The tests keep getting tougher for JJ Wetherholt and the standout rookie keeps passing them and sparking the red-hot offense of the Cardinals.

Facing reigning Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes, Wetherholt led off Thursday’s game with a towering, no-doubter of a home run and scored two more runs to lift the Cards to a 10-5 defeat of the Pirates at PNC Park on Thursday.

Wetherholt, the hometown hero from nearby Mars, Pa., hit a game-tying homer in Monday’s improbable come-from-behind victory and smashed a 391-foot clout to open Thursday’s win. Wetherholt’s success in the series – six hits, three doubles, two homers and three RBI – allowed the Cardinals to pull off their first four-game sweep in Pittsburgh since July 22-25, 2019.

“With JJ starting off the game with the way that he did, it just lit a fire under everybody,” manager Oliver Marmol told Cardinals.TV after his club hammered out 14 more hits and won for the 10th time in the past 12 road games. “It was just a really good series for us.”

Wetherholt, 23, is tied with Byron Buxton for first among all MLB leadoff hitters with seven home runs. He capped Thursday’s blast with a calm and cool bat toss and jump-started another run-scoring onslaught from the Cards. Wetherholt also extended his streak of games with an extra-base hit to six games, making him the youngest in team history to do that since Albert Pujols in 2003.  

Skenes, who allowed homers to Wetherholt and Jordan Walker in the first inning, fell to 0-5 with a 2.95 ERA in seven career games against the Cardinals – easily his worst mark against any ballclub in baseball.

“You never want to ask for (facing) Skenes, but at the same time, I think it brought out the best in everyone,” Marmol said of Skenes, who has struck out 50 batters in seven games against the Cards. “In a day game, after winning the first three and knowing that you can kind of lock in against their best and show what you can do (was impressive).”

Here are three takeaways from a fourth straight win in Pittsburgh: 

Skenes has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball since debuting in 2024, going 25-14 with a 2.01 ERA. He was the NL’s Rookie of the Year in 2025 and its Cy Young award winner in 2025.

However, he had little to no success against the Cardinals outside of racking up high strikeout totals.

Skenes got roughed up from the start on Thursday as he fell behind Wetherholt 2-0 and the Cardinals leadoff hitter then smashed a middle-cut fastball into the seat above the 21-foot right field wall that is in memory of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.  

Three batters later, Walker turned on a sweeper that broke right into his swing, and he hit it 383 feet for a two-run homer that put the Cards up 3-0 four batters into the game.

The Cardinals added single runs in the third and fifth innings against Skenes. Burleson reached on an infield single and moved to second on another throwing error by star shortstop Konnor Griffin. He came around to score on a single to right field by Nolan Gorman and was briefly shaken up when Henry Davis’ tag clipped him in the side of the head.

In the fifth, Wetherholt got on again via and infield single and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Then, Gorman slapped a single to left to further frustrate Skenes.

Burleson had hits in two of his three at bats against Skenes, bringing him to 8 for 20 (.400) against the Cy Young award winner.

“For me, I know my swing is good when I’m not always on the barrel, but I’m able to get balls into the air and drive in runs,” Burleson told Cardinals.TV. “I felt good today and I want to carry that into the next series (against the Dodgers).”

The Cardinals scored in double digits for the second time in three games by jumping on the Pirates early and adding on runs after the score got tight. They did just that on Tuesday in an 11-7 victory and repeated the feat on Thursday.

Up 5-1, the Cards saw the Pirates claw back within 5-4 in the seventh when Brandon Lowe crushed a home run off JoJo Romero. The Cards responded with five in the eighth inning to break the game open. Nathan Church missed his sixth home run by inches, but his double drove in two. Later, Alec Burleson singled in another two runs and Jordan Walker scorched a 114-mph single for his third RBI of the game.

Six Cardinals had hits on Thursday and eight players scored. Burleson (8 of 17, two doubles, one homer, eight RBI) and Walker (5 of 17, one homer, seven RBI) had big series along with Wetherholt to spur the offense.

“It’s really hard to win series and then you go down the line and it’s hard to sweep them and then to win a four-game series that’s even harder,” Burleson said. “It takes a full, 26-man roster to do that and I’m super proud of these guys. I felt like it was somebody new every day stepping up and doing something for the team.”

Dobbins, who was acquired in the December trade that centered around Willson Contreras heading to the Red Sox, made his Cardinals debut on Thursday to mixed results. Dobbins, who has been working his way back from an ACL tear from last July, was activated and reliever Ryan Fernandez – a hero from Monday’s win – was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

Dobbins, who had been 3-0 in five starts with Triple-A Memphis, breezed through the first three innings and faced the minimum. He got off to a strong start in the fourth by retiring Oneils Cruz and Brandon Lowe on ground balls. However, Bryan Reynolds laced a double off the wall in right and came around to score when Dobbins walked three straight hitters.

Dobbins got out of that jam, but he walked two more in the fifth and was lifted before qualifying for the victory. In 4 1/3 innings of work, Dobbins allowed just two hits and struck out four, but he was charged with three runs – largely because of his five walks.

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