MIAMI — From a few hits from Alec Burleson to improving innings from Dustin May, the St. Louis Cardinals got a familiar assortment of contributions Tuesday night, all the way down to the inflamed inning from the bullpen they had to survive.

A home run from Nathan Church and two RBIs from Burleson propelled the Cardinals to a four-run lead and what could have been a stroll toward a win.

Walks got in the way of the stroll.

Veteran reliever Ryne Stanek walked the bases loaded and the Cardinals had to shimmy free to hold on for a 5-3 victory against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park. The Cardinals stranded the tying run on base on the eighth and closer Riley O’Brien never allowed that runner to reach in the ninth. O’Brien pitched around an infield single to secure his career-high seventh save of the season and keep his ERA pristine at 0.00 through 13 appearances.

The Cardinals even the series and attempt to go 5-1 on the road trip with a win in the series finale Wednesday against the Marlins.

Jordan Walker went 0 for 4 and his hitting streak ended after 15 games.

Walking right into trouble, again

Stanek walking three in the eighth inning to load the bases and dare the Marlins to do something with it was a continuation of what the veteran and the Cardinals’ bullpen have seen too often in this young season.

The inning was the sixth time the Cardinals have walked at least three in an inning.

In their first 23 games, five of those innings with at least three walks have come in the sixth inning or later. Tuesday was the third time that such gift-giving happened in the eighth or ninth inning.

Stanek’s walk that loaded the bases started as a 3-0 count to the defensive replacement for a pinch-hitter in the No. 7 spot of the Marlins’ order. Javier Sonoja walked 19 times total in 118 games this past season, and Stanek handed him first on five pitches to load the bases. That prompted a visit from manager Oli Marmol but not a removal.

The next batter, Heriberto Hernandez, capitalized.

He lined a two-run single to right field that trimmed the Cardinals’ lead back into a save situation. The hit chased Stanek from the game and called on right-hander George Soriano to rescue the Cardinals with the go-ahead run at the plate. He caught that batter, Connor Norby, looking at strike three.

May’s ERA continues to shrink

Cardinals starter May came two outs shy of his third consecutive quality start, but the 5 1/3 innings he did author Tuesday night continued to erase the bloat from the first impression he made with his new club.

In the span of 17 1/3 innings over three appearances, May has lopped 10 runs off his ERA.

Two starts into his Cardinals career, May was searching after allowing 13 runs and more than 21 baserunners in his first 7 1/3 innings. Before he threw the first pitch of his third start, May’s ERA was 15.95. With help from reliever Justin Bruihl, May’s final pitch of his start Tuesday put his ERA through five games at 5.84.

For the third consecutive game, he allowed one earned run.

The Marlins got it on appeal.

Leadoff hitter Jakob Marsee ripped a liner that skimmed off the top of the wall in right field before returning to the field of play. Walker scooped up the carom and threw Marsee out at third base in what would have been among the best throws of the year for an out. Except it didn’t result in an out. The umpires gathered and determined that Marsee’s ball had cleared the fence for a home run, and a crew chief review urged by the Cardinals confirmed the call. Marsee had his first career leadoff homer and the Marlins had a tie game, 1-1.

May was unbothered.

He got 12 outs from the next 15 batters and did not allow another Marlin to reach second base safely until the fourth inning. A caught stealing erased the one walk that he issued. Five strikeouts compensated for the six hits he allowed, and in the fourth inning when a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position, May froze the fish there with consecutive strikeouts.

What has shifted for the lanky right-hander is his ability to get ahead in counts and then utilize his spectrum of pitches from there. He landed six different pitches during the game, and they averaged anywhere from 83.9 mph (curveball) to 97.0 mph (fastball). Two of his five strikeouts finished with that high-octane fastball, and he was able to play off of it with a biting cutter that got three swings and misses.

Church-going

Launched into the road trip after a three-hit game to close this past week’s homestand, Church has started to find more traction in the batter’s box. He contributed a pair of singles in the Cardinals’ sweep of Houston over the weekend, and he lifted the Cardinals to a larger lead they’d end up needing Tuesday.

Church’s second homer of the season was a two-run bolt in the fourth inning that doubled the Cardinals’ score and pushed them out to a 4-1 lead.

Burleson would score an inning later on Nolan Gorman’s two-out single to set the four-run lead that became increasingly in jeopardy later.

But it was Church’s homer that got the Cardinals’ their most runs in one swoop. It was the kind of big hit missing from Monday’s game. Masyn Winn opened the inning with a single, and three pitches later Church scored them both. He ripped an 86.1-mph cutter that didn’t get in on his hands enough and planted it 370 feet away in right field. Church would add a single and a stolen base later in the game to continue gaining momentum at a time when the Cardinals continue to search for more production from the outfield as a whole.

Hit batsman hits back

Two of the Cardinals previous three games on this road trip began with leadoff hitter JJ Wetherholt getting hit by a breaking ball within the first five pitches.

On Tuesday, he hit back.

The Cardinals’ rookie infielder got to a familiar count when he usually sees an off-speed pitch that tries to bend low and inside or get him chasing out of the zone. Chris Paddack’s two-strike changeup did neither of those things. The changeup floated over the outside edge of the strike zone, and that’s where Wetherholt tagged it for a leadoff double.

Among the streaks that ended Tuesday was Wetherholt’s run of five consecutive games being hit by a pitch. But his hit to start the game spurred a rally that peaked with the end of another streak – a hitless one.

Burleson entered the game on a 0 for 9 detour, a few days removed from his flurry of two-hit games. With Wetherholt at second and one out, Burleson roped a single up the middle to score his teammate easily for a 1-0 lead. Burleson wisely took second on the throw to give the Cardinals two more cracks with a runner in scoring position. His would be their only RBI hit in the first inning as they went 1 for 4 and slipped to 10 of 51 on the road trip with runners in scoring position.

Cards go in motion, break tie

The same duo that created the Cardinals’ first run combined to break a 1-1 tie in the third.

Wetherholt worked a walk with one out. He then broke from first on a full-count pitch to Ivan Herrera that opened up a space for Herrera’s ground-ball single to get through to right field.

Wetherholt dashed to third.

The Cardinals generated all three of their runs Monday night through baserunning, and all of their offensive chances in the game had their beginnings with opportunistic baserunning. Two of the runs scored on sacrifice flies, and the third came home on a wild pitch. With Wetherholt at third and one out, the Cardinals had another chance to force the Marlins to make a play and likely score a run with a ball in play. Burleson provided it.

He chopped a grounder to first baseman Norby.

New to the position in the majors this season, Norby rushed his short throw and flung the ball wide of home to take away any drama from Wetherholt’s slide. Two swings into his game and Burleson had two RBIs and the Cardinals would seize the 2-1 lead.

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