Cardinals' jolting third inning, bullpen help secure win vs. Nationals after lengthy delay

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jul 9, 2025

Published in Baseball

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After inclement weather on Tuesday pushed the start of their series opener vs. the Nationals back by two hours and 19 minutes, the Cardinals’ responded quickly to an early deficit vs. Washington and had their bullpen hold tight in their return to Busch Stadium following a three-city road trip.

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning after Washington received two runs in the top half of the frame on RBIs from All-Star James Wood and Luis Garcia Jr., the Cardinals received a response from their All-Star.

Brendan Donovan, the Cardinals lone 2025 All-Star representative when rosters for the Midsummer Classic were announced on Sunday, pulled a two-run homer to right field to tie the game. Later in the inning following Masyn Winn’s single, Alec Burleson drove in a run on double the gave the Cardinals the lead they needed to come away with a 4-2 win at Busch Stadium.

Slotted in as Tuesday’s starter following a rotation shuffle, Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray allowed two runs and struck out six batters in his start vs. the Nationals. He was removed from his outing after five innings and 70 pitches — 45 of which were strikes. The outing was Gray’s shortest since he completed five innings on June 21 vs. the Reds. His 70 pitches against Washington were his fewest in an outing this season.

The Cardinals (49-43) received scoreless relief outings from Steven Matz (one inning), Phil Maton (one inning), and an additional run on a solo home run from Lars Nootbaar to help them in the series opener.

JoJo Romero (one inning) notched his 13th hold of the year with a scoreless eight inning and Ryan Helsley used 20 pitches as he worked around a single and a walk to secure his 18th save in 23 attempts this season.

Got to the sweeper

Pitching with a one-run lead after RBI hits from Donovan and Burleson put the Cardinals ahead, Gray kept the Nationals scoreless through his final two innings. The righty’s sweeper proved to be a weapon in both of his final two frames.

When Washington put runners on first and third base with one out in the fourth inning, Gray used the sweeper to induce an inning-ending double play on a ground ball from Riley Adams.

An inning later, Gray used his sweeper to finish at-bats against Jacob Young and the first-time All-Star Wood.

Gray had a fastball called for a ball to begin his encounter with Young but got ahead with a called strikes on a fastball and a sinker. A sweeper that got Young to chase low-and-away secured Gray’s fifth strikeout of the night.

To cap a six-pitch at-bat that reached a 2-2 count because of an automatic ball on a pitch timer violation by Gray, the righty got Wood to whiff at a sweeper below the strike zone for his second strikeout of Wood and his sixth of the night.

On the night, Gray’s sweeper had a 44% whiff rate and was responsible for four of the eight swings and misses he got from Nationals hitters.

Answering back in the 3rd

Behind by two runs in the bottom half of the third inning after RBIs from Wood and Garcia put the Cardinals down 2-0, jolts from Victor Scott II and Donovan closed the gap and opened what became a three-run inning.

Scott kicked off the inning with a ground-rule double that hopped over the outfield wall in right field and Donovan wasted little time to bring him in to score. On the first pitch he saw from Irvin, the All-Star second baseman lifted a fly ball to right field for a two-run homer that marked his eighth of the season.

The double and homer were two of three extra-base hits produced in the frame.

With Winn standing on first base after he flared a single to right field following Donovan’s homer, Burleson’s ground ball skipped past first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and bounced into the right field corner for a double that scored Winn and gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.

Bullpen holds tight

In the collective effort from Matz, Maton, and Romero, the trio of Cardinals reliever that bridged to Helsley kept the Nationals to two hits and one walk.

Brought in at the start of the sixth inning, Matz surrendered a leadoff single to Garcia that was followed by a force out on a ground ball by Lowe.

A walk to Josh Bell on nine pitches after Matz had the switch-hitter in a 1-2 count gave the Nationals multiple runners on base as they trailed by a run. But Matz’s ability to induce a double play on a ground ball by House ended the threat.

Following Maton’s 1-2-3 seventh inning that earned him his 18th hold, Romero allowed a leadoff single to CJ Abrams to behind the eighth.

Strikeouts of Wood and Lowe plus a lineout from Amed Rosario got the lefty out of the inning and lowered his ERA to 2.60.