthew Liberatore and a ninth-inning rally, but the bigger picture remained uncomfortable. They were under .500. They were coming off a rough stretch. The trade deadline had changed the feel around the roster. The schedule was not getting easier.

A road series at Yankee Stadium is not exactly where a struggling team usually finds breathing room.

But Monday night, the Cardinals walked in and put up 13 runs.

That does not fix everything.

One night never does.

The bullpen issues are still real. Giving up five home runs is still a problem. Blowing a 6-0 lead is not something to shrug off just because the final score looks comfortable. There are still questions about consistency, pitching depth and whether this club can stack enough wins to make the Wild Card conversation feel real again.

But this was still a good win.

A loud win.

A win the Cardinals needed.

The offense did what it has failed to do too often. It kept scoring after building an early lead. It answered when the Yankees took the lead. It did not fold when the ballpark turned against them. It punished a reliever who gave them mistakes and turned the eighth inning into a runaway.

That is how a team survives a night when its bullpen nearly gives the game away.

Burleson will get the headline, and he should.

Three-homer games do not come around often. Six RBIs in Yankee Stadium will play anywhere. But Church’s night was just as important to the final result. His three-run homer in the eighth was the swing that put the Cardinals back in front. Crooks gave them breathing room. Burleson delivered the knockout.

That was the order of the response.

First Church.

Then Crooks.

Then Burleson.

By the time the inning ended, the Yankees’ comeback had become a footnote.

The Cardinals had taken the game back.

Now St. Louis has a chance to do something it has struggled to do for most of the last month: build on a win. One big offensive night in the Bronx is a start. It cannot be the whole story. The Cardinals need more than the occasional outburst. They need consistency. They need cleaner bullpen innings. They need the offense to travel again Tuesday.

But Monday night was a reminder.

This lineup is not helpless.

This team is not dead.

And when Burleson is locked in, he can change the game by himself.

The Cardinals beat the Yankees, 13-7, in a wild opener at Yankee Stadium.

They nearly gave it away.

Then they took it back with authority.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB