Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals’ FURIOUS Comeback IGNITES Opening Day as Alec Burleson & JJ Wetherholt DELIVER!

Starting point is 00:00:00 An opening day to remember, an inning to remember as the Cardinals mount a furious comeback to start the season off with a W. This is Locked-on Cardinals. You are Locked-on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Hafford. And this episode of Locked-on Cardinals is brought to you by MLB, the show 26. Visit MLB-the-dot show slash lockdown.

Starting point is 00:00:34 and use card locked on, unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty, available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. Stay tuned later in this episode for our MLB Top 100 highlight. On today's show, we're breaking down game one of 162 with our three stars of the game. We'll take a look around the league to see what else happened in Major League Baseball, including a shocking performance by Paul Skeens. Didn't get a whole lot of help defensively, though. But we start with what we're just going to dub the inning.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Okay, the inning. If you were at this game or even if you were watching at home, for the first five innings, what we saw at Bush Stadium was kind of what we saw at spring training. Solid pitching performance from Matthew Libertor on the other side, Drew Rasmussen from the raise. Low scoring from the offense, not a whole lot of chances. And if there were chances, they were getting squandered. Everyone just kind of waiting around for something good to happen. Needed something to cheer for, right?

Starting point is 00:01:38 And we got the home run from JJ Weatherholt, which was great. But we go into the sixth inning. We're tied one to one. Ollie goes to the bullpen. All right. Libertor, you know, the pitch count had climbed a little bit first day. Let's not overcook him. Got a day off tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:01:55 Puts in Matt's Fonson. Curious move since Fonson, you know, it seemed like the guy that was going to be one of the late inning guys. But again, having not played for a few days, got the day off on Friday, why not bring the high leverage guys in early and keep this Ray's offense at bay? It made sense. It made sense in case you were wondering why he did that. Unfortunately, it didn't work, though. You know, the Ray's get three very weak singles.

Starting point is 00:02:21 They just happened to find grass. They did it all day. They were so annoying. And just like that, Sonson's got the bases loaded with one out. Ray's bringing a lefty as a pinch hitter for Ryan Valade, who I was freaking out about. I was like, are we going to have a Ryan Valade revenge game? Is this really happening? But they bring in a lefty instead.

Starting point is 00:02:40 They go to Chandler-Simpson. And so Ali goes to his lefty, Justin Brul, who allows a single, then a sack fly. Then there's a walk that leaves the score three to one. Ollie goes to the bullpen again, brings in Chris Roycroft, who gives up a swinging bunt to make it four to one. Then it's a base head up the middle, a real one, makes it six to one. Another tapper on the infield makes it seven to one. Just trashy hits, bad luck, weak contact. It sucked.

Starting point is 00:03:10 And somehow this was working for the raise. It was miserable as a Cardinals fan to watch. And if you're a race fan, you had to be laughing. You had to be like, oh, my gosh, we did it again. And what had been like an excited and boisterous crowd at Bush Stadium was left mumbling to each other, looking around as all of this unfolded. And the negative people are going to say, see, I told you. I told you. They suck. Carnals aren't good. I mean, it's 7 to 1 on opening day. We're getting mauled, right? In the past, 7 to 1 deficit, sixth inning, you would think that this team would just belly up, roll over, start thinking about Saturday's game. And it's okay to admit that. A six run deficit is no joke in the sixth inning, right? I mean, how many teams are going to come back from that? But thank God, this team didn't do that. Instead, you know what they did? They come up at the bottom of the sixth inning.

Starting point is 00:03:59 and come up hacking. They're ready to do some damage offensively. Burling with the lead off single. Cleanup hitter, Mason Wynn, did not see that one coming when the lineup card came out. I was like, wait, what? He swapped Herrera. I thought when it would be second, Herrera would be cleanup,

Starting point is 00:04:15 but he swapped him out, but Mason went. Devils to left field. Nolan Gorman, expected him to strike out, didn't you? Two run single on a lefty, lefty matchup, no less. So that cuts the lead to seven to three. And still, there's nobody out. dare believe they could do something here. Well, coming up next is Jordan Walker. So, okay, surely he's going to strike out right and ruin the fun. That would be what the naysayers

Starting point is 00:04:39 say. And to that, Walker says, nine, hits a missile over the center fielder's head. Sun assisted or not, shut up for a ground rule double. Let's stay positive here. So now you've got the two guys that most people have been picking on over the last couple of years. For good reason, Gorman and Walker, everyone probably expected them to fail. I should say the majority, not everyone. And they come through.

Starting point is 00:05:07 They come through for the Cardinals. Are we back? Are we back? My guy, that's right. My guy, Nathan Church comes up day. Huge day. Huge day for Nathan Church. Laces that hit the left field,

Starting point is 00:05:18 scoring Gorman and Walker. It's seven to five. And still, there is nobody out. Now we're all looking at each other, right? You're looking around go, okay, all right, these young dudes are kind of fun. Maybe we aren't so poopy. And then it's Pedro Pajas. He's coming to the point now.

Starting point is 00:05:33 His turn to hit had a terrible event earlier in the game where he didn't get a bunt down and then ends up grounding into a double play instead. Negative Nancy's. I know what you were thinking for sure. He's going to spoil this momentum, right? It's Pedro Pius. He can't hit. Wrong. Tahas has an outstanding bat.

Starting point is 00:05:50 Singles to center makes it first and second. Nobody out brings up Victor Scott. and what did we see Victor Scott doing throughout spring training? Like if you looked at footage, you saw him in games, he was working on bunting. And it paid off. It paid off in game one. He lays down a beaut to load the bases for JJ Weatherholt with nobody out.

Starting point is 00:06:10 And JJ had hit the home run already at this point. So everybody was like psyched. You got bases loaded. Your star prospect up at the play. And he just misses a grand slam, which would have, if Bush didn't even had a roof, would have blown the roof off.

Starting point is 00:06:24 But it falls a little bit short, flies out to deep right, but it's a sack fly. It's positive, right? It makes it seven to six. Now this comeback is starting to feel real. Yvonne Herrera comes up next. He can do some damage. He hits a deep fly to right field. Doesn't get out of the ballpark, but it does bring in the tying run.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Another positive out seven to seven. Here we are. Here we are. All knotted up once again. But it'd be an awful shame to come all the way back and not take the lead. And that is when Silver Slugger Alec Berlison comes up. and delivers with two outs and absolutely nukes a pitch. Saw four straight sweepers.

Starting point is 00:07:01 We got two outs. I can't believe they even pitch to the guy. Griffin Jacks tries to sneak a fastball past him and Burley blast it to write to make it 9 to 7. Bush Stadium has not felt or looked that alive in quite a while. And Burley's reaction, he gets the stare, the look into the dugout, the explosion of the crowd. It was baseball heaven once again.

Starting point is 00:07:26 One of the most annoying and then entertaining innings you have ever seen and witnessed. Teams combined to score 14 runs that use six different pitchers. And per the Elias Sports Bureau, my man, Brendan Schaefer put this one out there. It's only the second time both teams scored six or more runs in an inning on opening day. Last time it happened was 1890. Check out these names. the Boston bean eaters and the Brooklyn bridegrooms that sounds made up. But Sheaf says it's real.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Happen on April 19th, 1890, absolutely chaotic inning. And holy crap, was it fun? So leave your comments on what you were thinking about that inning as it unfolded. Did you believe? When did you start to believe that they were going to be able to finish off this comeback? because, you know, we had our doubts. I'm sure you did. So, but it was a whole lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:08:25 We're going to roll through the three stars of the game coming up next on Lockstone Cardinals. This week's MLB Top 100 highlight brought to you by MLB the show 26. The latest from the beloved video game franchise each week. We're highlighting the stars of MLB's top 100 players list, the elite names that you'll be controlling, building around, and going head to head with an MLB of the show. We don't have any top 100 players on the Cardinals. Instead, we're going to go with the prospects who made a little bit of noise on opening day. The Cardinals have quite a few led by JJ Weatherhole to obviously hit the

Starting point is 00:08:59 home run. Consensus topped in prospect and he's your starting second baseman. And because he hit the home run, his spring breakout card, which is already a diamond 88 has now been boosted and has been supercharged for a couple of days. And I got him. He's up. He's a 95 on my Cardinals team right now because of the captain booth. So if you got him, enjoy him because he's going to be amazing for the next few days, even better than he already was. That's this week's MLB Top 100 highlight presented by MLB the show 26, where you can play, manage, and build with your favorite players and teams. If you love talking baseball, you're going to love playing it. Even more, visit MLB the dot show slash locked on use code locked on L-O-C-E-O-N to unlock a pack

Starting point is 00:09:44 for use in Diamond Dynasty internet connection required. Available now. Hold on. They're out of reach. Available now. Here they are in all their glory. Available now on PlayStation 5 Xbox series, S&X and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. Today's episode also brought to you by Fandul. Now the tournament, obviously, it's here. One of the best times of year. You get brackets.

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Starting point is 00:11:31 ad-free, gives you access to our private listener group chat, just tap the link in the show notes and use code finally to claim your free month. All right, so narrowing down the three stars of this game is not easy because it just was an awesome team effort from everybody around. Yeah, some guys had better days than others. But as a group, They came together and were able to pull this off, pitching, offense, defense, base running. The Cardinals did it all. And going to have to go number one star. I'm sorry, but it's got to go to Alec Burleson.

Starting point is 00:12:05 I'm sorry, it has to go to it. I mean, that home run and that at bat and that energy, injected into my veins every day, man. He finishes the game three for four, 432 foot blast to take the lead in the sixth inning. he drives into he scores to he looked really good over at first base i know they're going to have to work on some of the communication with him going too far over to the second base area and let uh let j j get some of those balls but hey work of progress but he he looked pretty good over at first made some nice plays and uh i mean how do you not enjoy what you saw out of alec burleson

Starting point is 00:12:44 on thursday how do you not like this dude realizes like yo i'm one of the leaders of this team now and put it on my back i'll do it and he doesn't scream superstar when you look at alec burleson and that's fine but the dude is really freaking good the silver slugger says it all and now he's got as i've said before he's got his own position now where he don't have to worry about that anymore taking fly balls d h in our first base no you're the first baseman go out and rake that's exactly what he did on thursday it was awesome to watch. Second start of the game, we're going to JJ Weatherhole. Now, how freaking cool was that home run in the bottom of the third inning? First game in the big leagues. Opening day,

Starting point is 00:13:31 no pressure, right? Batting lead off for one of the most storied franchises in Major League history, and what is he doing his second at bat launches a 425 foot tank to the grass in center field, a la David Freeze for not only his first big league home run, but also his first big league hit. And more importantly, it gave the Cardinals momentum and a one to nothing lead at the time. Ball wasn't even strike. Like that shouldn't be hit out of the ballpark. And JJ thwop smashed it over the center field wall. It was beautiful.

Starting point is 00:14:04 Got the curtain call request from the fans. I mean, talk about a dream come true. Weatherhole became the first Cardle to connect for his first big league hit and home run and won at bat since Paul DeYoung did it in 2017. And he's the first Cardinal to accomplish the feed in an MLB debut on opening day in 69 years. Bears. Nice. Since Bobby Smith did it against the Cincinnati Redlegs at Crosley Field on April 16th, 1957. He also played steady D over at second base and contributed in that monster sixth inning with a sack fly to ride to keep that Cardinal scoring train chugging along there on the track. So JJ Weatherholt, great game, great debut. Love it. Nothing to complain about there. And then my third stuff. This one was tough, but I'm going with my guy, Nathan Church.

Starting point is 00:14:50 on down, Nathan. Whoie. Boy, I'll scoot you over. I'll scoot you over. You can come on to the bandwagon with me. What a game for the Cardinals 23rd ring prospect ever struggling last year when he got called up at the end of the season. He was one of the best players for the team this spring. He stood out each and every game that he was in.

Starting point is 00:15:12 And with dude out until June, he's going to get a lot of opportunities to absolutely take this job over for good. And I don't think a lot of fans would be all that upset. about it. I see a lot of frustration online because, oh, really, newts hurt again. Go figure, I get it. I feel you. And Nathan Church, now you have the floor. Let's see what you do with it. And he took over on Thursday. He was all over the place. Three for four at the plate with two RBIs, a run scored. And then in the fifth inning, obviously, he made what may end up being the catch of the year at the end of it all with the Cardinals. I mean, this was crazy when

Starting point is 00:15:46 he took the home run away from former Cardinal Randy Valet. Again, we almost had a Randy Ballet revenge game. That would have been something, right? So feel free to jump on board. My Nathan Church Bandwagon, if you want, there's a little bit of room, but spaces are filling up fast. Also want to get shoutouts to a lot of other guys who had great games. Victor Scott had a monster game.

Starting point is 00:16:10 He went three for four over the run, scored two stolen bases. His butt in the sixth inning really put the raise in a pickle where the bases were loaded and nobody out. The only bummer about it was that there was a, already a guy on second base. So he had to wait until after the JJ Weatherhold sack, fly to steal second. Run, Vic, run, baby. Get on base, turn it into a double, turn it to a triple, if you can do it. But that was good to see. Him on base, creating havoc. That was fun. And a shout out to Matthew Levertoe, who had an excellent start. Gave up just one run over five innings, seven hits, only struck out two while walking two. But we know how difficult this Tampa Bay

Starting point is 00:16:48 Bay Rays lineup can be. They're very similar to like what the Blue Jays do. They're very annoying where they're always putting the ball in play. They're always bad on ball. They don't strike out a ton. So that was huge. And they were smart. They just pitched around Junior Camerro almost the entire game.

Starting point is 00:17:05 So smart there. Don't let the bad guy hit you and beat you in the end. So ends up walking too, but it was certainly a solid effort, which is all you're asking for from your starter. Fulp and wise, although it got a little bit ugly there for a bit, not entirely their fault, but Jojo Romero, Riley O'Brien, and although he did make it very sweaty, Ryan Stanick shut the door over the final three things to get the win.

Starting point is 00:17:27 The jokes were all over on social media with Stanick out there and we're like, there wouldn't be a Cardinals closer if we didn't walk a couple guys and, you know, have to get out of a huge jam to get the win, but he did. And it was cool to see the reaction from him and the fans and just everybody on the field after it was all set and done. the official win goes to Riley O'Brien, who pitched an inning in the third and looked good. Standing gets the save in front of 45,000 plus at Bush to put the Cardinals in first place. That's right.

Starting point is 00:17:58 Your first place, Cardinals. I don't know how many times we're going to get to say that this year, but first place right now, setting up what will undoubtedly be the undefeated season. I'm kidding. But they are in first. How did the rest of the NL Central Fair? How did some former Cardinals look in their first games with their new teams? and what happened to Paul Skeen's.

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Starting point is 00:20:28 Support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on Lockedong Cardinals. Indeed.com slash podcast, terms of conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. Thanks for making Lockton Cardinals your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown on the number one sports podcast network. Only one other team in the division picked up a win on Thursday. and that was the reigning champion Milwaukee Brewers who got some bad news before the game.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Star outfielder Jackson Shurio is going to start the season on the IL. Fractured hand that he suffered in the WBC with team Venezuela, going to be out for a little bit. So 10-day IEL for Jackson Shorio, but it did not seem to bother them whatsoever. They put a whippin on the Chicago White Sox 14 to 2. Jacob Mizorowski, aka the Miz, strikes out 11 hitters. He was naughty, naughty, if you caught any of that game.

Starting point is 00:21:28 The kid is sick, man. But the rest of the NL Central, losers. They did not do well. Cubs got beat down by the Washington Nationals 10 to 4. Matthew Boyd, who did not have a good spring, did not have a good day against Washington. The Reds get shut out by the Boston Red Sox, three to nothing.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Garrett Crochet looked fantastic as he normally does. And then the biggest shock, the one that caught all of us off course. Paul Skeens doesn't make it out of the first inning against the New York Commets as they fall 11 to 7. Skeens goes just two-thirds of an inning. He allows five runs on four hits. He walks two. He strikes out one.

Starting point is 00:22:03 But there is an asterisk here because you look at the line and you're like, oh, Paul Skeens got killed, didn't he? Hold on. Center fielder O'Neill Cruz had something to say about this. Victimized his star pitcher, not once, but twice in that first inning, got a bad read on a line drive. that was right at him, which every outfielder, specifically in center field, will say it is the hardest ball to judge. But we know O'Neill Cruz is not a great center fielder. He's trying to become better, but it hasn't worked out. It didn't look great last year.

Starting point is 00:22:35 And this one soars over his head. And then he loses a fly ball in the sun where it almost hit him in the head because he was like, didn't know where it was. So that scores in another run. So three of those runs score the one that went over his head. And then another one when he loses it in the sun, no errors because he didn't touch the ball either time. But Odeo Cruz, those ball skeins, a couple of stakes for those plays because it made everything look way worse than it really was. Both of those balls should have been caught.

Starting point is 00:23:07 And if this happened to the Cardinals and Victor Scott made those plays, you'd be losing your mind right now, I promise you. Checking in on some former Cardinals, Brennan, was in the leadoff spot with two for four, including a home run in his first at bat for Seattle. but they did lose the game six to four to Cleveland. Wilson Contreras was batting clean up, but went 0 for four with a walk and a strikeout and the socks win over the Reds. Nolan Aronado was batting fifth for Arizona. He goes one for three with a strikeout

Starting point is 00:23:32 and they're eight to two loss to the Dodgers. Cardinals get the day off on Friday. We'll resume the series against the race on Saturday. Michael McGreevy is your scheduled starter against Joe Boyle, who was one and four with an IRA of 4.67 and 13 games. Nine of those were starts last year. So certainly a chance for the Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:23:50 to jump out of the gate here in 2026 in a super positive way if they can take the series. And then you got Dustin May on the mound on Sunday in the series finale. Cardinals win in a thriller. Blues went in a thriller in overtime. What a just absolutely sick mitts by Dylan Holloway with like two seconds left in overtime. Like it was awesome.

Starting point is 00:24:16 So they continue their push for the playoffs. spot. Make sure you're checking out our girl highly over at Lockdown Blues. But what a great day. What a great day for St. Louis Sports. Thanks for making Lockdown Cardinals. Your first list in every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals. And TikTok and Instagram were available at Lockedong Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube. If you never miss an episode again, thank you guys. We got to 14,000 by opening day. That was awesome. So if you never miss an episode, the Everyday Air Club is built for you. Get locked on Cardinals ad free plus members, only Discord

Starting point is 00:24:47 access and more. free month by using code word finally. Head to locked on STL cardinals. That supercast.com to join the club. For those of you on video, we'll send you to the first ever 24-7 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure your second listen is locked on MLB. And don't be shy.

Starting point is 00:25:05 Leave your comments. How did yesterday's game make you feel? Put it in the comments section, the good, the bad, the ugly. What concerns do you have? What are you excited about after seeing game one? Let us know in the comments section. You guys are the best fans in baseball for. reason and you proved it on opening day at Bush Stadium. I'll see you next time on locked out

Starting point is 00:25:23 curtains.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals’ FURIOUS Comeback IGNITES Opening Day as Alec Burleson & JJ Wetherholt DELIVER!

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