Cardinals tag Rangers' Gore early, bullpen holds steady to avoid sweep

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jun 3, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — Looking to avoid their third sweep of the season and first since they left Milwaukee without a win near the end of May, the Cardinals’ carousel of hits and timely relief work helped send them into Thursday’s scheduled off day with a win.

The 11 hits the Cardinals collected added up to five runs and the scoreless relief outings from Ryne Stanek and closer Riley O’Brien combined to cover the final eight outs of a 5-3 win over the Rangers on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals took a lead in the first inning on a one-run single Alec Burleson hit off Rangers starter Mackenzie Gore and regained a lost lead in the third on Burleson’s two-run double. Runs pushed across with hits by Thomas Saggese and Nelson Velazquez provided enough cushion to withstand the two runs lefty JoJo Romero surrendered in the seventh on a triple by Joc Pederson.

Pederson’s triple signaled the end of the night for Romero, who began his outing with a strikeout of Cody Freeman in the sixth inning. The strikeout stranded two runners inherited from starter Andre Pallante, whose outing ended after 5 2/3 innings and 85 pitches.

The only run Pallante allowed came in the third inning with two out on a 2-2 slider that got Josh Jung to chase off the outer half of the plate.

The triple allowed by Romero brought Stanek in with the game-tying run at the plate. Stanek used 10 pitches to escape the seventh without allowing a run and worked around a two-out single in the eighth to hand over a lead to O’Brien.

A night after allowing three runs in a loss to Texas, O’Brien worked around a leadoff walk and saw a Pederson fly ball run out of steam on the warning track for out No. 2 in an effort that ended with O'Brien's 15th save.

The steady work in relief made sure an offensive output that included multi-hit games from Burleson (2 for 4), Velazquez (2 for 3), Saggese (2 for 4) and Jordan Walker (3 for 4) did not go to waste.

Burly-ing back to a lead

The provider of the first run the Cardinals scored vs. Gore, Burleson added two to his total in the third inning. The second run-producing hit by the 2025 utility Silver Slugger gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. He had to cover the top of the strike zone to get to it.

Hitting with Walker on third base and Velazquez after a Walker single and a Velazquez double, Burleson climbed up the strike zone to pull a slider to right with a 104.9-mph exit velocity for his second hit in the series finale.

The Cardinals’ usual No. 3 hitter, Burleson was moved to the No. 5 spot with the left-handed Gore starting for Texas. The move allowed the Cardinals to load the top four spots of their order with righties and put Burleson, who had a .200 batting average in 65 at-bats vs. lefties this year, behind them.

Burleson saw the righties get on. On two occasions, he drove them in.

Saggese steps in vs. former organization

Filling in at second base for JJ Wetherholt, who received a break from the lineup to allow his lower half to rest, Saggese’s multi-hit night was his first multi-hit performance since April 7 against the Nationals. It came in the first meeting against the team that drafted and traded him.

A fifth-round pick of the Rangers in the pandemic-shortened MLB draft, Saggese was dealt to the Cardinals in 2023 in a move that shipped Jordan Montgomery to the eventual 2023 World Series champions nette the Cardinals Saggese, pitching prospect Tekoah Roby and reliever John King.

Saggese’s first appearance versus Texas began with a single in the first inning and a stolen base just a few pitches later, which gave him his first off the season.

He added to the multi-hit night in the fifth by collecting a career milestone.

On a 1-2 curveball Gore hung over the middle of the strike zone, Saggese flipped a line drive to right field with a 105.6-mph exit velocity. The line drive sailed over Brandon Nimmo and one-hopped the outfield wall for an RBI triple that was the first in Saggese’s MLB career.

Walk leads to run, Gore to work

Some patience at the plate in the first inning against Gore helped the Cardinals score their first run and got the Rangers’ lefty off to a taxing start.

The Cardinals drew three walks, sent seven batters to the plate and worked Gore’s pitch count to 31 by the end of the inning. The laboring inning earned the Cardinals one run on a two-out single by Burleson, an opportunity which came after Velazquez extended the inning with a walk that advanced Walker, who reached on a fielder’s choice following Masyn Winn’s leadoff walk, into scoring position.

Inserted into the lineup at the designated hitter and cleanup hitter, Velazquez fell into a 2-2 count versus Gore after whiffing on a 96.9-mph fastball Gore located at the top of the strike zone. Gore fired the 2-2 fastball that Velazquez took fastballs, ones placed well out of the strike zone, to extend the inning to Burleson’s at-bat.

Burleson made the most of the Cardinals’ first at-bat with a runner in scoring position by sending an 0-2 fastball up the middle for an RBI single.