St. Louis Cardinals rookie César Prieto delivered a key hit to break a season-long drought and spark a tie-breaking rally Wednesday afternoon in a 7-1 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Alec Burleson drove in three runs, including a two-run double in a four-run fifth inning for the Cardinals, who won for the seventh time in 10 games and moved within 2 1/2 games of the Phillies in a crowded National League wild-card race. Arizona, San Diego and Miami also clutter the wild-card standings.
Cardinals right-hander Kyle Leahy (9-4) pitched five effective innings on a hot and muggy day, outperforming Zack Wheeler and dealing Philadelphia its fifth loss in eight games.
Prieto came in 0-for-26 on the season and 1-for-32 in his career before dropping a single to right, just over the outstretched glove of Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez, to lead off the fifth against Wheeler.
Prieto, a native of Cuba, raised his arms and looked to the heavens as he rounded first base, and the Cardinals dugout called for the baseball as a souvenir keepsake.
Two outs later, Wheeler was on the verge of keeping the score 1-1, but JJ Wetherholt hit a seeing-eye single to right to put runners at the corners, and Iván Herrera broke the tie with a sharp RBI single to right.
Burleson’s two-run double made it 4-1, and Jordan Walker added an RBI double against Wheeler, who racked up 35 pitches in the inning.
Wheeler (10-4) has continued to struggle overall, allowing five runs — four earned — to go with six hits and a walk. He struck out five. Wheeler has allowed a combined 13 earned runs in his past 15 1/3 innings since July 27.
Leahy (9-4) continued his transformation into a useful starter, allowing a run and six hits to go with six strikeouts — five looking. Leahy has allowed a combined eight runs over his past nine starts. He had one career start coming into 2026.
Justin Bruihl, Gordon Graceffo and Luis Gastelum combined for four hitless innings to close it out.
The Phillies went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
–Field Level Media
