photo: Jordan Walker (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The 8-7 Cardinals took their road series at Washington but dropped the home set to Boston. After steady Riley O’Brien and JoJo Romero, the bullpen has issues, while Jordan Walker’s hot hitting is pacing an inconsistent offense. Our history section outlines MLB’s legacy of hit-by-pitches.
Game Recaps
Monday, April 6, 2026 – Cardinals 6 at Nationals 9
The St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Washington Nationals in the first of a three-game road series on Monday. Starter Andre Pallante pitched five innings, gave up two runs on three hits, walked four and struck out two.
Justin Bruihl relieved Pallante and surrendered one run in 2/3 of an inning. JoJo Romero threw a scoreless frame. Ryne Stanek and Matt Svanson each relinquished three runs in 2/3 of an inning. Svanson took the loss.
Washington went up 2-0 in the first inning. St. Louis scored one run in the fifth to shrink the lead to 2-1 as Thomas Saggese doubled and later scored on a force out by Alec Burleson.
The Cardinals took a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Ramón Urías. The Nationals tied the game in the home sixth.
In the top of the eighth, the Cardinals regained the lead with three runs. Jordan Walker thumped a solo home run. Masyn Winn walked and scored on a Urías double. Urías advanced to third on a Thomas Saggese single and came hom on a sac bunt by Victor Scott.
The Nationals answered in the home eighth with six runs to take the lead and the game 9-6.
The Cardinals offense scored six runs on nine hits. Urías was 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored. Walker was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Saggese was 2-for-3.
Saggese had an outfield assist at home plate.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 – Cardinals 7 at Nationals 6 (10 innings)
The Cardinals edged the Nationals in an extra inning game on Tuesday. Starter Matthew Liberatore pitched five innings, gave up four runs on nine hits, walked two and fanned six.
Gordon Graceffo relieved Liberatore and surrendered one run in two innings. George Soriano hurled two scoreless innings for the win. Riley O’Brien yielded one unearned run in the 10th and earned his third save.
The Cardinals went up 2-0 in the first inning. JJ Wetherholt drew a walk and stole second base. Alec Burleson singled, advancing Wetherholt to third. Jordan Walker reached on a fielder’s choice ground ball to the shortstop. Wetherholt scored, Burleson went to second, Walker was safe on first due to a shortstop fielding error. Nolan Gorman plated Burleson on a single.
The Nationals scored one run in the home first and tied the game at 2-2 in the third inning.
In the fifth, Washington went ahead 4-2, then made it 5-2 in the sixth. St. Louis added a run in the seventh to shrink the lead to 5-3 on a solo home run by Jordan Walker.
The Cardinals tied the game at 5-5 in the eighth. Masyn Winn walked and scored on a two-run home by Nathan Church.
The game went into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Masyn Winn was the runner on second. Thomas Saggese doubled to score him and make it 6-5. Saggese later came home on a double by Wetherholt to make it 7-5.
The Nationals scored just one run in the bottom of the 10th and the Cardinals won 7-6.
The Cardinals scored seven runs on nine hits. Gorman was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Saggese was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Walker and Church each had two RBI.
Wetherholt stole his third base. Winn swiped his second bag. Saggese was caught stealing. Pedro Pagés made a throwing error.
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 – Cardinals 6 at Nationals 1
The Cardinals took the series against the Nationals with a 6-1 win on Wednesday. McGreevy took the mound for St. Louis. The right hander pitched six innings, gave up one run on four hits and struck out one to earn his first win.
Matt Svanson threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Justin Bruihl collected one out. Riley O’Brien tossed a scoreless ninth.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Thomas Saggese and Nathan Church singled and both advanced on a passed ball. Iván Herrera drew a walk. Alec Burleson plated Saggese and Church on a single.
The Nationals scored their only run of the game in the third to cut the lead to 2-1. St. Louis made it 3-1 in the fifth on a solo home run by Jordan Walker.
The Cardinals extended their lead to 4-1 in the seventh. JJ Wetherholt and Herrera walked. Burleson singled to score Wetherholt.
St. Louis made it 6-1 in the in the ninth. Herrera was hit by a pitch. Burleson walked. Walker drew a walk to load the bases. Yohel Pozo singled to bring Herrera and Burleson home.
The Cardinals scored six runs on eight hits. Burleson was 3-for-4 with three RBI. Pozo drove in two.
Thursday, April 9, 2026 – Off day
Friday, April 10, 2026 – Cardinals 3, Red Sox 2
The Cardinals edged the Red Sox by a 3-2 score at Busch Stadium on Friday. Starter and former Red Sox pitcher Dustin May went six innings, gave up two runs, one earned, on four hits and fanned four to earn his first win as a Cardinal.
Ryne Stanek, JoJo Romero and Riley O’Brien each tossed a scoreless inning. O’Brien earned his fourth save.
The Cardinals went ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Ramón Urías doubled and later scored on a sac fly by Victor Scott.
Boston took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. In the fifth, St. Louis came back with two runs to lead 3-2. Jordan Walker singled. Urías walked. Thomas Saggese plated Walker on a single. Saggese and Urías advanced on a wild pitch. Urías scored on a sac fly by José Fermín.
The offense scored three runs on eight hits. Walker was 2-for-4.
Wetherholt made a throwing error.
Saturday, April 11, 2026 – Cardinals 1, Red Sox 7
The Cardinals took a late-inning pounding from the Red Sox in a 7-1 loss on Saturday at Busch Stadium. Kyle Leahy started for St. Louis. The right hander pitched four innings, gave up two runs on three hits, walked three and struck out two. Leahy took his second loss of the season.
Gordon Graceffo relieved Leahy and threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Justin Bruihl hurled a scoreless inning. Matt Svanson surrendered five runs in an inning of work. Jared Shuster tossed the final 2/3 of a scoreless inning.
Boston went up 2-0 in the fourth inning. St. Louis cut the lead to one run in the eighth on a solo home run by Jordan Walker.
The Red Sox had a field day with Svanson, who gifted them five runs in the ninth to put a close game out of reach.
The Cardinals scored one run on five hits. Walker had the only extra base hit and the only RBI. The offense was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
Sunday, April 12, 2026 – Cardinals 3, Red Sox 9
The Cardinals fell to the Red Sox in a 9-3 rout on Sunday at Busch Stadium. This was the first home series loss of the season.
Starter Andre Pallante pitched five innings, gave up seven runs on 10 hits, walked one and struck out two. Pallante took the loss.
George Soriano relieved Pallante and threw a scoreless sixth. Jared Shuster surrendered two runs in three innings of relief.
Boston took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then added a third run in the top of the second.
In the home second, a solo home run by Jordan Walker cut the lead to 3-1. This was Walker’s seventh home run this season.
The Red Sox posted a four-run fourth inning to extend their lead to 7-1. The Cardinals made it 7-2 in the sixth. Iván Herrera walked. Alec Burleson and Walker singled to load the bases. Herrera scored on a sac fly by Nolan Gorman, but that was it.
The Cardinals shrunk the lead to 7-3 in the eighth on a solo home run by Burleson. The Red Sox added two more runs in the ninth for the final tally of 9-3.
The Cardinals scored three runs on seven hits. Walker and Burleson were each 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Big Picture
The Cardinals had another 3-3 week. They won 2-of-3 from the Nationals but lost 2-of-3 to the Red Sox. The team is now 8-7 on the season and tied for third place in the Division with the Brewers. The Pirates stand in first place, just a half game ahead of the Reds. The Cubs are firmly in last place, though they beat the Pirates on Sunday. The Brewers have lost five in a row.
Jordan Walker is the top offensive performer on the team by far with an OPS of 1.367 over the last seven days and 25 at bats. Nathan Church has an OPS of 1.089 in seven at bats for the week but that is a result of a two-run home run he hit against the Nationals. Reserve infielder Ramon Urías is the only other player with an OPS above .900.
Underperformers for the week include JJ Wetherholt (.484), Pedro Pagés (.472), Victor Scott (.381) and Yohel Pozo (.334).
Walker cannot carry this offense. Players like Wetherholt, Iván Herrera, and Nolan Gorman need to step up their offensive game. Masyn Winn has struggled, but he has had multiple minor injuries. The shortstop is currently out of the lineup after being hit by a pitch on Friday.
Despite the woes of the offense, the pitching is far worse. After two terrible outings, Dustin May had a decent performance this week. So did Michael McGreevy. However, Matthew Liberatore, Kyle Leahy, and Andre Pallante did not pitch well.
The bullpen is a serious problem. Riley O’Brien and JoJo Romero have been their usual effective selves so far. For the rest it is hit or miss from game to game, and in some instances, it is mostly miss. Matt Svanson has been awful over the last week, and something just less than awful since the season started. Chris Roycroft was a problem that has been removed to Memphis. Matt Pushard is currently not a problem because he is on the injured list.
To put it bluntly, the bullpen is a hot mess. To make matters worse, there is no help in Memphis that is ready and available to pitch at the major league level. Tink Hence is simply not ready, and Luis Gastelum, who some fans have been asking about, is not on the 40-man roster. Others who are on the 40-man roster are not likely to be effective or are starters.
The Cardinals continue their homestand to begin the week against the Cleveland Guardians. The Cardinals are facing a lot of American League teams to start the season, which compounds the problem because these are teams they don’t see more than once a season (except for the Kansas City Royals).
The next road trip will be to one more American League team, the Astros, and the Miami Marlins.
Stay tuned as the season progresses.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
- The Cardinals received their PTNBL (player to be named later) from the Sonny Gray trade this past week in the form of RHP Patrick Galle. The 22-year-old was the 2025 17th round pick by Boston from the University of Mississippi. His brief stint in Boston’s minor league system was at their Single-A affiliate, the Salem Red Sox, where he pitched 7 1/3 innings with a 4.91 ERA. As a Cardinal, Galle is off to a nice start closing for Class-A Palm Beach.
Transactions
- 4/7 The Cardinals traded DFAed LHP Nick Raquet to the Baltimore Orioles for OF/2B Brayden Smith. Like Galle, Smith was assigned to Palm Beach.
Injury Report
- OF Lars Nootbaar (heel surgery) will continue his rehab for his Haglund’s Deformities surgery on both heels. Nootbaar was placed on the 60-day injured list on March 25. Jeff Jones reported that the outfielder was in St. Louis over the weekend and is progressing with the hope he can be activated close to when eligible. Nootbaar is not yet hitting live pitching, however.
- RHP Hunter Dobbins was placed on the 15-day injured list on March 25, retroactive to March 22, as he continues to rehab from his right knee ACL surgery. Dobbins was sent on a rehab assignment to the Memphis Redbirds on March 31. He made his second rehab start on April 7. Recall date from the rehab assignment is yet to be determined.
- LHP Matt Pushard was placed on the 15-day injured list on March 31 retroactive to March 30. Right knee patellar tendinitis. The placement on the injured list was motivated by imaging done on the knee indicating multiple days of unavailability. Pushard was replaced on the roster by RHP Gordon Graceffo.
- SS Masyn Winn returned to the lineup following hip soreness, only to come out of the lineup again when he was hit by a pitch on his lower leg in Friday’s game with the Boston Red Sox. Winn did not return to the lineup for the remainder of the weekend.
Looking Ahead
The Cardinals begin a three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians at Busch Stadium on Monday. Matthew Liberatore is set to make the Monday start, followed by Michael McGreevy on Tuesday, and Dustin May on Wednesday.
After a travel day on Thursday April 16, the Cardinals play a weekend series in Houston with the Astros, followed by three against the Marlins in Miami.
The team returns from its second road trip for a brief homestand. The Cardinals play the Seattle Mariners from Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26.
The Cardinals will end the month of April on the road with a four-game series in Pittsburgh. The team returns to St. Louis to begin May with a weekend series against the Dodgers.
Blast from the Past
In this week’s Blast from the Past, we discuss Rule 5.05 (b), better known as the “hit by pitch” or “Hit batsman” rule of major league baseball. The hit-by-pitch came into the news this past week, when former Cub, Cardinal, and current Red Sox 1B Willson Contreras made headlines complaining about the frequency of his being hit by a pitch from Milwaukee Brewers pitchers.
Contreras has been hit by a pitch by Brewers pitchers 24 times over his career. Six of those were from Brandon Woodruff. After the 24th hit by pitch, Contreras was quoted as saying he would “take one of them out” if he was hit again.
While Cardinal fans love Contreras, as the standing ovation he received on Friday demonstrates, he has the reputation of being combative at times and he tends to crowd the plate, making pitching him inside difficult. He was hit by a pitch from Kyle Leahy in Saturday’s game against the Red Sox.
The history of the “hit by pitch” rule is that it was first recorded as a stat in 1884. The rule, which was instituted in 1887, states that a batter is awarded first base if he is (1) touched by a pitch outside the strike zone anywhere other than on the bat (including the uniform); (2) attempts to avoid the pitch; and (3) does not swing at the pitch. A hit by pitch is awarded also in the case where the ball hits the ground first and then hits the batter.
A hit by pitch can cause an injury sufficient to take a player out of the game, as happened to Cardinal shortstop Masyn Winn on Friday. Winn did not return to the lineup for the remainder of the weekend.
In one unfortunate case in the history of the game, a hit by pitch caused death. On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch from New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. The pitch fractured Chapman’s skull and he died the following morning. This was prior to the introduction of batting helmets.
Serious injury can also result from a hit by pitch. On August 18, 1967, Red Sox outfielder Tony Conigliaro was hit in the left eye by a pitch thrown by Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton. Conigliaro nearly lost sight in the eye and his cheekbone was shattered. He was unable to play for over a year and his performance was never the same.
Other players who suffered serious injury include Mickey Cochrane of the Tigers, Kirby Puckett of the Twins, and Mike Piazza of the Mets. Piazza was hit by Julián Tavárez of the Cardinals in 2005 and suffered a serious concussion.
Other related stats include the all-time record of a hitter hit by a pitch which belongs to Hughie Jennings, who was hit 287 times in the early 20th Century; the modern-era record belongs to Craig Biggio, who was hit 285 times.
The all-time record for a pitcher hitting batters is Gus Weyhing with 277 (1887-1901). The Modern-Era leader is Walter Johnson with 205.
Former Cardinal Harrison Bader has the distinction of being the only major league player to ever record two RBI on two HBPs in the same game, which occurred on April 11, 2019.
Ten major league players have been hit twice in the same inning: Willard Schmidt (Reds), Frank Thomas (Mets), Andrés Gallaraga (Rockies), Brady Anderson (Orioles), Mike Hessman (Tigers), José Guillén (Giants), David DeJesus (Cubs), Brandon Moss (Athletics), Francisco Lindor (Mets) and C.J. Abrams (Nationals).
Through 15 games this season, Cardinals batters have been hit nine times, no one more than twice. St. Louis pitchers’ offerings have hit 10 opposing batters in 2026, with no one throwing more than two.
So, Contreras has a lot of company.
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