Wetherholt's two go-ahead hits not enough to save Cards' taxed bullpen

MINNEAPOLIS -- It wasn’t a great day for the Cardinals’ bullpen. They blew a 4-2 lead late and were edged by the Twins, 5-4, at Target Field on Sunday afternoon.

St. Louis finished its road trip at 3-3, but could have won at least two games against Minnesota. Unfortunately, the Cardinals are dealing with a taxed bullpen, though you will not find a reliever on the roster who says they are tired. It hasn’t helped that starters Matthew Liberatore and Kyle Leahy haven’t been able to go deep in games in recent weeks.

Sunday’s game was set up for the Cardinals to bring in their high-leverage relievers in the seventh inning after starter Michael McGreevy went six innings. Enter lefty JoJo Romero, who was making his fourth appearance in the last five days. After striking out Austin Martin, Romero allowed three consecutive singles. The biggest one came when Byron Buxton singled to left field, driving in Luke Keaschall to make it a one-run game. Romero insisted postgame that he is OK physically.

“The one thing I pride myself on is being ready whenever my name is called, like today,” Romero said. “I told them I was ready to go. I felt good out there. I wish I had a better feel, but I’ve been feeling pretty good.”

Romero was replaced by George Soriano, who allowed an RBI single to Royce Lewis to tie the game at 4. However, Soriano left the bases loaded by retiring Josh Bell and Victor Caratini.

Soriano stayed in for the eighth and allowed an RBI double to Ryan Kreidler to give Minnesota the lead. It will be interesting to see how St. Louis navigates its bullpen when it plays the Padres in a three-game series starting Monday night.

“Soriano did a nice job. He came in and gave up only one with the bases loaded there, so that’s impressive. Then he left the sweeper up for the RBI in the eighth,” said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.

Overlooked during the game was that JJ Wetherholt continues to show that he is a strong candidate for National League Rookie of the Year. St. Louis was down, 2-1, until the sixth inning. After Nathan Church led off the inning with a walk, Wetherholt followed, swung at a 3-1 pitch from right-hander Taj Bradley and hit the ball into the right-field seats for his 10th home run of the season.

Wetherholt increased the lead to 4-2 an inning later against lefty Anthony Banda when he singled to center field, driving in José Fermín.

“[Wetherholt] is awesome in every sense. He is a great player and he is only going to get better the more games that he plays,” Marmol said. “He is only going to get more comfortable and the experience is going to serve him really well. But his demeanor is what I would bet on all day long.”