By MATT PIKE
Nathan Church hit a two-run home run and Alec Burleson had two RBI's to back a strong start by Dustin May and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 5-3 at loanDepot Park, evening up the series between the two.
May allowed a leadoff home run to Jakob Marsee, his first of the season, but then settled down. He left with one on and one out in the sixth, allowing a run and six hits. Justin Bruihl followed with 1.1 scoreless innings. The home run by Marsee tied up the game after Burleson drove in the Cardinals first run of the game in the top half of the inning, an RBI single scoring JJ Wetherholt after his leadoff double.
Burleson drove in the second run of the game as well, breaking the tie with a fielder's choice grounder in the third, again scoring Wetherholt after the rookie walked with one out in the inning. The lead was extended in the fourth inning when Church hit his second home run of the season, following Masyn Winn’s leadoff single to put St. Louis up 4-1.
Burleson doubled in the fifth and scored on a two-out single by Nolan Gorman for the Cardinals' final run to extend the lead to 5-1. In the eighth inning, Ryne Stanek walked three to load the bases with two outs and left after a two-run single by Heriberto Hernández cut St. Louis' lead to 5-3, driving in Xavier Edwards and Liam Hicks. George Soriano replaced Stanek and struck out Connor Norby to end the rally.
May earned the win, improving to 3-2 on the season, striking out five and walking one to go with the six hits and one run in 5.1 innings. Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in eight chances. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his first 13 1/3 innings. At the plate, Winn was 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run. He now has multiple hits in three straight games during an eight-game hitting streak. Church was also 2-for-4 with the home run and two RBI's.
St. Louis and Miami wrap up their series tomorrow in the rubber match. Kyle Leahy (2-2, 5.21 ERA, 13K's) takes the mound for the Cardinals opposite Janson Junk (0-2, 4.50 ERA, 15K's) for the Marlins. First pitch is at 12:10pm, pregame will be joined near the start at noon on KY 102 (102.5FM).
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