McGreevy Gets the Ball as Cardinals Open Important Giants Series
The Cardinal Chronicle
McGreevy Gets the Ball as Cardinals Open Important Giants Series
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The Cardinals did enough in Los Angeles and Colorado to keep September alive.
Now comes the part of the schedule they have to take advantage of.
St. Louis opens a three-game series tonight against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, beginning the final stop of a nine-game West Coast road trip that has already included series wins over the Dodgers and Rockies.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT, with right-hander Michael McGreevy getting the ball for the Cardinals against Giants right-hander Logan Webb.
The Cardinals enter at 72-72, back at .500 after Sunday’s 10-8 win over Colorado. San Francisco comes in at 59-85, buried in the National League West and playing out the final month, but the Cardinals are not in position to treat anyone lightly.
Not now.
Not in September.
Not with 18 games left and St. Louis still four games behind Arizona for the final National League Wild Card spot.
The Cardinals have spent too much of the season climbing back to even, falling back, and climbing again. They got back to .500 on Sunday because Cooper Hjerpe gave them one of the best debut relief appearances a Cardinals pitcher could have given under the circumstances.
Four perfect innings.
Six strikeouts.
No walks.
A first major league win.
That is more than a nice story. That is the kind of performance that helped save a game, save a bullpen, and give St. Louis a series win in a ballpark where nothing ever feels finished.
The Cardinals trailed 5-1 when Hjerpe entered Sunday. They answered with a six-run fifth inning, capped by Nolan Gorman’s go-ahead homer. Iván Herrera and Alec Burleson each had three hits. Thomas Saggese and Joshua Báez had two hits apiece. Leo Bernal drove in two more runs. The Cardinals scored all 10 runs with two outs.
That is the kind of offensive pressure they need to carry into San Francisco.
This is not just another series.
The Cardinals will see the Giants six times in the next 10 days, and this stretch matters. St. Louis has 15 of its final 18 games against teams currently under .500 before finishing the regular season with three at Milwaukee. That does not guarantee anything. It only creates an opening.
The Cardinals have to be good enough to walk through it.
That starts tonight with McGreevy.
McGreevy enters at 6-9 with a 3.97 ERA and 102 strikeouts. His record does not tell the full story, but the assignment is still clear. The Cardinals need length, strikes and a steady start after a week that has already asked plenty from the pitching staff.
McGreevy has had some history with San Francisco. He has won both of his career starts at Oracle Park, though his overall numbers against the Giants have been uneven. That is the kind of thing the Cardinals will take, but they need more than good memories. They need him to keep the ball on the ground, stay out of the middle of the plate and avoid giving the Giants extra traffic.
The biggest name on the scouting report is Rafael Devers.
Devers has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball, with six home runs in seven games entering the series. He has 35 home runs on the season and is trying to give San Francisco its first 40-homer year since Barry Bonds in 2004. He also has done damage against McGreevy in a small head-to-head sample, including two home runs.
That is not a matchup to play casually.
McGreevy does not have to pitch around the whole lineup. He does have to know where the damage is. No free baserunners in front of Devers. No mistakes in the middle of the zone. No innings extended by walks or defensive mistakes.
San Francisco’s record is poor, but the Giants still have enough offense to make a game uncomfortable. Jung Hoo Lee leads them in average. Bryce Eldridge has been part of the middle-order mix. Logan Webb gives them a veteran starter capable of turning a game into a grind if the Cardinals let him settle in.
Webb enters at 8-8 with a 4.21 ERA and 119 strikeouts.
He has not been sharp lately, failing to get through the fourth inning in two of his last three starts while allowing 16 runs and 20 hits over 10 2/3 innings in that stretch. That does not mean the Cardinals can assume anything. Webb has been around long enough to know how to pitch, and he can still get ground balls, change speeds and make hitters beat the ball into the dirt when they get impatient.
The Cardinals cannot help him reset.
They need traffic early. They need to make Webb work from the stretch. They need Herrera, Burleson, Walker, Báez, Gorman, Saggese, Bernal and the rest of the lineup to carry the pressure they showed in Colorado into the first game of this series.
Herrera is the hottest bat in the lineup right now. He went 7-for-15 with two home runs and eight RBIs in the Colorado series and has two or more hits in six of his last seven games. When Herrera is seeing the ball well, the Cardinals lineup looks different. He lengthens innings, drives in runs and gives St. Louis another dangerous bat around Burleson and Walker.
Saggese has been another bright spot on this road trip. He has produced extra-base hits, driven in runs and given the Cardinals real energy from a spot that could have easily gone quiet. Báez continues to bring the kind of power that changes a game quickly. Bernal has made the most of his early major league opportunity. Burleson remains the steady run producer. Walker remains the biggest home run threat.
There is enough offense here to win games.
The Cardinals just have to stop waiting until the game is already leaning the wrong way.
That was the lesson in Colorado. St. Louis survived Coors Field, but survival cannot be the plan every night. The Cardinals had to rally Friday. They let Saturday slip away. They needed Hjerpe’s perfect debut and a two-out offensive avalanche Sunday to take the series.
That is fine for one weekend.
It cannot be the way September is played.
Against the Giants, the Cardinals need cleaner baseball. They need McGreevy to keep the game in front of him. They need the offense to make Webb uncomfortable early. They need to avoid the late-inning chaos that has followed this team too often.
The Giants are not playing for a postseason spot. The Cardinals still are.
That should show up from the first inning.
This is the kind of series St. Louis has to win if the final three weeks are going to matter. The Cardinals took two of three from the Dodgers. They took two of three from the Rockies. Now they have a chance to make this a winning road trip in a much bigger way.
A win tonight guarantees at least a 5-2 start to the trip and gives St. Louis a chance to take control of the series.
A loss gives San Francisco life and puts the Cardinals right back into the familiar position of needing to chase another series from behind.
September does not leave much room for that.
The Cardinals do not need promises about tomorrow.
They need to win games today.
McGreevy gets the ball.
Webb stands in the way.
Devers is hot.
Herrera is hotter.
The road trip is still there to be strengthened.
Now the Cardinals have to play like this opportunity matters.
Game Info
Matchup: St. Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants
When: Monday, September 7, 2026
First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. CT / 5:10 p.m. PT
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco
Probable Pitchers: RHP Michael McGreevy vs. RHP Logan Webb
McGreevy: 6-9, 3.97 ERA, 102 SO
Webb: 8-8, 4.21 ERA, 119 SO
Records: Cardinals 72-72; Giants 59-85
Broadcast: NBC / Peacock
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