Cards Turn to Bullpen Game as Orioles Go for Sweep at Busch

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Turn to Bullpen Game as Orioles Go for Sweep at Busch
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The Cardinals are out of soft landings.

After getting swept in Philadelphia, coming home to a 13-1 loss Tuesday night, then climbing all the way back from a seven-run deficit Wednesday only to lose again in the ninth, St. Louis returns to Busch Stadium this afternoon trying to avoid another sweep.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. CT, with the Cardinals expected to go with a bullpen game against Baltimore left-hander Trevor Rogers.

That says plenty about where the Cardinals are right now.

The Orioles enter at 65-68 and have won the first two games of the series. The Cardinals come in at 66-68, losers of five straight and back in the uncomfortable position of trying to keep one bad week from becoming the direction of the season.

Thursday’s series finale is not just about avoiding a sweep.

It is about stopping the bleeding.

The Cardinals’ rotation has taken a major hit, with right-handers Hunter Dobbins and Andre Pallante both on the 15-day injured list. That has left St. Louis short on traditional starting options and forced the club into a bullpen game at a time when the bullpen already has been asked to carry too much of the load.

A bullpen game can work when it is planned from a position of strength.

This feels more like survival.

The Cardinals need clean innings from the first arm through the last. They need somebody to take the early part of the game and keep it manageable. They need the middle relief group to avoid the crooked inning. They need the late-inning arms to finish the game if St. Louis can actually get a lead.

Most of all, they need to stop making every game feel like a test of how much pressure the pitching staff can absorb.

Wednesday night was another example.

Baltimore jumped out to a 7-0 lead, with Leody Taveras hitting a three-run homer in the first and Pete Alonso adding his 32nd home run of the season in the second. Michael McGreevy gave up seven runs on 10 hits over five innings, and for a while, it looked like the Cardinals were headed toward another lopsided loss.

Then the offense finally punched back.

Nolan Gorman homered in his second game back from Triple-A Memphis. Bryan Torres helped start a fifth-inning rally. JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera reached to load the bases. Alec Burleson delivered a two-run single. Jordan Walker followed with an RBI double. Nathan Church added a two-run double, stole third and scored when José Fermín put the ball in play.

Just like that, the Cardinals had tied the game.

For a team that has taken some hard hits over the past week, that kind of rally should have meant something.

Instead, it became another missed chance.

Riley O’Brien gave up the go-ahead run in the ninth after Samuel Basallo reached, a wild pitch moved pinch-runner Luis Vazquez into scoring position, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand lined a tiebreaking double to right-center. The Cardinals had a final chance in the bottom of the ninth after Herrera singled and Walker walked, but Fermín popped out with two runners in scoring position to end it.

The Orioles won 8-7.

The Cardinals were left with another loss that had just enough fight in it to make the ending more frustrating.

Now Baltimore has a chance to sweep, and the Orioles have the right pitcher lined up for that job.

Rogers enters at 9-8 with a 4.14 ERA and 114 strikeouts. His season numbers are solid, but his recent work has been better than the surface line suggests. He has turned in quality starts in three of his four August outings and has gone 3-1 this month. In his most recent start, Rogers worked seven innings against Tampa Bay, allowing three runs while striking out six.

The Cardinals cannot let him settle in.

Against a left-hander like Rogers, St. Louis has to be ready to attack mistakes without expanding the zone. That means getting runners on base in front of Walker, Gorman, Herrera, Burleson and Joshua Báez. It means forcing Rogers to work from the stretch. It means making Baltimore’s defense handle the ball and getting into the Orioles’ bullpen with something at stake.

Alec Burleson remains one of the Cardinals’ steadiest bats, and he enters the day looking to extend his hitting streak. Walker continues to give St. Louis the middle-order impact the club needs. Gorman’s home run Wednesday was a reminder of what his power can still do, but one swing will not be enough.

The Cardinals need innings, not moments.

That has been the difference lately. St. Louis has had moments. Báez had the historic debut at Wrigley. Walker has had a strong stretch. Burleson keeps producing. Church has had several important at-bats. Wetherholt continues to show why he belongs in the middle of everything going forward.

But moments do not win enough games when the pitching staff is leaking runs and the team is playing uphill almost every night.

Baltimore has punished those mistakes.

The Orioles have scored 21 runs through the first two games of the series. Alonso has homered in both games. Encarnacion-Strand has been a problem. Taveras delivered the big early swing Wednesday. Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Samuel Basallo, Coby Mayo, Dylan Beavers and the rest of the Orioles lineup give Baltimore enough length that a bullpen game can get dangerous quickly if the Cardinals do not throw strikes.

That is the challenge.

In a bullpen game, the Cardinals cannot afford free baserunners. They cannot allow walks in front of Alonso. They cannot ask every reliever to escape traffic. They cannot let Baltimore build another early lead and turn the afternoon into a chase.

The first three innings matter.

So do the next three.

And if the Cardinals finally get the game to the late innings with a lead, the final three matter even more.

This is where the roster strain shows. Dobbins and Pallante being down is not just a rotation issue. It affects the bullpen. It affects matchup planning. It affects how aggressively the Cardinals can manage early innings. It affects the days after this one, too, with Pittsburgh coming to town next.

But none of that changes the task.

The Cardinals need one game.

Not a speech. Not a promise about tomorrow. Not another explanation for why the club is still trying to build something bigger down the road.

One game.

Win the finale. Avoid the sweep. Stop the losing streak. Keep the homestand from becoming another extension of Philadelphia.

That is where the Cardinals are.

A bullpen game is rarely the preferred answer, but it is the answer today. Now St. Louis has to make it work.

Game Info
Matchup: Baltimore Orioles at St. Louis Cardinals
When: Thursday, August 27, 2026
First Pitch: 1:15 p.m. CT / 2:15 p.m. ET
Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis
Probable Pitchers: LHP Trevor Rogers vs. Cardinals bullpen game/TBD
Rogers: 9-8, 4.14 ERA, 114 SO
Records: Orioles 65-68; Cardinals 66-68
Broadcast: MASN / Cardinals.TV Presented by bet365
Radio: KMOX

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Photo Credit: Gordon Graceffo, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB