'Bleachers are empty': Cards make statement as offense shines vs. Cubs

CHICAGO -- Alec Burleson has been around long enough now to know what August can do to a hitter.

The legs get heavier. The swing can get a little longer. What felt effortless in April suddenly requires more intention. Burleson has lived through those stretches before.

This year, he wanted something different.

On Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, the version of Burleson the Cardinals need for the stretch run showed up.

Burleson went 3-for-5 with a homer, a double, four RBIs and two runs scored in St. Louis’ 11-4 win over the Cubs, helping the Cardinals take both the series and the season series, 7-6. The victory pushed St. Louis to 63-61 and kept it in the National League Wild Card race.

“I know what August can do to you,” Burleson said. “I know what September can do for you. I understand what that looks like, and so I think I’ve just taken that next step.”

He certainly looked comfortable Sunday.

After JJ Wetherholt opened the game with a bloop double, Burleson launched a 421-foot homer into the right-field bleachers, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead before the Cubs had recorded a second out.

It was Burleson’s 21st homer, tying his career high from 2024, and his second straight game with a home run. It was also the first sign the Cardinals’ offense was ready to carry over the jolt Joshua Báez provided one day earlier.

Then came the at-bat that, to manager Oliver Marmol, helped define the afternoon.

With two outs in the fourth and St. Louis already threatening to break the game open, Cubs manager Craig Counsell went to left-hander Ryan Rolison specifically to face Burleson.

In theory, it was the matchup Chicago wanted. Burleson made it the matchup St. Louis wanted instead.

He jumped on Rolison’s first pitch and sliced a two-run single into left field. Jordan Walker followed with a two-run homer to dead center, and a close game had suddenly turned into a six-run inning and a 9-2 Cardinals lead.

“That’s a big part of that game,” Marmol said. “Him being able to stay on that there and doing it early and driving in those two runs, and then Walker gets to take a shot.”

The swing mattered beyond the scoreboard.

Burleson acknowledged that hitting left-handed pitching has required adjustment this season. Last year, he felt comfortable simply taking hits when they were available. This season, a desire to do more damage occasionally created movement-pattern issues in his swing.

Sunday’s opposite-field single was the kind of swing he has been chasing.

“That pitch I hit wasn’t the pitch I was looking for,” Burleson said. “It kind of presented itself to hit. That’s kind of the swing I’ve been working on all year off of them.”

Marmol believes Burleson will keep solving those problems.

“This is a guy that knows what he needs to do,” Marmol said. “You give him enough time and he’ll figure it all out.”

There is plenty to suggest he has.

Burleson’s four RBIs gave him 90, the most by a Cardinals left-handed hitter since Jim Edmonds drove in 89 in 2005. He is batting .353 with runners in scoring position, going 48-for-136 in those situations, and his 48 hits with RISP lead the club.

Against right-handed pitching, Burleson has been even more dangerous, batting .329 with 18 of his 21 homers.

Sunday was about more than one hitter finding his groove. It was the clearest picture yet of what St. Louis believes its offense can become.

Wetherholt reached multiple times. Walker punished a mistake. Blaze Jordan and Jimmy Crooks helped create traffic.

“That was a really good game and it’s a great example of what’s possible for this group,” Marmol said. “There’s some real threats there.”

Burleson sees it now.

“I think what we’ve got working here, you’ve seen the ebbs and flows of the season already,” he said. “Once they figure out it’s 162, it’s really long, I think you’ll see guys putting together really, really fantastic seasons just because of the talent that they have.”

For a young Cardinals team, there may not have been a better place to reinforce it.

St. Louis dropped Friday’s opener, then answered with two emphatic wins at Wrigley. Hunter Dobbins called Sunday’s clincher “pretty important.” Marmol said his young group has learned to embrace the chaos at Wrigley.

Burleson had a simpler measure of success.

“You look up in the ninth and the bleachers are empty, everybody’s leaving,” he said. “That’s always a good feeling.”

Especially when you leave with the series, season series and more belief in what September might hold.