Cardinals Looking to Build Off Slugfest Win vs Arizona Diamondbacks

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Open Four-Game Set Against Diamondbacks Looking to Build Off Slugfest Win
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The Cardinals come back to Busch Stadium with the kind of win a club would rather build on than explain away.

After salvaging the final game of the I-70 Series with a 12-10 win over Kansas City, St. Louis opens a four-game series Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium. It is the start of another important home stretch for a Cardinals club trying to keep its footing in the National League race while continuing to sort through the same questions that have followed them all season.

The offense can carry them on plenty of nights.

The pitching still has to hold up.

That was the story Sunday in Kansas City. JJ Wetherholt powered the Cardinals with two home runs, Masyn Winn added a three-run homer, and St. Louis built enough of a cushion to survive a late Royals push. It was not clean baseball. It was not stress-free baseball. But it was a win, and after dropping the first two games of the series, it was one the Cardinals badly needed.

Now Arizona comes to town.

The Diamondbacks enter the series at 39-38, while the Cardinals come in at 41-34. Both clubs are trying to stay relevant in crowded National League playoff traffic, and both have enough flaws to make this four-game set feel bigger than a routine late-June matchup. Arizona arrives after dropping two straight to Minnesota, while St. Louis is trying to turn Sunday’s offensive outburst into something steadier at home.

The Cardinals are still second in the National League Central, still chasing Milwaukee, and still trying to prove they are more than a club hanging around the edges of contention. They have played themselves into meaningful baseball, but meaningful baseball does not reward careless innings. If they want to remain in the race, series like this need to be handled with some urgency.

Monday’s opener gives St. Louis one of its better current rotation stories.

Andre Pallante gets the ball in Game 1, entering at 8-4 with a 3.76 ERA. Pallante has been one of the more important arms on the staff, not because every outing is built for a highlight reel, but because he has given the Cardinals competitive innings and a chance to win. His job Monday is straightforward: work ahead, keep the ball on the ground when he needs it, and avoid letting Arizona stack traffic ahead of its impact bats.

The Diamondbacks counter with veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly, who enters at 5-6 with a 5.81 ERA. Kelly has enough experience to navigate a lineup if hitters get impatient, but the Cardinals should make him work. St. Louis has several bats swinging with confidence, and the best way to keep that going is not to chase early-count pitcher’s pitches. Get him in the zone. Get traffic. Then let the middle of the order do damage.

Tuesday brings Kyle Leahy to the mound for St. Louis against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez. Leahy enters at 5-4 with a 4.63 ERA, while Rodriguez comes in at 6-2 with a 2.45 ERA. That is a tougher matchup on paper, and it puts more pressure on Leahy to give the Cardinals length and keep the game from turning into a bullpen chase. Rodriguez has been one of Arizona’s better starters, so St. Louis may need to win that game by doing the little things well — baserunners, situational hitting, clean defense and no wasted scoring chances.

Wednesday is scheduled for Matthew Liberatore on the Cardinals’ side. Arizona had not finalized its starter on the latest probable-pitcher listing, and that may be connected to the Diamondbacks’ recent rotation issues. Michael Soroka had been in the Arizona mix, but he landed on the injured list after leaving his last outing with a glute strain, further thinning a rotation already dealing with injuries. For the Cardinals, that uncertainty should not change the approach. Liberatore has to attack the zone and give St. Louis a real start, not a survival act.

Thursday’s finale is expected to bring Michael McGreevy against Zac Gallen. McGreevy enters at 3-6 with a 3.35 ERA, while Gallen comes in at 3-6 with a 6.10 ERA. Gallen’s season numbers may not look like his usual standard, but the Cardinals know better than to treat him casually. He is still a talented right-hander, still capable of finding rhythm, and still a pitcher with enough track record to make a lineup pay for lazy at-bats.

For St. Louis, the offensive story continues to begin with the young core.

Wetherholt’s two-homer game Sunday was the kind of performance that grabs attention, but it was not a sudden arrival out of nowhere. He has been giving the Cardinals quality at-bats, defensive value and top-of-the-order spark. When he is getting on base or driving the baseball, this lineup looks longer and faster.

Jordan Walker remains the most dangerous middle-order power bat on the club. He enters the series with 18 home runs, 58 RBIs and a season that continues to show real growth from promise into production. Walker has become the hitter opponents have to plan around, and that is exactly what the Cardinals need him to be.

Alec Burleson gives St. Louis one of its steadier left-handed bats, and Iván Herrera continues to provide on-base value and lineup length. Masyn Winn’s glove remains central to the club’s identity, but his bat has also given the Cardinals important moments. His three-run homer Sunday was another reminder that he is not just a defensive highlight waiting to happen.

The Cardinals are also still working through how the roster fits around the young bats. Blaze Jordan, Jimmy Crooks, Nathan Church and others are part of a larger picture that has made this season more interesting. The Cardinals are not simply waiting on the future anymore. They are asking the future to help win games now.

That can be exciting.

It can also be messy.

The Diamondbacks bring their own problems to solve. Corbin Carroll remains one of the most dangerous players in the National League because of the way he combines speed, power and pressure. Ketel Marte gives Arizona a run-producing veteran presence in the middle of the order. If the Cardinals let Carroll and Marte hit with men on base, they can turn a normal inning into a crooked number quickly.

Arizona’s lineup has not always been consistent, but it is athletic and dangerous enough to punish mistakes. The Cardinals’ pitchers cannot afford to fall behind, especially with a bullpen that has had its share of high-stress nights. Free passes, missed locations and extra outs are exactly how a four-game series can get away from a club at home.

That is why the starting pitching matters so much this week.

Pallante, Leahy, Liberatore and McGreevy do not all have to be perfect. But they need to give the Cardinals competitive innings. They need to keep the bullpen from being asked to cover too much. They need to avoid the blow-up inning that turns a winnable game into a chase. The Cardinals’ offense has shown it can score, but asking the lineup to win 12-10 every few nights is no way to live.

That is fun once.

It is exhausting as a plan.

The Cardinals have enough offense to win this series. They have enough young energy to put pressure on Arizona. They have enough home-field opportunity to make this four-game set a useful step forward.

But the same truth remains.

The standings are built on wins and losses, not style points. If the Cardinals want to keep calling themselves contenders, they need to win series like this at Busch Stadium. Not because Arizona is easy. The Diamondbacks are not. But because playoff-caliber teams find ways to handle important home series against clubs sitting in the same general neighborhood of the National League race.

The Cardinals got their offense rolling Sunday.

Now they need the pitching and defense to meet it at the door.

Four games. A dangerous opponent. A chance to strengthen their position before the calendar turns closer to July.

That is enough meat on the bone.

Series Info
Matchup: Arizona Diamondbacks at St. Louis Cardinals
Dates: Monday, June 22 through Thursday, June 25, 2026
Venue: Busch Stadium, St. Louis
Broadcast: Cardinals.TV / KMOX / WIJR

Monday, June 22
First Pitch: 6:45 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: RHP Merrill Kelly vs. RHP Andre Pallante
Kelly: 5-6, 5.81 ERA, 42 SO
Pallante: 8-4, 3.76 ERA, 62 SO

Tuesday, June 23
First Pitch: 6:45 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez vs. RHP Kyle Leahy
Rodriguez: 6-2, 2.45 ERA, 65 SO
Leahy: 5-4, 4.63 ERA, 59 SO

Wednesday, June 24
First Pitch: 6:45 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: Arizona TBA vs. LHP Matthew Liberatore
Liberatore: 3-4, 5.23 ERA, 67 SO

Thursday, June 25
First Pitch: 6:45 p.m. CT
Probable Pitchers: RHP Zac Gallen vs. RHP Michael McGreevy
Gallen: 3-6, 6.10 ERA, 52 SO
McGreevy: 3-6, 3.35 ERA, 53 SO

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.

Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary:
www.cardinalchronicle.com

.