{"id":676855,"date":"2026-04-16T10:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676855\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T10:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:40:05","slug":"cardinals-rally-late-to-take-series-from-guardians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676855\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals Rally Late to Take Series from Guardians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AThe Cardinals’ scrappy, small-ball approach powers their comeback victory over the Guardians.St. Louis Today<\/p>\n

The St. Louis Cardinals overcame an early 1-0 deficit with a late-inning rally, mixing timely singles, productive outs, and stolen bases to score three runs in the 6th inning and defeat the Cleveland Guardians 5-3 and win the series.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

The Cardinals’ comeback victory showcases their ability to manufacture runs through small-ball tactics like base-stealing and situational hitting, rather than relying solely on home runs. This win helps the Cardinals maintain their position in the NL Central division race.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

Starter Dustin May pitched six strong innings, allowing just one run on six hits, as the Cardinals’ defense turned two double plays behind him. In the 6th inning, the Cardinals loaded the bases on a single, sacrifice bunt, and walk, then took the lead on a sacrifice fly by rookie JJ Wetherholt. Alec Burleson followed with a two-RBI single to make it 4-1. Nathan Church added an RBI double in the 7th to provide insurance.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals overcame a 1-0 deficit in the 1st inning.The decisive 3-run rally occurred in the 6th inning.Nathan Church’s RBI double came in the 7th inning.<\/p>\n

The players<\/p>\n

Dustin May<\/p>\n

The Cardinals’ starting pitcher, who continued his strong recent stretch with six innings of one-run ball.<\/p>\n

Nathan Church<\/p>\n

The Cardinals outfielder had three hits, scored a run, and drove in another to key the offense.<\/p>\n

JJ Wetherholt<\/p>\n

The Cardinals rookie leadoff hitter reached base three times and drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n

Alec Burleson<\/p>\n

The Cardinals outfielder delivered a two-RBI single in the 6th inning to extend the lead.<\/p>\n

Riley O’Brien<\/p>\n

The Cardinals reliever earned the save, protecting their late-inning lead.<\/p>\n

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\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just kept grinding and putting pressure on them. That’s the kind of offense we want to be – scrappy, smart, and able to manufacture runs when we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dustin May, Cardinals Pitcher<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The Cardinals will look to build on this series win as they continue their homestand, hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game set starting on Friday.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

The Cardinals’ comeback victory demonstrated their ability to win games through small-ball tactics like stolen bases and situational hitting, rather than relying solely on home runs. This versatility will serve them well as they battle for position in the competitive NL Central division race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a The Cardinals’ scrappy, small-ball approach powers their comeback victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-676855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116413965517625065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}