Cardinals avoid sweep with homer from JJ Wetherholt, strong start by Hunter Dobbins

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jul 22, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Stuck in a game tied at zero after a light offense contributed to back-to-back losses against the Angels, the Cardinals got the late lift they needed on Wednesday from one of their youngest bats.

Rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt propelled the Cardinals to a lead in the sixth inning with a solo homer off Angels starter Reid Detmers that broke a 0-0 tie. The solo homer from Wetherholt was the lone run the Cardinals needed to back a strong pitching effort led by spot starter Hunter Dobbins.

The combination of Wetherholt’s swing, a sharp start by Dobbins and effective innings from the bullpen allowed the Cardinals to avoid a sweep in Anaheim with a 1-0 win in the series finale at Angel Stadium. The win also snapped a four-game losing streak.

The Cardinals called up Dobbins on Wednesday for a start that’d give the rest of the rotation an extra day of rest. He used the opportunity to turn in his strongest outing as a Cardinal.

Dobbins worked around six hits and a hit by pitch to complete six scoreless innings. He leaned mostly on his sweeper in the start, which was the put-away pitch on three of his five strikeouts and got eight of his 12 whiffs, per Statcast.

Rookie Luis Gastelum and George Soriano each turned in a scoreless inning of relief behind Dobbins to bridge to closer Riley O’Brien. O’Brien, who blew a save opportunity on Monday when command evaded him, notched his 26th save of the year by working around two one-out walks.

The All-Star right-hander struck out the final two batters of the game to leave the potential game-tying and game-winning runners on first and second base.

Wetherholt gets to the lefty

Held scoreless through 5 1/3 innings against Detmers, it was Wetherholt’s offer at a fastball in the sixth inning that snapped a scoreless game.

Wetherholt got his barrel through the zone on a 91.9-mph fastball Detmers paced at the top of the strike zone. The rookie second baseman produced a 104.8-mph exit velocity on the 0-1 pitch. He sent it 409 feet to center field for his 15th homer of the year and the fourth he’s hit against a left-hander.

For Detmers, one of the Angels’ top trade deadline chips, the homer was the third allowed to a lefty this year.

Detmers came into Wednesday’s start having kept lefties to a .217 batting average and a .302 slugging percentage. He allowed one hit, a single to Blaze Jordan in the third inning, before Wetherholt stepped to the plate to produce Wednesday’s first run.

Key catches help Dobbins

Plays on defense in the fourth and fifth innings helped Dobbins keep the Angels scoreless as both snags ended innings that had some stress.

Dobbins’ fourth inning became busy when he gave up singles to Wade Meckler and Josh Lowe. The hits brought up Tyler Heineman with two outs and runners on the corners. Having retired Heineman once already, Dobbins used a sweeper located just off the outer half of the plate to coax a pop-up that sailed into foul territory in front of the Angels’ dugout.

The fly ball hung up high enough for Jordan to race to the dugout rail and locate the ball. With the sun shining down and the dugout rail in front of him, Jordan reached over the rail to bring back the ball to secure the inning’s final out.

An inning later, it was Alec Burleson’s snag on a line drive hit right at him that allowed Dobbins to complete a fifth scoreless frame.

In that inning, Dobbins allowed Mike Trout to reach first base with a single he sent up the middle. The three-time American League MVP’s hit brought up No. 3 hitter Nolan Schanuel with a runner on.

The chance to stir up some offense ended on one pitch.

Schanuel pulled a line drive to first base with a 102.7-mph exit velocity. The liner found Burleson, who was positioned in front of first base as he held Trout before the pitch was delivered. Burleson stepped on first base to turn the unassisted double play that assisted Dobbins through the inning.

Crooks makes late start

Originally scheduled to begin Wednesday’s game on the bench with a lefty starter on the mound for the Angels, rookie catcher Jimmy Crooks was moved into the Cardinals’ lineup in place of Pedro Pages, who was scratched because of a stomach virus.

Though quiet on offense, he worked with Dobbins to keep the Angels scoreless through the right-hander’s six innings. That included helping him get through a third inning that could have burst.

Following a second inning that ended with two runners stranded on base, Dobbins allowed Zach Neto to double with one out and hit Trout with a sweeper in the next at-bat to put two runners on for Schanuel.

Dobbins got Schanuel to pop up on a 3-1 slider that hung over the middle of the plate.

An out away from escaping the inning, Dobbins fell into a 2-0 count against Vaughn Grissom. Dobbins worked back into the count by getting his fastball over for a strike and throwing a slider that was fouled off. With Crooks behind the plate, Dobbins threw a 2-2 splitter that dipped below the strike zone enough to get a swing and miss that ended the inning.