Cardinals claw back to tie game, but see troubling ninth beat them in loss to Rangers

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jun 2, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — The late-inning offense the Cardinals created Tuesday night at Busch Stadium was enough to chase Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi before he could secure an out in the seventh and helped them close a two-run deficit.

It was just not enough for them to regain the lead they had lost innings earlier.

Down 4-2 at the start of the seventh, the Cardinals clawed back to a tied game with a two-run rally that featured RBI singles from Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker. The attack left runners on the corners and no outs as Eovaldi exited.

It ended with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout that left a call to take the lead unanswered, allowing the Rangers to linger long enough to regain traction in the ninth by producing three runs off closer Riley O'Brien that sank the Cardinals in a 7-4 loss to Texas.

Called in to keep a tied game where he found it, O'Brien allowed a leadoff walk, three singles and a sacrifice fly in an inning that took him 32 pitches to complete.

The Cardinals held a 2-0 lead at the start of the fifth inning as starter Dustin May buzzed through Rangers hitters with eight strikeouts through four innings.

May hit a speed bump in the fifth inning and saw trouble in the sixth, which erased the Cardinals’ lead built on an RBI single from Jimmy Crooks in the second and a solo homer from Nolan Gorman in the fourth off Eovaldi.

The bumpy fifth chased May, who struck out nine, from his start before he could match a career high 10 strikeouts.

May gave up two two-out singles, had a double play that couldn’t be turned and allowed an RBI double to his former teammate Joc Pederson in the fifth. In the sixth, a two-out single from Alejandro Osuna that trickled into center field allowed Jake Burger, who walked with one out, to score from second base to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

May's sharp start slows

After retiring the first batter he faced to extend his scoreless start to 4 1/3 innings, a single Evan Carter hit up the middle and a line drive single by Kyle Higashioka created traffic for May. The hit to Carter was the first May had given up since allowing Pederson to double to begin the game.

Working with runners on the corners and one out, May got Nicky Lopez to hit a grounder up the middle that forced May to lunge to his left to field it. May collected the ball and, as he made strides to second base, made an off-balanced throw to Maysn Winn to start a double play. May’s throw was high but not out of Winn’s reach.

The Gold Glove shortstop hauled in the ball and made a snappy throw to first base to try and complete the double play that’d get them through the inning. The throw was too late, allowing Lopez to reach first safely, Carter to score and Pederson a chance to hit with a runner on first base.

Pederson doubled on a 1-0 change-up May left over the middle of the plate to score Texas’ second run.

Breaking through vs. Eovaldi

Able to score ersus. Eovaldi with Crooks' RBI single in the second and Gorman's homer in the fourth, it wasn't until the seventh that the Cardinals could rattle the right-hander.

The wait to get their offense going and Eovaldi out of the game took until the fourth turn through the batting order.

The rally to close the two-run deficit began with leadoff hitter JJ Wetherholt singling to left field. An 0-2 sinker from Eovaldi plunked Ivan Herrera in the next at-bat to put the game-tying run on base with Burleson and Walker looming.

Burleson wasted little time in his fourth time facing the Rangers' righty. He smacked a first-pitch sinker the other way to score Wetherholt and advance Herrera to third with Walker on deck.

The Rangers had arms warming in the bullpen as Eovaldi faced traffic, but kept the righty in to face Walker, who struck out three times versus Eovaldi and had struck out in seven consecutive at-bats up to that point in the game.

Walker snapped the streak with a single to left that tied the game.

Playing matchmaker

Walker's single forced Eovaldi to exit and Rangers manager Skip Schumaker to called upon lefty Jalen Beeks with runners on the corners and no outs in the seventh inning.

Shumaker's move led Cardinals manager Oli Marmol to play the matchups with two lefties occupying two of the next three spots in the batting order.

Marmol called upon Nelson Velazquez to pinch hit for Bryan Torres, but the at-bat ended with a swinging strikeout. After Winn struck out against Beeks, Marmol dug into his bench and summoned Jose Fermin, who hit for Gorman.

Fermin found hard contact on a 1-0 change-up Beeks threw on the outer half. He lifted a fly ball to left field that tailed to the corner, but saw it find Osuna's glove instead of grass.