​Dustin May did not exactly deliver the kind of start that Chaim Bloom would have preferred as the St. Louis Cardinals head toward the trade deadline, but he kept the game within reach despite a handful of walks and a costly wild pitch. The Cardinals would eventually make it a game, yet they could not close the gap, and the Braves pulled away in the ninth inning. Early on, Jordan Walker illustrated why his defense is approaching elite status, sprinting into the netting for the final out of the top of the first and saving at least one run, perhaps two.
The St. Louis offense began Sunday’s tilt with promise against Atlanta before the bats cooled. In the top of the first, after Walker’s standout defensive play, the All-Star drew a two-out walk and swiped second, placing himself in scoring position. Alec Burleson answered with a line drive off a 94 mph sinker that clanged off the left-field wall for a double, scoring Walker and giving the Cardinals a quick 1-0 lead.
Atlanta would answer in the second inning as Dustin May found himself vulnerable to a string of walks to start the frame, with Smith and Riley aboard. Jarvis laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring distance. May fanned Hicklen for the second out, but then uncorked a wild pitch past catcher Jimmy Crooks, allowing Smith to trot home and knot the game at 1-1.
The visitors took the lead in the fourth when May plunked Austin Riley. Two batters later, Hicklen connected on a single that moved Riley to second. He would score on Drake Baldwin’s RBI single, pushing Atlanta ahead 2-1. May’s night ended after four innings, during which he walked four, struck out four, and yielded two hits and two earned runs.
Justin Bruihl took the mound in the fifth and held Atlanta at bay, but his evening faltered in the sixth, when back-to-back doubles by Jarvis and Hicklen pushed the Braves’ advantage to 3-1. The Cardinals managed only one hit through the first five and a half innings, a reminder of how quiet their offense was.
In the bottom of the sixth, St. Louis finally cracked the code again. Jordan Walker delivered a hard-hit single off Braves reliever Dylan Dodd two pitches after being knocked down. Alec Burleson followed with a flyout to right, and Lars Nootbaar drew a walk, bringing Masyn Winn on as the third ball of the frame. The bases were loaded with one out for the Cardinals when Oli Marmol sent up Bryan Torres for Blaze Jordan; however, Torres went down swinging on four pitches, leaving the bases loaded. José Fermín then stepped to the plate with a chance to turn the inning, and he delivered with a clutch two-strike single to center, scoring Walker and Nootbaar to tie the game at 3-3 after six innings.
Gordon Graceffo entered to record the final out of the top of the sixth and was also tasked with handling the subsequent innings for better defensive and strategic positioning. The contest remained tied well into the late innings, with the Cardinals searching for a breakthrough and the Braves looking to reclaim control. The missed opportunities in the middle innings lingered as a focal point for St. Louis, underscoring how a few swings of the bat could have shifted momentum in their favor. The evening served as a reminder that, even with solid defensive plays and timely hits, consistent offense is essential to finishing off a game against a tough opponent.