Star Rookie Crushes Game's First Pitch for Homer, Leads Cardinals Past Cubs

· Yahoo Sports

Roundtable Sports' John Denton breaks down impressive performances by JJ Wetherholt and Kyle Leahy in the Cardinals' 3-0 defeat of the Cubs on Saturday night.

Left off the National League squad for the MLB All-Star Game despite having one of the best all-around seasons for any second baseman, Cardinals’ rookie JJ Wetherholt gave the league office a reminder of his case on a national stage Saturday night.

Wetherholt reminded all of baseball again why he is the favorite to become the first Cardinal since Albert Pujols in 2001 to win the NL’s Rookie of the Year.

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With the Cardinals still riding the high of scoring 17 runs a day earlier in Chicago, Wetherholt hit the first pitch of Saturday's game for an opposite-field homer. Wetherholt’s fourth leadoff homer – the most ever for a Cardinals rookie – set the stage for St. Louis’ 3-0 defeat of the rival Cubs in a rain-and-fog-delayed game at Wrigley Field.

Wetherholt drilled his 13th homer and recorded the seventh three-hit game of his young career. Meanwhile, rapidly improving starter Kyle Leahy limited the Cubs to just three hits over five shutout innings as the Cards secured a win that guaranteed them another series victory. Beginning one of their most grueling stretches of the season before the break for the MLB All-Star Game, the Cards took two of three in Atlanta and won the first two in Chicago in decidedly different ways.

A day after winning 17-1 and saddling the Cubs with the third-worst loss in the 135-year history of the rivalry, the Cards won on Saturday with pitching and Wetherholt’s timely hitting. St. Louis used Wetherholt’s 364-foot opposite-field shot and RBI singles from Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson to beat their archrivals for the fourth time in five meetings in 2026.

Cards celebrate Walker's All-Star appointment

Jordan Walker, who has been a driving force all season in the Cardinals being one of MLB’s most surprising contenders, was named a first-time All-Star on Saturday. After struggling mightily over his first three MLB seasons, Walker has blossomed into a superstar while leading the NL in RBI with 63. The 23-year-old slugger, who already has a career-high 19 homers, is on pace to shatter the career marks he came into the season with at 27 homers and 112 RBI.

“There’s a lot of emotions – from Walker and some of the (other) players as well because that whole clubhouse has seen him get scrutinized quite a bit and get sent down, and there have been lots of ups and downs and they’ve stuck with him and had his back,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told Fox Sports. “So, to be able to present that (All-Star Game invitation) to him and see him get on the other side of (his struggles) and have the kind of year he’s having has been pretty cool. It was a good moment for everybody in that clubhouse.”

Cardinals Have Been Road Warriors in Becoming MLB's Surprise Team

Plenty of All-Star Game appointments could be the future for the 23-year-old Wetherholt, who is 10 for 20 in his young career against the Cubs. He’s reached base more times (13) than the Cubs have retired him (10) in his first five games of the storied rivalry.

Leahy pitched like an All-Star himself on Saturday night by striking out six over his five innings of work. With runners on first and second in the third inning after allowing an infield single to Michael Conforto and a walk to Pete Crow-Armstrong, Leahy got high-priced free-agent signee Alex Bregman to ground out to third to end the threat.

A reliever-turned-starter, the Cardinals are trying to manage the workload of Leahy, who was removed after throwing just 77 pitches. Leahy has already worked 86.1 innings over 17 starts and will almost assuredly surpass his career high of 88 innings set last season.

“When you look at first, second and third time through and how he’s using his stuff and adapting to the workload, that’s all been a part of it,” Marmol told Fox. “When you go from the ‘pen to the rotation, man it’s a big jump and I feel like he’s adapting well. He’s starting to use his stuff in a better way.”

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