| |||
|
YESTERDAY'S RESULT -- STL 7, PHI 1
PHI 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 -- 1
STL 0 1 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 -- 7
Kyle Leahy went 5.0 innings with 1 earned run and 6 strikeouts, and a 4-run fifth inning put the Cardinals ahead for good in a 7-1 win over Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. Alec Burleson drove in 3 runs (2-for-3 with a double and an RBI single), while Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker each added RBI hits in the fifth. St. Louis won the series 2-of-3.
| |||
|
THE BREAKDOWN
WHAT WORKED
- Kyle Leahy: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 K, 0 BB -- a clean start that gave the Cardinals every opportunity to pull away. - Alec Burleson: 2-for-3, 3 RBI -- his 5th-inning double scored JJ Wetherholt and Ivan Herrera, and he added an RBI single in the seventh. - 4-run fifth: Ivan Herrera (RBI single), Burleson (2-RBI double), and Jordan Walker (RBI double) drove in all four runs in the inning that decided the game. - JJ Wetherholt: 2 runs scored, 2 walks, 1 stolen base -- on base and active throughout the afternoon. WHAT DIDN'T - Masyn Winn: 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts -- no production from the middle of the lineup. - Bottom of the order: Jose Fermin (0-for-3, 1 K), Jimmy Crooks (0-for-3, 1 K), and Blaze Jordan (0-for-2, 1 K) were all hitless. - Leahy allowed 6 hits in 5.0 IP, and a Luis Arraez ground-rule double in the fourth briefly tied the game 1-1 before the Cardinals answered with four in the fifth. | |||
|
Cardinals off day. No scout report today. Next game: August 14 vs. Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field (1:20 PM CT, Game 1 of 3).
| |||
|
SINCE THE OFF DAY
Four of six, and the homestand did its job. St. Louis went 4-2 over the six games since the last off day — three against Colorado, three against Philadelphia, all of them at Busch. The bats were the reason. Thirty runs in six games, 5.00 a game, against a season rate of 4.37. This was the offense playing above its own year, not a couple of blowouts carrying a flat week. The rotation kept games close without going deep. Cardinals starters threw 31 2/3 innings over the six, allowing 12 earned for a 3.41 ERA — and produced exactly one quality start. Effective while they were out there; out there for about five and a half innings a night. The bullpen absorbed the difference. Relievers covered 22 1/3 innings across the stretch and gave up seven earned runs, a 2.82 ERA. That is a lot of asking, and it got answered. The defense was close to spotless. Two errors in six games, a .991 fielding percentage, and 15 double plays turned — two and a half a game. And the math moved. The Cardinals sit 61-60, 2.5 games behind the third wild card — a full game closer than the 3.5 they carried into the last off day. The last wild-card spot is sitting at 64-58. | |||
|
THE NEXT STRETCH
Eleven games, three cities, ten days, and no day off until August 24. The Cardinals leave Busch tonight and do not sleep at home again until this is over. Chicago first, Friday through Sunday at Wrigley. The season series is dead even at 5-5. The Cubs are 7.5 games clear of the wild-card cut and chasing Milwaukee, so they are not playing for the same thing St. Louis is — which historically has not made Wrigley any friendlier. Then five games in four days at Cincinnati, Monday through Thursday — a split doubleheader Monday makes it five. St. Louis leads the season series 5-3. The Reds are 5.5 back of the cut and running out of runway; this is the stretch where a team either separates from the pack behind it or lets that pack back in. Philadelphia closes it, Friday through Sunday. ⚑ The Phillies arrive on the same 64-58 record as the third wild card, and the Cardinals just took two of three from them this week at Busch. Three games in Philadelphia against a club sitting exactly on the line St. Louis is chasing — that is the series this trip will be remembered for. |
10 Days On The Road to Get Back Into the Wild Card
Aug 13, 2026
•
2 min read