Cardinals down Marlins behind Nathan Church's homer

Nathan Church slugged a two-run homer and Alec Burleson also drove in a pair of runs as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday.

St. Louis, which has won six of its past seven games, also got 5 1/3 strong innings from Dustin May (3-2). He allowed one run on six hits and one walk while striking out five.

Riley O'Brien pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his seventh save.

However, Cardinals star Jordan Walker had his 15-game hitting streak broken. The stretch ended two games short of his career high, set as a rookie in 2023.

Miami was led by Jakob Marsee, who finished 3-for-4 and homered on his first swing with a new bat. On the previous pitch, the bat slipped out of Marsee's hands and landed in the netting. That bat was given to a fan, and Marsee went deep for the first time this season the new lumber.

Marlins starter Chris Paddack (0-4) gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned seven. His ERA rose to 6.38 as Miami had its modest two-game win streak snapped.

Both teams scored in the first inning.

St. Louis got a run on rookie JJ Wetherholt's leadoff double and Burleson's RBI single.

Miami tied the score on Marsee's 351-foot leadoff homer, pulled down the right field line. On the play, Marsee ran hard on his way to a potential triple before the umpires ruled that the ball had cleared the wall.

Wetherholt started another rally in the third when he drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on Ivan Herrera's single and scored on Burleson's grounder to first baseman Connor Norby, who threw wildly to the plate for an error.

The Cardinals made it 4-1 in the fourth. Masyn Winn singled, and Church swung at an inside cutter, pulling that pitch for a 370-foot homer to right.

St. Louis kept coming in the fifth, chasing Paddack with a Burleson double and Nolan Gorman's two-out RBI single for a 5-1 score.

Miami cut its deficit to 5-3 in the eighth as reliever Ryne Stanek walked the bases loaded before allowing Heriberto Hernandez's two-run single.

George Soriano replaced Stanek and struck out Norby looking on a pitch that caught the corner, low and inside, to end Miami's best chance at a comeback.

--Field Level Media