Cardinals Get Three Homers from Heart of Order, but Disastrous 8th Inning Leads to Loss

For the first time in what the St. Louis Cardinals hope will be many instances to come in future years, Ivan Herrera, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson homered in the same game on Friday night to provide all the club’s offense.

It was a glimpse of what might be possible from a young heart of the lineup that figures to grow together for years to come.

Now, if the Cardinals pitching staff could execute throws to bases – a troubling issue all season – the Cardinals trio of sluggers might have had something to celebrate on Friday night.

Cardinals’ relievers Justin Bruihl and Cade Winquest not only surrendered three hits and a sacrifice fly in the game-deciding eighth inning, but both also had hurried, wayward throws that allowed Milwaukee to score four times for an 8-4 victory at American Family Field.

"Don't get me wrong -- and I was just talking to (president of baseball operations) Chaim (Bloom) about this -- it's frustrating when you lose, but you've got to continue to be excited about some of the things you are evaluating and the guys who are going to help you move this thing forward," manager Oliver Marmol said on Cardinals TV. "We know where we're short and what we need to address moving forward, but there is a lot of excitement around the meat of that order (with Herrera, Walker and Burleson) and what it could look like as we continue to move this (rebuild) along."  

St. Louis lost its fourth straight game in Milwaukee this season and it dropped to 2-9 against the class of the National League Central Division. The Cardinals won the first meeting of the season between the two teams in St. Louis, but they have since dropped nine of the last 10 meetings.     

With the game knotted at 4 in the eighth inning, Jackson Chourio led off with a single off Luis Gastelum. Bruihl entered in relief, but he hit David Hamilton as he squared to bunt. Then, after Garrett Mitchell laid down a bunt, Bruihl hurried his throw and threw wild of first base to load the bases. The Cardinals were forced to bring the infield in and Brice Turang chopped an inside-out single between shortstop and third for a two-run single. Winquest, who made his MLB debut earlier in the month, replaced Bruihl and had Mitchell picked off second base, but his throw to third base sailed toward the dugout. A hit by Williams Contreras plated another run and so did a Jake Baers sacrifice fly.

"At the end of the day, hitting (Hamilton), not fielding the bunt, and using an inside move and getting what you want and can't execute (with Winquest's throw), those are small things that just can't happen," Marmol said.

Herrera got the Cardinals on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning when he drilled Robert Gasser’s sixth pitch of the at bat some 393 feet for a solo homer. Herrera’s 19th long ball of the season tied the game at 1.

The Brewers surged ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth, and they tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning following a slow grounder through a drawn-in infield by Bauers to drive in a run and a bases loaded by Chourio.

The Cardinals responded in the seventh inning with the three runs they needed to get the game tied again. Walker led off the inning with a 105.9 missile that traveled 411 feet and over the center field wall for a solo shot. Walker’s career-best 29th homer of the season was his first since Sept. 1 at Dodger Stadium, and it gave a glimmer of hope in a month where the 6-foot-6 outfielder had gone 13 of 75 with 31 strikeouts in a sour September.

Then, following a Leo Bernal single back up the middle, Burleson tied the game up by mashing a 414-foot drive off the right field foul pole. Burleson, who is trying to become the first Cardinals player to lead all of MLB in RBI since Joe Torre in 1971 when he plated 137 runs.

Baltimore’s Pete Alonso had caught Burleson in RBI earlier in the night before the Cardinals slugger added to his MLB-best total, giving him 115 RBI with two regular-season games remaining.

St. Louis right-hander Michael McGreevy made his final start of 2026 and allowed nine hits and four earned runs over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.