The Cardinals have one of the richest histories in all of sports, so any time a player does something for the first time in franchise history, it’s usually a landmark achievement.

That’s certainly one was to describe the scoring-hot run that 23-year-old slugger Jordan Walker is on while spearheading the Cardinals to a 6-1 victory over the Nationals on Wednesday afternoon.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Walker hit his fifth home run of the season – and the fourth on a Cardinals’ six-game road trip that they went 3-3 on – in Wednesday’s fifth inning to break open a close game. Walker, who is enjoying the best run of his MLB career after mostly struggles over the previous three seasons, smashed a ball 405 feet to center field for Wednesday’s solo shot.

As for the historical context, Walker is the first player in the Cardinals’ history to hit five home runs in the first 12 games of a season before turning 24 years old. It is just the 17th time in franchise history that a Cardinal player has had five homers in the first 12 games, with Nolan Arenado doing it most recently (2022) and Albert Pujols (2004, ’06 and ‘10) and Jim Edmonds (2000, ’02 and ‘05) accomplishing the feat three times.

“I always felt like I could do it, but working with the guys – especially (assistant hitting coach) Casey (Chenoweth) – (his confidence) is through the roof right now,” said Walker, who didn’t hit his fifth homer until his 87th MLB game (on Aug. 28) last season, to Cardinals.TV. “I have to make sure it stays there.”

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s series-winning victory on Wednesday:

With the red-hot Walker leading the way in an offense that came into Wednesday tied for 7th in MLB in runs (4.82 a game on average), the Cardinals have won three of their four series thus far. They took two of three from the Rays and Mets in the first home stand and bounced back from a rough series in Detroit and an ugly collapse on Monday to take two of three from the Nationals.

Manager Oliver Marmol, whose club have five come-from-behind wins, likes the vibes in the dugout and clubhouse now.

“Detroit’s a tough team and these (Nationals) guys hit and do a lot of things well, so to be able to go 3-3 (is significant),” Marmol said to Cardinals.TV. “That first game that we gave up (a 9-6 loss on Monday) wasn’t ideal, but overall, I liked the way we finished.

“More importantly, it’s just nice how we’re going about it, how we’re winning these ballgames and the style of play has been consistent. So, I’m more proud of that than anything.”  

After holding the Rays hitless in his first outing of the season, Michael McGreevy’s second outing didn’t go nearly as well. Stacking the lineup with lefty hitters, the Detroit Tigers hit the right-hander had last Friday in Detroit.

On Wednesday, McGreevy showed off his baseball smarts and his ability to adjust from start to start – even though the game didn’t start that way. James Wood opened the bottom of the first by blistering a ball 116 mph past Masyn Winn at short and Luis Garcia Jr. followed with a flare to left field. However, McGreevy calmly worked out of the jam by getting two grounders and a line drive to shallow center.

The Nats did get to McGreevy for a run in the third, but he even limited the damage by getting an inning-ending double play off the bat of Brady House.

Over six innings of work, McGreevy mixed his seven pitches beautifully to get 12 ground-ball outs. He allowed just four hits – two of them coming on his four-seam fastball, one on his changeup and one on his slider. His fastball velocity was down again (90.4 mph on average), and he got just five swings and misses, but he stayed out of trouble by keeping the ball on the ground.

“McGreevy really did a nice job today when you look at all the pitches he’s throwing with the fastball, sinker and he’s mixing in all his secondary stuff, and the changeup was a nice pitch today. He’s mixing seven pitches and doing a nice job with it.”  

In all, Cardinals’ pitchers Matt Svanson, Riley O’Brien and McGreevy coaxed 19 ground ball outs from the Nationals in Wednesday series-winning victory.

One sign of a solid player is someone who finds a way to contribute even on days when they don’t have big offensive games.

That’s just what Cardinals’ rookie JJ Wetherholt did again on Wednesday by walking to open the seventh inning. That extended Wetherholt’s streak of reaching base to 11 games to open his MLB career.

That Wetherholt walk set the table for a run in the seventh that pushed the Cards lead to 4-1.

Thus far, Wetherholt has been everything the Cardinals hoped for from their leadoff hitter. His .364 on base percentage speaks to his eight walks and patience at the plate. He’s 11 for 45 (.244) with a homer on Opening Day and a walk-off winner in his second professional game.

As if that wasn’t enough already, Wetherholt has added five RBI, three stolen bases in three tries and some solid defense at second base.  

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