Dobbins Gets the Ball as Cardinals Look to Build on Bronx Slugfest
The Cardinal Chronicle
Dobbins Gets the Ball as Cardinals Look to Build on Bronx Slugfest
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The Cardinals arrived in New York with a roster that looked different than it did a day earlier.
Then Alec Burleson made sure the Yankees noticed anyway.
After Monday night’s 13-7 win at Yankee Stadium, St. Louis returns to the Bronx tonight for the second game of the series, looking to build on one of its loudest offensive performances of the season and keep the momentum moving after a chaotic trade deadline day.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. CT / 7:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium, with right-hander Hunter Dobbins listed to start for the Cardinals against Yankees left-hander Ryan Weathers.
The Cardinals enter the night at 56-57, while the Yankees come in at 63-50.
Monday was exactly the kind of win St. Louis needed after a day filled with movement, rumors and roster reshuffling. Dustin May and JoJo Romero were gone. Lars Nootbaar was gone. The Cardinals had clearly shifted pieces around the margins of the major league roster while adding prospect depth to the organization.
Then the game started, and Burleson turned the short porch in right field into his personal batting cage.
Burleson hit three two-run home runs, becoming the driving force in a wild 13-7 win over New York. He went deep in the first inning, again in the fourth, and then put a final stamp on the night with another two-run shot during a seven-run eighth inning.
It was not just a big night.
It was the kind of night that changes the tone of a road trip.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 6-0 lead behind Burleson’s first two homers, a José Fermín RBI double and a run-scoring hit from Nathan Church. But because this is the 2026 Cardinals, nothing was going to be that simple. New York answered with home runs from Ryan McMahon, Jose Caballero and Luis García Jr., with García’s blast in his Yankees debut putting New York ahead 7-6 in the seventh.
That could have been another one of those games.
The kind that gets filed away under missed opportunity, bullpen frustration and “how did they let that one get away?”
Instead, the Cardinals punched back.
Church hit a three-run homer in the eighth to put St. Louis back in front. Jimmy Crooks followed with a two-run homer of his own. Then Burleson added his third blast of the night, giving the Cardinals five home runs and a seven-run inning that turned a one-run deficit into a six-run win.
Gordon Graceffo handled the final two innings, giving the Cardinals a much-needed clean finish after the game had briefly started to wobble.
That part matters almost as much as the offense.
The Cardinals have spent too many nights this season watching late innings turn uncomfortable. Monday had all the ingredients for another collapse, but the offense refused to let it happen and Graceffo gave the club the kind of final six outs it needed.
Now comes the follow-up.
That is always the harder part.
One big win is fun. One big win at Yankee Stadium gets attention. But the Cardinals are still under .500, still trying to find steadier ground after the deadline, and still trying to prove they can play meaningful baseball through August. They cannot treat Monday as the whole series.
Tonight gives them a chance to turn one loud win into something more useful.
Dobbins gets the ball for St. Louis, and his start comes at an important time. With May moved at the deadline and the rotation being adjusted, the Cardinals need arms like Dobbins to step forward. This is no longer just about covering innings. It is about finding out who can help carry the club through the rest of the season.
Dobbins enters at 2-1 with a 3.74 ERA over 33 2/3 innings. He does not need to be a savior tonight, but he does need to give the Cardinals a competitive start. The Yankees lineup is too dangerous to pitch from behind all night, especially in that ballpark.
The formula is plain.
Throw strikes. Keep the ball out of the middle of the plate. Do not give New York free baserunners in front of its power. Make the Yankees earn their damage.
That is easier said than done.
Yankee Stadium can reward mistakes quickly, especially to right field. The Cardinals saw that from their own side Monday, but the Yankees have enough left-handed and switch-hitting danger to make the same dimensions work against St. Louis. McMahon, Caballero and García all went deep Monday, and New York will come into tonight trying to answer after letting a late lead disappear.
Dobbins has to control the early innings.
The worst thing the Cardinals can do after scoring 13 runs is hand New York immediate momentum. A shutdown first inning would help. Early strikes would help. Quick outs would help even more, especially after the bullpen was asked to cover multiple innings Monday.
On the other side, the Cardinals get Weathers, who enters at 4-7 with a 3.99 ERA over 115 innings. He gives New York a left-handed look and has shown the ability to miss bats, with enough swing-and-miss to make the Cardinals work for their offense.
That means St. Louis cannot assume Monday’s fireworks will carry over by themselves.
They need the same approach.
Get traffic. Make Weathers throw strikes. Do not chase early. Use the whole field. Take advantage of the short porch when it is there, but do not turn every at-bat into a home run derby.
Burleson will be the obvious bat to watch after Monday’s three-homer night. The Yankees will adjust. They may work him differently, change locations, or refuse to let him beat them in the same way. That puts responsibility on the rest of the lineup to make New York pay if it pitches around him.
JJ Wetherholt set the tone Monday by reaching base in front of Burleson. Iván Herrera continues to give the Cardinals on-base ability. Jordan Walker remains the biggest power threat in the order. Church and Crooks both showed how dangerous the lower part of the lineup can be when it does not go quiet. Fermín, Masyn Winn, Blaze Jordan and the rest of the group have to keep the pressure spread across the order.
That was the best part of Monday’s win.
It was Burleson’s night, no question. But the Cardinals did not win only because of him. They won because the lineup kept creating chances and the bottom half helped flip the game back after New York took the lead.
That is the kind of offense that has to travel.
The Cardinals do not need 13 runs again.
They need good at-bats.
They need to avoid the trap of trying to repeat Monday with every swing. The Yankees are too good to let a lineup get away with a careless approach two nights in a row. Weathers will try to slow the game down, work the edges and make St. Louis expand the strike zone. The Cardinals have to make him come to them.
This game also carries a different feel because of the deadline.
The Cardinals have moved pieces. The roster has shifted. The front office sent a message that it is balancing the present with the future, and that means the players still in the clubhouse have to keep answering on the field. Monday was a strong answer.
But one answer is not enough.
If the Cardinals are going to stay interesting in August, they need series wins. They need young players to produce. They need arms like Dobbins to take advantage of openings. They need the lineup to keep proving there is enough here to compete, even after veterans and short-term pieces have moved elsewhere.
That is what tonight is about.
Not proving the deadline was right or wrong.
Not declaring the season saved.
Just winning another baseball game.
The Cardinals already took the opener at Yankee Stadium. Now they have a chance to win the series before Wednesday’s finale. That would matter. It would give St. Louis a road series win against a playoff-caliber American League club and help keep the club from drifting after the deadline.
Dobbins gets the ball. Weathers stands in the way. The Yankees will be looking to answer. The Cardinals will be trying to prove last night was more than one big night from Burleson.
Get a start.
Get traffic.
Take the series.
Game Info
Matchup: St. Louis Cardinals at New York Yankees
When: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
First Pitch: 6:05 p.m. CT / 7:05 p.m. ET
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Probable Pitchers: RHP Hunter Dobbins vs. LHP Ryan Weathers
Dobbins: 2-1, 3.74 ERA, 33 2/3 IP
Weathers: 4-7, 3.99 ERA, 115 IP
Records: Cardinals 56-57; Yankees 63-50
Broadcast: Cardinals.TV / KMOX
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Photo Credit: Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB