Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt hit two home runs to lead St. Louis to a 6-5 victory in 10 innings over the Guardians at Busch Stadium on April 15.
Wetherholt, who is the team’s top prospect and leadoff hitter, recorded his first career multi-homer game and made a key defensive play. His performance came as he broke out of a slump, having gone just 7-for-41 since April 1. “Going into that at-bat, I honestly don’t even think I really knew the score,” Wetherholt said about his eighth-inning homer. “That’s usually when something like that happens, because when you understand the score, you can let the moment get too big. So literally, I was just out there and … when I’m rounding the bases, I’m like, ‘Oh, shoot. Now it’s a close game.’”
The rookie’s first home run was a solo shot in the third inning with an exit velocity of 106.4 mph; his second was an opposite-field two-run homer in the eighth inning that left his bat at 99 mph. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Wetherholt: “That’s awesome from a confidence standpoint, because he’s working hard… You’re not worried, because he knows what he’s doing… And it’s good to see him doing it against two lefties, too.” Wetherholt added: “It’s always great when you can do something to help the team win… To be able to square two balls up like that in the same game is really, really cool.”
After surrendering three runs in the top of the eighth inning and falling behind late in regulation play, St. Louis tied it up in dramatic fashion during their half of the ninth following Masyn Winn reaching base on an error and scoring on Yohel Pozo’s double.
In extra innings Riley O’Brien kept Cleveland off the scoreboard before Nathan Church’s sacrifice fly scored Thomas Saggese for St. Louis’ seventh comeback win this season—making them undefeated (4-0) so far in extra-inning games this year.
Manager Marmol reflected on these close wins: “It’s given me a lot of gray hairs but I’ll take every one of them because you want to build an identity around them… You want these guys fighting to the very end.” Iván Herrera also contributed with his first homer of season while Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak to ten games.
On defense Wetherholt made another impact by leaping for Brayan Rocchio’s line drive—a catch described as “incredible” by starting pitcher Michael McGreevy who allowed only two runs across five innings pitched and showed improved fastball velocity compared with earlier starts this season.
