NEW YORK — After blowing a six-run lead they created with help from Alec Burleson’s first two homers of the evening, the St. Louis Cardinals tried a new approach for their recent swoon.

They took a second six-run lead of the game.

In the Bronx, where left-handed sluggers thrive, Burleson authored the first three-homer game of his career and vaulted the Cardinals to a 13-7 victory at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Burleson’s third homer of the game came during the Cardinals’ decisive seven-run eighth inning. One inning earlier, the Cardinals had misplaced entirely a six-run lead and slipped behind 7-6. They answered with the first six batters of the eighth inning scoring.

Eighteen of the 20 runs in the game scored via home run.

For the Cardinals, who have spent all summer dialing long distance from cavernous Busch Stadium, the shift to Yankee Stadium and its short left-field porch had to feel like visit to a Par-3 course. Before Burleson’s two-run homer in the eighth punctuated the rally, Nathan Church’s three-run shot put the Cardinals back in the lead.

Jimmy Crooks’ two-run shot two batters widened the lead.

In that resurgent inning, the Cardinals got three home runs, all of them from left-handed batters. The other left-handed batter to hit in the inning, JJ Wetherholt, singled ahead of Burleson’s 18th homer of the season. Burleson’s six RBIs gave him 77 for the season, one shy of his previous career high.

He’s the first Cardinal with a three-homer game since teammate Ivan Herrera had three on April 2, 2025, against the Los Angeles Angels at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals bounced to a 6-0 lead fueled mostly by Burleson’s first two home runs and protected by starter Michael McGreevy’s solid opening frames.

McGreevy did not allow a baserunner until the Cardinals already had a 3-0 lead. He held the Yankees scoreless through four innings. At the first signing of trouble – prompted by home runs as they often are at Yankee Stadium – the Cardinals turned to the bullpen. That invited trouble. Cardinals relievers allowed five runs, all of them on home runs, and the Yankees completed their rally to vaporize the Cardinals’ first six-run lead.

Acquired by the Yankees from Washington on Sunday, Luis Garcia Jr. homered in the seventh inning Monday to put his new team head, 7-6.

Before the Yankees batted again, they were down 13-7.

Gordon Graceffo (7-1) stabilized the Cardinals' bullpen with two scoreless innings to finish the game and earn the win.

Burly 1st two bashes in the Bronx

While other teams approached the Cardinals about his availability at the deadline and may have even tried to create the impression of a market for him, the Cardinals weren’t looking or eager to move Burleson.

They see him as a left-handed power source in the middle of their lineup.

Like he was Monday.

Burleson cranked home runs into the right-field seats at Yankees stadium in two of his fir three at-bats and did so against two different pitchers. After JJ Wetherholt’s leadoff walk in the first, Burleson drove a two-run homer into the right-field seats to give the Cardinals the immediate lead. In the fourth inning, against left reliever Tim Hill, Burleson pulled a ball again – this time 15 feet farther into the right-field seats.

That two-run blast set the Cardinals lead at 6-0 before the Yankees began to bombard it with home runs of their own.

On two swings, Burleson upped his total for the season to 17 home runs. The four RBIs gave him 75 for the season. That also put him three shy of his career-high for RBIs, which he set in 2025 as the team’s lead with 78.

Walk first, then runs

Between Burleson homers, the Cardinals built their squandered lead out of walks.

Like Wetherholt’s to prime the bases before Burleson’s first homer, Nathan Church drew a leadoff from Yankees starter Cam Schlitter. He quickly scored on Jose Fermin’s double for a 3-0 lead. In the third inning, designated hitter Ivan Herrera earned a leadoff walk after an 11-pitch plate appearance. He stole second to get into scoring position for Church’s RBI single.

That’s how the first four innings played out for the Cardinals. The offense seesawed between Church’s times on base and Burleson’s home runs to generate a 6-0 lead and stun a crowd of 38,151 at Yankee Stadium.

That lead in the Bronx proved as safe as the 7-0 lead in the desert.

Just this time the Cardinals had an answer.

Homers bring NY back into game

The Yankees launched their way back into the game the best way they know how.

While the Yankees haven’t exactly lived up to their nickname and have struggled to score runs since Aaron Judge went on the injured list indefinitely, they got two swings in the fifth inning to lift themselves back into the game. Catcher Austin Wells chased McGreevy from the game with his eighth home run of the season. One batter later, leadoff hitter Trent Grisham, greeted reliever Justin Bruihl with a solo homer that meant the Yankees and cleaved the Cardinals’ six-run lead in half, 6-3.

Ryan McMahon opened the inning against McGreevy with a single, and Jose Caballerro extended his at-bat by successfully challenging the third-strike call.

The call was overturned and Caballero remained at the plate.

McGreevy struck him out anyway.

That seemed to give the right-hander some traction on the inning as the Yankees’ lineup was about to flip for a third look at him. Wells jumped ahead of the trend and drove a sinker into the seats. Wells’ two-run shot came on McGreevy’s 91st and final pitch.

That almost made the decision for the Cardinals.

With so many pitches, a third time through the lineup approaching, and a left-handed hitter in Grisham due up, the Cardinals turned to the bullpen. They’ll get bullpen reinforcement as early as Tuesday with newly acquired lefty Caleb Ferguson, and they’ve needed it. The bullpen has been a vulnerable spot since coming out of the All-Star break and putting JoJo Romero on the injured list.

Of their past 11 losses, six have gone on a reliever’s record.

Left often with close games, the bullpen has misplaced leads, and given larger leads at times, the bullpen has seen a few of those games slip too. The bullpen inherited a four-run lead Monday and by the second batter of the seventh inning, it was down to one.

McMahon welcomed veteran right-hander Ryne Stanek into the game with a solo homer to begin the seventh. McMahon’s 10th home run was immediately followed by Caballero’s 12th to bring the Yankees within a run.

The homers came on the second pitch of each at-bat.

McMahon’s homer soared beyond the wall in right-center field, and Caballero’s traveled an estimated 400 feet out to the seats in left field.

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