Cards Finish the Job, Sweep Bucs in Pittsburgh
The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Finish the Job, Sweep Pirates in Pittsburgh
St. Louis, Mo.
By Ray Mileur
The St. Louis Cardinals arrived in Pittsburgh carrying the weight of a long offensive drought at PNC Park.
By the time they left, that drought was ancient history.
When the Cardinals came to bat in the ninth inning on Monday night, they were stuck in a streak of 36 consecutive scoreless innings in Pittsburgh. Then came a four-run rally, a come-from-behind win, and the kind of spark that can change the feel of a road trip.
The Cardinals did not just break through. They kicked the door down.
Over the final 28 innings of the series, St. Louis scored 30 runs, capped by a 10-run outburst Thursday afternoon in a 10-6 victory over the Pirates. The win completed a four-game sweep and sent the Cardinals home with momentum, confidence and an 18-13 record to close the month of April.
They also beat Paul Skenes again.
JJ Wetherholt led off the game with a home run against Skenes, Jordan Walker added a two-run shot later in the first inning, and Alec Burleson continued his big series with three hits and three RBIs as the Cardinals pounded out 14 hits.
For Wetherholt, it was a happy homecoming. The rookie, who grew up about 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh in Mars, Pa., went 6-for-16 in the four-game series, scored six runs and collected five extra-base hits, including two home runs and three doubles.
His leadoff homer Thursday extended his streak to six consecutive games with at least one extra-base hit. It also gave him seven home runs through the first 31 games of his major-league career, the most by a Cardinal in that span to begin a career since Albert Pujols hit 10 in 2001.
That is not small company. That is the kind of sentence that makes you sit up a little straighter.
At the plate
The top of the Cardinals’ order set the tone again Thursday, just as it had throughout the series.
The combination of Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Burleson and Walker produced eight hits, scored six runs and drove in seven. It was relentless pressure from the first pitch, and the Cardinals made Skenes work immediately.
Wetherholt opened the game with a home run, giving St. Louis the early jolt. Walker followed later in the inning with a two-run shot, and the Cardinals had the kind of first inning that changes the whole afternoon.
Burleson continued to swing one of the hottest bats on the club. He finished the series with eight hits and eight RBIs, including two more hits in three at-bats against Skenes on Thursday. For his career, Burleson is now 8-for-20 against the Pittsburgh ace.
After building a 5-1 lead, the Cardinals saw the Pirates climb back within 5-4 heading to the eighth. That was the danger spot. It was also where St. Louis answered like a club that had no interest in letting the sweep slip away.
The Cardinals put up five runs in the eighth to break the game open. Nathan Church delivered the biggest blow of the inning, a two-run double that narrowly missed leaving the yard.
By the end of the afternoon, eight of the nine Cardinals starters had at least one hit, and eight of the nine scored at least one run. That is how you finish a series. No passengers. Everybody with a hand on the rope.
On the mound
Hunter Dobbins made his Cardinals debut and looked sharp early, allowing only an infield single through the first three innings.
Then the command left him.
Dobbins walked in a run in the fourth and could not get through the fifth. Over a seven-batter stretch between the two innings, he walked five hitters, and three of those runners eventually scored.
Justin Bruihl entered in relief in the fifth but allowed both inherited runners to score on a double, tightening a game the Cardinals once appeared to have under control.
JoJo Romero allowed a home run in the seventh, continuing a rough stretch in which he has given up seven runs over his last four innings. Matt Svanson gave up the Pirates’ final run in the ninth.
It was not the cleanest pitching day. But with the offense rolling and the eighth-inning response putting the game away, the Cardinals had enough cushion to complete the sweep.
Key stat
The Cardinals finished April at 18-13, including their five games played in March.
It is the first time they have been five games over .500 or better at the end of April since 2019, when they were 19-10 on their way to a 91-win season.
That does not guarantee anything, of course. April banners do not hang at Busch Stadium. But after several seasons where the Cardinals spent too much time digging out of early holes, this matters.
They have put themselves in position to play meaningful baseball from the front foot.
Game Notes
Skenes is now 0-5 against the Cardinals in seven career starts. Entering Thursday’s game, he had allowed only one home run to the Cardinals in 37 2/3 career innings against them — a homer by Nolan Arenado in 2024 — before Wetherholt and Walker both took him deep in the first inning.
Wetherholt’s leadoff homer was the first by a Cardinal in Pittsburgh since Tommy Edman hit one in 2021. It was also just the sixth leadoff home run by a Cardinal at PNC Park since the ballpark opened in 2001.
To make room for Dobbins on the active roster, the Cardinals optioned reliever Ryan Fernandez to Triple-A Memphis.
The old-school take
This was more than a good road series.
This was a club finding its footing.
On Monday night, the Cardinals looked like a team still fighting the ghosts of Pittsburgh. By Thursday afternoon, they looked like a team that had remembered how to punch back.
The offense was not built on one swing or one hot bat. It came from the top of the order, the middle of the order and the bottom of the lineup doing enough to keep the pressure on. Wetherholt gave them energy. Burleson gave them production. Walker gave them damage. Herrera helped set the table. Church delivered late.
That is winning baseball.
The pitching still has questions, especially in the bullpen, and those questions will not disappear just because the Cardinals scored 10 runs. But a four-game sweep on the road is a four-game sweep on the road. You take it, tip your cap, and get home before anybody asks for it back.
Up next
The Cardinals return to Busch Stadium on Friday night to open a six-game homestand. They will begin with three games against the Dodgers, with Matthew Liberatore scheduled to start the series opener.
After the Dodgers leave town, the Brewers come in for three games.
The Cardinals closed April with momentum. Now May begins with two measuring-stick series at home.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association for Gateway Sports
.