There are some positives that the St. Louis Cardinals can take away from Sunday\u2019s 11-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, but Dustin May\u2019s start is not one of them as he was hammered through 4 innings.<\/p>\n
Dustin May\u2019s unfortunate outing started to go south in the 2nd inning when the Tampa Bay Rays strung together a single by Simpson, a double by Deluca giving the Rays their first run who then advanced to 3rd on a sac fly by Palacios. Deluca scored on a wild pitch from May giving the Rays a 2-0 lead. Williams hit a ground ball up the middle, but ended up with a hustle double. Fedducia singled on a ball that popped out of Burleson\u2019s glove followed by a Diaz single putting the Rays up 3-0 early.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals would get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Jordan Walker<\/a> ripped a double to left. He would later score when a Victor Scott II infield single was mishandled by Palacios.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay added to their lead in the 4th inning when Fedducia walked and scored after Diaz doubled. Aranda then doubled to right field scoring Diaz who would also score on a double by Aranda. The double parade continued with Mullins which scored Aranda giving the Rays a 6-1 lead.<\/p>\n The Cardinals would show big signs of life in the bottom of the 4th inning when Masyn Winn<\/a> singled, Thomas Saggese<\/a> walked and then Jordan Walker lit up an off-speed pitch on the outside part of the plate and deposited it into the left field stands.<\/p>\n The St. Louis bullpen did a solid job for a couple innings when Justin Bruihl<\/a> relieved Dustin May in the 5th and 6th innings and held the Rays scoreless. George Soriano<\/a> kept the Rays off the board in the 7th inning, but Matt Pushard<\/a>\u2019s major league debut in the 8th inning was not a successful one as Tampa Bay would add 3 more runs in that frame giving them a 9-4 lead.<\/p>\n The 2026 Cardinals continue to prove that they have no quit in them as Nolan Gorman<\/a> slammed a home run into the right field stands in the bottom of the 8th.<\/p>\n Jordan Walker continued to show a much-improved approach as he hit a laser shot single to right field following the Gorman home run. He was followed by Pedro Pag\u00e9s<\/a> who also homered making it a 2-run lead at the time.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay added more runs in the top of the 9th inning thanks to a sacrifice bunt given up by Chris Roycroft<\/a> making the score 10-7 who was also victimized by another dribbler in front of the mound which gave the Rays a 11-7 lead which is how the game would end.<\/p>\n