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Roundtable Sports' John Denton breaks down the struggles of the Cardinals' bullpen in Monday's 4-3 loss to the Brewers at Busch Stadium.
Even though the supposedly rebuilding Cardinals have been one of MLB’s surprise teams of 2026, they have still had to win games mostly on the margins and often play with little room at all for error.
As evidence of that, the Cardinals came into Monday night with an impressive 47-40 record, but a slim plus-13 run differential.
By comparison, the National League Central-leading Brewers came in not only 7 ½ games clear of the Cards and six ahead of the Cubs, but also in possession of a staggering 127-run scoring differential on the season.
The Brewers, the gold standard in the division the past two seasons, flexed their considerable muscles again on Monday by wiping out a three-run deficit with four in the seventh and backed it up with plenty of good pitching in a 4-3 defeat of the Cards in the first showdown of a five-game series over a four-night period.
The game fell apart for the Cardinals when their bullpen – a strength last week in Atlanta – struggled mightily. The first four batters of the seventh inning reached – one against Justin Bruihl and three in a row off Ryan Fernandez. No. 9 hitter David Hamilton ended an eight-pitch at bat with a two-run double to the right-center gap against Fernandez, who got ahead in the count 0-2 before running the count full.
Just as it appeared as if the Cardinals might escape the seventh still in possession of the lead, Brice Turang slapped an elevated pitch from Ryne Stanek into left-center for two more runs that propelled the Brewers into the lead at 4-3.
George Soriano and JoJo Romero, two of the Cardinals' best bridge relievers to get the game to closer Riley O'Brien, were unavailable on Monday after heavy usage over the weekend against the rival Cubs.
"We know this is going to be tough with where our pitching is at," Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol told reporters. "We don't have everybody available at the moment, which when you get late in games someone has to step up and get it done. Unfortunately, this is just part of it. As you get closer to the break, guys are needing extra time to recover. So, we didn't have our main guys at the back end and we couldn't close it out."
Monday’s game was the first of a rare five-game series against the National League Central-leading Brewers. The two teams will play a split doubleheader on Tuesday – 1:45 p.m. CT in the makeup game from a May 5 rain out and 6:45 p.m. CT – in the regularly scheduled game. Brewers All-Star Jacob Misiorowski will pitch the first game of the day, while the Cards have yet to announce which game right-hander Michael McGreevy will start.
How the Cards fare against the Brewers and later in the week against the Braves could shape how the club approaches the MLB Trade Deadline at the end of the month. Could a strong week propel the Cards into adding talent at the deadline? Or could a shaky final week before the break for the MLB All-Star Game result in president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom shopping many of the Cards' key pieces for prospects?
Set to a pitch count after not pitching just 3 2/3 innings since his June 15 gem against the Padres, starter Dustin May was brilliant over 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Dominating the Brewers much the way he did in late May when he took a perfect game into the seventh inning, May allowed just four hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out seven.
Two reached in the second inning before May got Sal Frelick looking on a 97.8 mph sinker – a call that was upheld despite a hitter’s challenge. After striking out two in the fourth and two in the fifth, Bruihl relieved and got Christian Yelich to ground out to thwart a rally in the fifth. Bruihl left the game in the seventh inning with a sprained ankle – an injury that he doesn't think is serious.
"It's a little sore, but I think it will be fine," Bruihl said. "I did the same thing a couple of times last year and kind of worked through it a little bit. Expectations are that I'll be fine tomorrow."
The Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Nelson Velazquez plated a run with an infield ground out and Jose Fermin drilled an RBI single into center field.
Masyn Winn made it 3-0 in the sixth with an RBI single after Velazquez opened the inning with a gapper for a double.
Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
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Even though the supposedly rebuilding Cardinals have been one of MLB’s surprise teams of 2026, they have still had to win games mostly on the margins and often play with little room at all for error.
As evidence of that, the Cardinals came into Monday night with an impressive 47-40 record, but a slim plus-13 run differential.
By comparison, the National League Central-leading Brewers came in not only 7 ½ games clear of the Cards and six ahead of the Cubs, but also in possession of a staggering 127-run scoring differential on the season.
The Brewers, the gold standard in the division the past two seasons, flexed their considerable muscles again on Monday by wiping out a three-run deficit with four in the seventh and backed it up with plenty of good pitching in a 4-3 defeat of the Cards in the first showdown of a five-game series over a four-night period.
The game fell apart for the Cardinals when their bullpen – a strength last week in Atlanta – struggled mightily. The first four batters of the seventh inning reached – one against Justin Bruihl and three in a row off Ryan Fernandez. No. 9 hitter David Hamilton ended an eight-pitch at bat with a two-run double to the right-center gap against Fernandez, who got ahead in the count 0-2 before running the count full.
Just as it appeared as if the Cardinals might escape the seventh still in possession of the lead, Brice Turang slapped an elevated pitch from Ryne Stanek into left-center for two more runs that propelled the Brewers into the lead at 4-3.
George Soriano and JoJo Romero, two of the Cardinals' best bridge relievers to get the game to closer Riley O'Brien, were unavailable on Monday after heavy usage over the weekend against the rival Cubs.
"We know this is going to be tough with where our pitching is at," Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol told reporters. "We don't have everybody available at the moment, which when you get late in games someone has to step up and get it done. Unfortunately, this is just part of it. As you get closer to the break, guys are needing extra time to recover. So, we didn't have our main guys at the back end and we couldn't close it out."
Monday’s game was the first of a rare five-game series against the National League Central-leading Brewers. The two teams will play a split doubleheader on Tuesday – 1:45 p.m. CT in the makeup game from a May 5 rain out and 6:45 p.m. CT – in the regularly scheduled game. Brewers All-Star Jacob Misiorowski will pitch the first game of the day, while the Cards have yet to announce which game right-hander Michael McGreevy will start.
How the Cards fare against the Brewers and later in the week against the Braves could shape how the club approaches the MLB Trade Deadline at the end of the month. Could a strong week propel the Cards into adding talent at the deadline? Or could a shaky final week before the break for the MLB All-Star Game result in president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom shopping many of the Cards' key pieces for prospects?
May pitches well in short start
Set to a pitch count after not pitching just 3 2/3 innings since his June 15 gem against the Padres, starter Dustin May was brilliant over 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Dominating the Brewers much the way he did in late May when he took a perfect game into the seventh inning, May allowed just four hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out seven.
Two reached in the second inning before May got Sal Frelick looking on a 97.8 mph sinker – a call that was upheld despite a hitter’s challenge. After striking out two in the fourth and two in the fifth, Bruihl relieved and got Christian Yelich to ground out to thwart a rally in the fifth. Bruihl left the game in the seventh inning with a sprained ankle – an injury that he doesn't think is serious.
"It's a little sore, but I think it will be fine," Bruihl said. "I did the same thing a couple of times last year and kind of worked through it a little bit. Expectations are that I'll be fine tomorrow."
The Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Nelson Velazquez plated a run with an infield ground out and Jose Fermin drilled an RBI single into center field.
Masyn Winn made it 3-0 in the sixth with an RBI single after Velazquez opened the inning with a gapper for a double.
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Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
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