Fifth-inning doubles by JJ Wetherholt and Ivan Herrera and another strong outing by Andre Pallante allowed the Cardinals to beat the Yankees 3-1 and win the best-of-three series in The Bronx. Pallante, who struggled throughout the 2025 season, nabbed a team-best 12th victory.
Finally at the end of a grueling stretch with 20 games in 20 nights, the Cardinals went into Wednesday knowing that they needed the kind of win that might jar them from their second-half slumber and somehow slingshot them back into the race for a National League Wild Card berth.
JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Andre Pallante saw to it that that happened in a somewhat bizarre game filled with stops and starts in the early going and a steady rain throughout.
Wetherholt and Herrera bunched RBI doubles back to back in the fifth inning and Pallante made the run support stand up with 5 1/3 strong innings of work as the Cardinals topped New York 3-1 to capture the series at rainy Yankees Stadium.
"Everybody knows that we haven't been playing our best baseball, so for us to come here and finish strong, that's really big," Wetherholt said to Cardinals TV. "We've had a tough go with all the games in a row and (no) rest, so for us to come out and get this win, it's really big. Now, go home and get what rest we can when we get back late, but we'll get ready to get it rolling again."
George Soriano, Justin Bruihl and Ryne Stanek delivered with scoreless work in relief and closer Riley O'Brien pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his 27th save -- one behind Padres' star Mason Miller for the National League lead.
The Cardinals, 13-7 winners in the first game of the series in New York, bounced back after dropping Tuesday's game 2-0. They snapped a five series losing skid.
Herrera, who committed his first throwing error of the season in the sixth inning, made up for it by challenging a pitch that led to a bases loaded strikeout of Spencer Jones. Following a 3-2 walk of Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cards’ reliever George Soriano struck out Ryan McMahon to end a bases loaded threat for the Yankees.
The start of the game was delayed an hour by rain. Then, minutes into the game, several banks of lights went out while Ivan Herrera was hitting for the Cardinals in the top of the first inning. Then, the game was paused again before the bottom of the first inning when the banks of lights blinked again.
Wetherholt, who came into the night battling through a 13 for 69 dry spell since the resumption of play after the MLB All-Star Game, drilled a 103.1 mph missile that hit off the wall in center field to score Bryan Torres and Jimmy Crooks and end a scoreless tie. Four pitches later, Herrera drilled a sinker to nearly the same spot only this time the liner left the bat at 109.8 mph and sailed over Trent Grisham’s head in center field.
The Cardinals were without All-Star and Home Run Derby champion Jordan Walker, who missed a second straight game with right knee irritation. The team is hopeful that Walker will be back in the lineup by Friday when it hosts the Rockies at Busch Stadium. Masyn Winn was also given the night off with Wetherholt getting the start at shortstop and recalled infielder Cesar Prieto starting at second base.
The Cardinals will enjoy a much-needed day off on Thursday after playing every day for the better part of the past three weeks. The Cards dropped series against the Dbacks, Angels, Reds, Cubs and Blue Jays and a makeup game against Arizona in a stretch that has threatened to ruin their strong start to the season.
Pallante has been Cards comeback kid in 2026
Pallante continued to author one of the best comeback stories of the season after struggling all of 2025. Pallante surrendered just three hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. Pallante, who battled through deep counts most of the night, exited the game after throwing 103 pitches – one shy of his career high – and 11 of those pitches came on a walk to Luis Garcia Jr. in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pallante allowed just three hits, but he did walk three while striking out four. With two on and one out in the fifth inning, Pallante induced a comebacker off the bat of Austin Wells for an inning-ending double play. The earned run he was charged with came after he was out of the game.
While going 6-15 with a 5.31 ERA in 2025, Pallante didn’t win a game over his last 10 starts and had his spot in the rotation put into question throughout Spring Training. This season, Pallante already has a team-best 12 wins, and he lowered his ERA to 3.57 with Wednesday’s outing. He went 6-2 with a 3.26 ERA over 10 starts in June and July.
