ST. LOUIS — Two games into his major-league career and rookie JJ Wetherholt already has a home run and a walk off.

Pulling the St. Louis Cardinals back from the abyss of a blown four-run lead in the ninth inning, the Cardinals struck for two runs in the 10th for a 6-5 victory against Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday at Busch Stadium. Wetherholt delivered the runs with a bounding grounder through the Rays’ drawn-in infield.

Wetherholt, who homered in the opener for his first big-league hit, took advantage of the defensive setup by threading the game’s decisive hit past a diving second baseman. The ball skipped into right field and allowed Jordan Walker to score the winner.

The Cardinals did not wait to put together a rally on Saturday, leaving all the drama this time for later in the game when the bullpen misplaced a four-run lead in the ninth inning. Tampa Bay’s first hint of offense came in that ninth and Cardinals relievers teased it into a full-blown rally that forced extra innings.

In the 10th, the Rays took their first lead of the game, but did not muster anything else when veteran Ryan Stanek and catcher Pedro Pages completed a strikeout-throw-out double play to end the top of the inning.

Two games into the season, the Cardinals have two comeback wins.

They have their first series victory of the year before playing a third game.

Pitching most of the game with the two-run lead established in the first inning, Michael McGreevy carried a no-hitter through his six innings. Classic RBI singles from Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman in the first inning lifted the Cardinals’ toward what became a 4-0 lead going into the ninth inning in front of a tickets-sold crowd of 25,951. Two days after a rip-roaring eight-run rally in the bottom of the sixth made for one of the more exciting opening days in Busch Stadium III’s 20-year history, a crowd as reduced as the chilly temperatures saw a more traditional way for these young Cardinals to win – and a quick way for them to lose.

They stole bases.

They strung together singles.

They got a quality start.

They just missed the final ingredient – relief.

The Cardinals’ bid for a team no-hitter ended the first pitch after starter McGreevy left the game. McGreevy held the Rays to no hits and no runs through six strong innings where his variety of pitches kept Tampa Bay unsettled and unsuccessful guessing.

Reliever Riley O’Brien entered to begin the seventh inning and allowed a quick single to misplace the no-hitter.

O’Brien, emerging as the Cardinals’ late-game and high-leverage right-hander, got a quick double play to help navigate through the middle of the Rays’ lineup. Lefty JoJo Romero followed with a scoreless eighth, and that set up the Cardinals for Matt Svanson to close out the game. A two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth wiped out the save opportunity to start the ninth inning, but Svanson would create one for veteran Ryne Stanek.

Speedy Chandler Simpson’s high-bounding grounder created some havoc. Wetherholt got his glove on the ball, but then flipped it and his glove away from first to allow the first Rays’ run of the game to score.

It would not be their only run.

The two runners Svanson left behind for Stanek also scored on Carson Williams’ two-out, two-run single in the ninth. Nick Fortes stung a single to the right-center gap that gave Williams time to try and score from first. He slid in just ahead of Masyn Winn’s throw to tie the game, 4-4, and complete the botched ninth and ultimately send the game into extra innings.

As part of the two-run insurance in eighth inning, Ivan Herrera doubled and Burleson added a sacrifice fly for his second RBI of the game. Through two games, Burleson has four RBIs.

McGreevy hurls no-no through 6

When Rays outfielder Jake Fraley unsuccessfully challenged a third-strike call in his first at-bat, the Automated Ball-Strike system confirmed he should head back to the dugout.

And McGreevy had a first inning that was a hint at all his innings.

The Cardinals’ right-fielder vexed Tampa Bay through six no-hit innings. He ran out of pitches before he ran out of ways to get Rays out.

In the first inning, he got a flyout, a groundout, and a strikeout. Through his six innings, McGreevy got four flyouts, four groundouts, and five strikeouts. The only Rays to reach base did so on two walks and an infield error that put the first runner on base. McGreevy had retired nine consecutive batters to start the game when leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz chopped a grounder to third and Ramon Urias mishandled the transfer as he rushed to make the play.

Diaz was the first of two batters to reach base at the start of the fourth inning, and neither budged beyond second base.

McGreevy regained a hold on the inning with two foul popups.

The Cardinals largely avoided Junior Caminero on opening day. McGreevy challenged him and was able to get two outs in the error from the slugger.

McGreevy completed his six innings on 96 pitches and he was able to string zeroes despite throwing at a slower velocity with all of his pitches. According to Statcast data, McGreevy’s sinker was down 2.4 mph from last year’s average, and his four-seam fastball lagged 2.3 mph behind his average from last year. McGreevy rarely topped 92 mph throughout his start Saturday, whereas he touched 94 mph in his first start of 2025.

What he lacked in velocity, he was able to make up for in command, movement and variety. McGreevy landed seven different styles of pitches. He got a called strike or swing and miss on six of them.

The one time a Ray swung at his curveball, that Ray missed.

Both the advanced data from Statcast and the results on the field suggested how well McGreevy kept the Rays off-balance and how he let his defense work.

Cardinals take quick lead

It did not take long for the Cardinals to continue the offensive momentum – or style – from their opening day outburst against Rays.

Although it didn’t generate as many runs, it did come earlier in the game.

In the bottom of the first, rookie Wetherholt outran a grounder for a leadoff infield single, and he then used his baserunning to create the Cardinals’ first run. Wetherholt stole second easily. He took third on Ivan Herrera’s flyout to right field. That put him a stroll from home on Burleson’s RBI single. Burleson started and finished Thursday’s eight-run rally in the sixth inning by leading off with a single and closing the game-winning rally with a two-run homer.

But in between his two swings, the Cardinals showed the facets of offense that again were on display during the first inning Saturday.

There was Wetherholt conjuring a run with his running.

There was Burleson pulling a line-drive single to bring the run home from third, and then there was Burleson taking advantage of being ignored and stealing second. With the fourth batter of the game at the plate, here were the ways the Cardinals had taken 90 feet from the Rays: two singles, two steals and one advance after tagging up.

Burleson’s steal put him in scoring position, and that helped produce the Cardinals’ second run. When Gorman pulled a two-out single to right field, Burleson scored from second to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

Rays’ starter Joe Boyle would retire the next 16 Cardinals he faced.

That took the two-run into the bullpens.

Every bid has that one play

Whether it’s anecdotal or applied in hindsight, the traditional hit-stealing play that every no-hitter needs came in the top of the sixth inning.

Diaz (again) reached out and connected on an 0-1 changeup.

The ball left Diaz’s bat at 101.8 mph and seemed certain to reach the grass in shallow center field with his arc just over the reach of the Cardinals’ infielders – until it wasn’t.

Positioned up the middle for the right-handed-hitting Diaz, Wetherholt leaped into the air and was able to stretch his glove enough to snag the liner and keep McGreevy’s no-hit line intact. The right-hander would walk the next batter before ending the inning – and his afternoon – with a fly-ball that meant the Rays got as many runs (zero) as hits (zero) against him.

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