Rookie JJ Wetherholt drives in go-ahead runs in eighth inning to help lift Cardinals to win

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Aug 9, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — With their lead wiped away by a home run in the top of the eighth and their chance to take it back in the bottom half down to one out, rookie JJ Wetherholt helped swing the Cardinals to a win Sunday against the Rockies.

Hitting with runners on second and third base, Wetherholt sent an 0-0 fastball from Parker Mushinski over center fielder Cole Carrigg's head for a go-ahead two-run double that put the Cardinals up 6-4. An error by Carrigg allowed Wetherholt to race to third base on the play and score an at-bat later on an Ivan Herrera single that provided additional cushion for a 7-4 win at Busch Stadium.

Wetherholt's double, which scored Masyn Winn and Nathan Church after they singled to open the inning and were moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Jose Fermin, lifted the Cardinals back to a lead after George Soriano allowed Hunter Goodman to hit a game-tying homer in the eighth inning.

Starting opposite another right-hander from Orange County, Calif., the Cardinals’ Michael McGreevy worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs to Colorado. McGreevy allowed a run in the first inning that began with Jake McCarthy's eighth hit of the series.

While receiving run support on RBIs Jordan Walker, Jimmy Crooks, Winn and Alec Burleson collected against Michael Lorenzen, McGreevy kept the Rockies scoreless through the next four innings and came one strike away from completing the sixth inning but had a potential quality start spoiled by allowing a two-run homer to Brett Sullivan.

The homer to Sullivan led to McGreevy's exit with two outs in the inning. Justin Bruihl covered 1 1/3 innings to keep the game scoreless for Soriano in the eighth and, after their lead was taken back by Wetherholt's double, closer Riley O'Brien's 29th save of the season.

Nearly getting through six

In two consecutive at-bats, McGreevy was one strike away from turning in his 14th quality start of the year by securing the final out of the sixth inning. On both occasions, the Cardinals right-hander surrendered hard contact that prolonged the inning.

Having kept the Rockies to one run in the first inning on a single by Goodman, McGreevy worked around three hits and two walks to keep Colorado scoreless from the second through the fifth innings. He began the sixth inning by retiring the first two hitters he faced and got Willi Castro into an 0-2 count as he looked to secure the inning’s third out. But after Castro laid off a curveball and a sweeper that were well out of the strike zone, McGreevy threw a fastball that Castro hit with a 105.2 mph exit velocity to right field for a double.

An at-bat later, the righty found himself in a 2-2 count to Sullivan and enticed the left-handed hitting catcher to fish below the strike zone for a change-up but could not get a bite. With the count full and McGreevy one strike away from completing another scoreless inning, he left a 91.6 mph sinker over the middle of the plate and saw it hit over the right-center field fence for a two-run homer that signaled the end of his outing.

Lifted to a lead

After their third inning started with Herrera reaching second base on a single and error, then Burleson drawing a walk, some loft across the next three at-bats created enough station-to-station base running to bring both Cardinals in to score.

With Walker back at the cleanup spot, Herrera and Burleson both tagged up to advance on a flyout Walker hit to the warning track in center field. Both moved up again one at-bat later on a fly ball from Crooks.

Crooks lifted a 1-2 change-up from Lorenzen to McCarthy, who hauled in the fly ball at around medium depth in right field. McCarthy’s throw to home to try and nab Herrera began to run out of steam as it was cut off by first baseman TJ Rumfield near the front of the pitcher’s mound, allowing Herrera to score without a play at the plate and Burleson to move up 90 feet.

Burleson advanced another 90 feet on the deepest fly ball hit in the inning. Following Crooks’ sacrifice fly, Winn launched a double off the wall in center field to score Burleson with ease.

Lineup swap comes with production

Following a stretch where Herrera occupied the No. 2 spot for much of the first half before flipping spots with cleanup hitter Walker following the All-Star break, the two returned to the spots where they spent most of the first half. Herrera moved up to No. 2, and Walker, who snapped a 21-game stretch without a homer on Friday, returned to hit from the four-hole.

The flip kept Burleson wedged between the two. It also helped keep the Cardinals lineup moving vs. Colorado.

Herrera, Burleson and Walker combined for seven hits, one walk and three RBIs in the game. Walker was the first of the trio to produce a run when he singled home Wetherholt in the first inning to erase a 1-0 deficit.

After Herrera and Burleson reached base to begin the two-run inning in the third, Burleson kept the middle of the order producing. He pounced on the first pitch he saw from Lorenzen and hit it 441 feet for a leadoff homer that was his fourth in a six-game span.

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