ST. LOUIS — Taking the mound for a birthday start that came after his spot in the rotation was pushed back by two days, Cardinals right-hander Michael McGreevy turned in one of his sturdiest starts of the 2026 season on the day he turned 26 years old.

McGreevy tossed a season-high 6 1/3 innings, struck out six batters and kept the Brewers to one run on Wednesday. The quality start from McGreevy protected the five runs of support Cardinals hitters gifted him and helped lead the Cardinals to a 5-1 win at Busch Stadium.

The five runs of support McGreevy got before his exit came off the bats of Alec Burleson (2 for 3, three RBIs), Jordan Walker (2 for 3, one RBI) and Jose Fermin (1 for 3, one RBI). Two of Burleson's RBIs and Fermin's lone RBI came on homers. Burleson's homer off left-hander reliever Jared Koenig in the sixth inning traveled 443 feet and pushed the Cardinals to a 5-0 lead.

Three of the runs the Cardinals (48-43) produced in the win to help them snap a four-game losing streak came against Brewers starter Kyle Harrison.

Milwaukee's lone run off McGreevy came after his exit.

McGreevy exited his birthday start with one out in the sixth inning and runners on first and third base. He was lifted for rookie Luis Gastelum, who was added to the Cardinals' roster early on Wednesday after a strong showing in Class AAA.

Gastelum completed 2/3 of an inning and allowed one inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly.

One inning apiece from JoJo Romero and closer Riley O'Brien sealed the Cardinals' win over Milwaukee.

Settling into his start

McGreevy’s birthday start began with some turbulence before it became smooth.

The 26-year-old loaded the bases by allowing two singles and a walk in the first inning. A groundout helped him leave the inning unharmed.

Some swing-and-miss in the innings that followed kept the Brewers quiet.

After allowing Cooper Pratt to single to open the second, McGreevy collected four strikeouts against the next four batters he faced. McGreevy got two of the four strikeouts in that span on curveballs. Another two came on his sinker and one was one a sweeper.

His strikeouts of Joey Ortiz, Greg Jones, Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio came in consecutive at-bats and on a total of 15 pitches, 12 of which were strikes.

Taking one off the chest

Even a birthday bruise couldn’t spoil McGreevy’s start.

McGreevy was hit on the chest by a 103-mph line drive from Pratt, scooped up the ball after it landed on the ground and made an accurate throw to first base to retire Pratt for the first out of the fifth.

McGreevy was visited by manager Oli Marmol and a team trainer after the out was recorded. He threw some warm-up pitches on the mound and remained in the game to record outs against the next six batters he faced before Garret Mitchell doubled off him with one out in the seventh.

The first start as a 26-year-old ended an at-bat later. McGreevy gave up a single to Luis Lara to put runners on the corners for Gastelum’s first task as a big leaguer.

Gastelum makes big league debut

In his first appearance in the majors, Gastelum entered with two runners on, one out and the bottom of the Brewers’ order due up.

The right-hander from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, used eight pitches to finish the inning.

Gastelum got Pratt to fly out to left field on a 1-1 change-up. The flyout led to the Brewers’ first run of the evening. After allowing Ortiz to pull a double down the left field line, he used his change-up, the most potent pitch in his arsenal, to get pinch-hitter Andrew Vaughn to tap a grounder back to the mound to end the inning.

Gastelum’s outing ended at the start of the eighth inning, when he was replaced by Romero.

First inning triple-double

Three doubles in a span of six at-bats got the Cardinals out to the early lead they never surrendered.

The trio of extra-base hits began with a leadoff double from Masyn Winn. Winn sent Harrison’s first pitch of the game to right field and reached second base after Lara could not come down with the ball as he battled the sun.

Winn, who hit from the leadoff spot with rookie JJ Wetherholt getting a day off, advanced to third base on a groundout by Ivan Herrera, then moved up another 90 feet with Walker’s 19th double of the year.

Walker fouled off the first two pitches he saw from Harrison and then took a slurve below the strike zone to move the count to 1-2. He chased above the strike zone on a 96.8-mph fastball and sent it to the right-center field gap to score Winn.

The Cardinals’ double-double in the first inning became a triple-double with Burleson’s line drive to right field.

Solving the southpaws

Having hit .181 with three extra-base hits against lefties, Burleson collected two extra-base hits against two of Milwaukee’s lefties.

The first of the two hits Burleson collected against a lefty came in the first inning. He sent a 93.1-mph fastball to right field for his 21st double of the year and the Cardinals’ second run versus Harrison.

His second came five innings later and marked one of the longest homers hit in Busch Stadium this year.

Burleson launched a 443-foot homer to right field off left-handed Koenig to extend the Cardinal to a five-run lead. The homer hit off the façade of the second deck in right field.

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