St. Louis

Cardinals

As expected, Scott will head to Triple-A with Nathan Church expected to come off the injured list. The 25-year-old outfielder has hit just 194/.276/.258 in 184 plate appearances. While his speed makes him someone that fantasy managers should track, the lack of offensive upside makes it hard to imagine he’ll ever be a relevant player.

Nathan Church will presumably come off the IL to replace Scott and play center field most of the time. Scott is hitting just .194/.276/.258 with nine RBI in 184 plate appearances this season, and while his defense has been above average, it hasn’t been quite as good as last year. He needs to make some real progress offensively before getting another chance. His 24 percent strikeout rate wouldn’t be so bad if he had real power, but since he doesn’t, he needs to make quite a bit more contact.

O’Brien’s save was his 17th. He pitched around a one-out double to slam the door on the Reds, sealing a 5-3 victory for the Cardinals. O’Brien’s ERA is 3.68 and he’s blown four saves already. Still, in the current closer landscape, he’s been one of the more consistent ninth inning guys.

McGreevy gave up five hits, walked none and struck out five. The 25-year-old allowed solo home runs to Matt McClain and Tyler Stephenson in the third inning, but otherwise wasn’t scored on. He has a 2.99 ERA as his excellent season continues. McGreevy will face the Twins on the road next weekend.

Winn gets a much-needed breather after playing every inning in each of the team’s last 15 ballgames. He has seen his offensive performance fall off substantially once again this season, slashing just .236/.318/.322 with only two homers, 24 RBI and five stolen bases through his first 239 plate appearances. Jose Fermin will start in his place at shortstop and bat seventh for the Cardinals on Sunday against Reds’ right-hander Rhett Lowder.

The dynamic 23-year-old rookie missed each of the previous two games due to groin soreness, but he’s right back in there at second base and hitting atop the Cardinals’ lineup against Reds’ right-hander Rhett Lowder on Sunday. Wetherholt is slashing .249/.357/.400 with nine homers, 25 RBI, 40 runs scored and seven stolen bases through his first 266 plate appearances with the Cardinals.

Nootbaar was intentionally walked after hitting for Pedro Pagés in the sixth inning today. In a lefty-lefty matchup with Sam Moll in the eighth, he crushed an 83-mph sweeper 433 feet for his first homer of 2026 and 10th homer in 509 career plate appearances versus southpaws. No one would have been surprised in Nootbaar started slowly in his return from multiple surgeries, but he has two barrels and three hits through seven at-bats. Since he probably won’t start against lefties in the short term, his fantasy upside would seem to be limited. But we’ll see.

It’s the fourth time in five starts that Liberatore, whose velocity was down one mph today, has allowed at least three runs while getting no more than 15 outs. The Cardinals won anyway, so they’re 9-4 when he pitches this season, even though his ERA stands at 4.48 and he’s completed six innings only three times. He’ll pitch in Minnesota next weekend.

O’Brien is making things way too interesting of late, but he managed a scoreless ninth after allowing two singles and a walk with two outs in the ninth today. The walk today was O’Brien’s fifth in six appearances after he issued just two in his first 22 outings. He’s 16-for-20 saving games this season.

Walker’s 401-foot homer off Nick Lodolo was his 16th in 61 games. That matches his career high from his rookie season in 2023, when he played in 117 games. Walker is 8-for-13 in his last three games, taking his average back up to .301.