Central STL News

Alec Burleson hit his first career walk-off home run, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. The ninth-inning homer, projected by Statcast at 409 feet, marked Burleson's 16th of the season and capped his first four-hit game in Major League Baseball.

Reflecting on the moment, Burleson said, “It took me a while to realize that I got [the homer] because I didn’t think I got it … and then I saw [the ball] hit the berm. I was thinking about what I was going to do when I rounded third and hit home -- was I going to throw my helmet? But I hit third and looked at home and the guys weren’t really there yet. I was like, ‘OK, this is kind of weird. Is this what it’s supposed to look like?’ But they got there, and I got super wet, and they were trying to rip my jersey off. So, yeah, it was a cool moment.”

Burleson's performance included his career-best 21st double during a five-run fifth inning for St. Louis and raised his season hit total to 121—currently leading the team.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol discussed Burleson's development: “We’ve been patient with him even when he was making a lot of contact and nothing was going for him. You could look under the hood and see that there were things pointing in the right direction. Now, we’re starting to see exactly the type of hitter he can be.

“He’s done a really nice job of taking the feedback and doing something about it. When you look at him controlling the strike zone, the swing decisions and impacting the ball more and still being able to do things when he gets two strikes -- he has a lot of different ways of beating you.”

The game also featured an incident involving Willson Contreras in the seventh inning after a called third strike by home-plate umpire Derek Thomas. Contreras was ejected following an exchange with Thomas; manager Oliver Marmol was also ejected—his sixth time this season.

Contreras described his perspective: “I’m still wondering, to be honest, because I don’t think he had any reason to throw me out,” Contreras said. “I didn’t argue any pitch in any at-bat and I didn’t argue any pitch in my last at-bat. The only thing I said was, ‘Call the pitches for both sides because you are missing for us.’ Then, he threw me out and he had no reason for it. Apparently, he heard something [he thought] I said and I did not say that.”

Crew chief Jordan Baker provided further explanation: “for saying vulgar stuff to the plate, Derek Thomas.” Baker added regarding possible contact between Contreras and Thomas: “I don’t know his intent, to be honest with you,” Baker said in a pool report. “There was contact made. We’re going to review the tape and what the office sends to us, and we’ll send it in, send the report in to Major League Baseball and let them handle that part of it.”

Contreras leads St. Louis with 19 home runs this year; this ejection marks his ninth in MLB play. Earlier in Tuesday's game he contributed a two-run single as part of St. Louis' comeback during their five-run fifth inning.

After Pittsburgh tied it again in the ninth inning, Burleson's home run ended the contest.

“I’ve definitely grown as a hitter,” Burleson said after his performance. “Everything is always going to be a work in progress, but I think I’ve gotten really good at doing what I want in the box instead of reacting to what they’re trying to do to me.”