Cardinals Top Yankees 3-1
- Andrew Hefner
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
By Andrew Hefner
August 6, 2026
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The Big Story
After a brief rain delay and even a power outage at the stadium, last night’s mid-week clash between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals was underway. The Yankees saw much of the same from their offense on Wednesday, collecting a mere four hits, while Will Warren surrendered three in the 3-1 loss. The Cardinals took the series 2-1, while the Yankees dropped back to 4.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, and only one game ahead of the Red Sox.
George Lombard Jr. made his second career start at shortstop and continued to show plenty of defensive promise, turning a double play and making a slick sliding play that almost certainly would not have been turned by other Yankees shortstops this season. At the plate, the young righty collected one hit while striking out twice, once with two runners on and two outs in the eighth inning.
The top of the Yankees' order continued to struggle as Trent Grisham went an abysmal 0-5. Ben Rice also did not collect a hit, but he walked three times. New additions Luis Garcia Jr. went 0-3 with a walk in the three-hole, and outfielder Heliot Ramos added his first hit in pinstripes.
By the sixth, the Yankees were already down 3-0 as Warren gave up two straight doubles to JJ Wetherholt and Ivan Herrera in the fifth that the Cardinals scored all of their runs as a result of.
Cardinal’s righty Andre Pallante picked up the win with 5.1 innings of one-run ball. The run was scored via a Jazz Chisholm walk with the bases loaded in the sixth.
The Yankees bullpen kept the score at just three as Kervin Castro, Tim Hill, and Paul Blackburn worked through 3.2 innings of two-hit ball. Blackburn worked into a bases-loaded jam in the ninth before striking out the last batter.
Riley O’Brien earned the save for the Cardinals, walking Rice with two outs and then retiring the side with a backwards K of Ali Sanchez, who replaced Luis Garcia Jr. in the lineup after Austin Wells was pinch hit for.
As a team, the Yankees were 0-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 on base throughout the night.
Player of the Game
JJ Wetherholt had the hit in the fifth that broke the game open and was on point for the rest of the night as well, with another two walks. He played both second base and shortstop for the Cardinals over the course of the night as well.
Final Line: 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Notable Performances
Paul Goldschmidt: 1-2, pinch hit single
Jazz Chisholm: 1-2, 2 BB, RBI
Kervin Castro, 1 IP, 0 H, K
Tim Hill: 1 IP
Paul Blackburn: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 K
Better to Forget
Spencer Jones: 0-4, 2 K
Trent Grisham: 0-5, K
My Take
I really wish more and more every day that there were better changes at the deadline because after the Bronx Bombers showed up on Monday night with a flurry of home runs and the blinding spectacle of a top prospect’s debut, the Yankees have fallen back down to earth. 0-10(!!!!) with runners in scoring position is unacceptable. Eight walks graciously handed to the offense on top of four hits, two errors, and yet only one run was barely mustered.
Trent Grisham, no matter how many times he may supposedly walk, is not the answer at leadoff. Austin Wells was never the answer at catcher (but I guess there is not much to do about that now). I hate seeing Spencer Jones continue to struggle because he has the power and talent, and just can not find it. The rest of the offense not stepping up as well is not helping his optics as a young player. And the biggest problem is that, per usual, the pitching was great! The Yankees' arguably fifth-best starter held the opponent to three runs, and the bullpen did not give up a single one. This team has problems. The Red Sox were able to fix their problems in a matter of weeks, the Rays were able to avoid these problems with a payroll $100 million less, and now, in just one game, both could be ahead of the Yankees in the standings.
The hardest series of the season is coming, and our ace(s) are on the mound the whole weekend. They will do the job; the offense just has to do theirs. Win against Atlanta, and all (maybe just most) can be forgiven.
Next Up
The Yankees will welcome the first-place Atlanta Braves to the stadium starting Friday, with the first game featuring a matchup of Cy Young-caliber talents in Max Fried and Chris Sale. First pitch coming at 7:05 on YES.
The organizational hitting philosophy and batting coaching staff needs to be turned over. We are not talking about a small sample size. Is it not clear to ownership and management that this area has been an organizational failure?
On another issue, I do not believe Grisham should be playing CF. He has hit his expiration date at that position. Neither he nor Jones can hit well. Jones is clearly a better defender, so if the hitting is bad for both players, at least get a much higher level of CF defense out of Jones. And if they intend to trade Jones in the off season, show his value in CF. Am I off base here? It seems too obvious.
they're not playing with a full deck
It's hard to watch home run derby night after night. This team cannot or will not change. Last night once again 0 for fill in the blank with RISP. Actually 0-10. Thats not how you play baseball.