With Michael McGreevy sitting on 65 pitches through five innings, the Cardinals showed trust in dependable right-hander by sending him back out for the sixth inning.
However, that decision ultimately backfired against the Cardinals with the Marlins scoring twice in the sixth for a 5-3 victory that ended St. Louis’ season-best winning streak at five games.
José Fermín tracks it down on the warning track! pic.twitter.com/X3msHg0T6o
McGreevy, the Cardinals most dependable pitcher thus far in 2026, allowed four runs in his final three innings of work for his second loss of the season.
Offensively, a Cardinals squad that was red hot all weekend throughout a three-game sweep of the Astros went cold on Monday night. The Cardinals had just five hits, went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base.
Unlike on Sunday, when he waited until the eighth inning for his first hit, Walker whistled a 112.1 mph single back up the middle in the fourth inning to push his hit streak to 15 games.
It is the second longest hitting streak of Walker’s three-plus year MLB career, trailing only the 17-game streak he put together as a rookie from June 6-29 of the 2023 season. Walker, of course opened his MLB career with a 12-game hit streak as a 20-year-old rookie.
Walker, who also stole his fourth best of the season, went 1 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored. He came around to score on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to give the Cards a brief 3-2 lead.
So, Jordan Walker is now on pace for a 30-30 season. NO ONE had that on their bingo card coming into the season.If he can keep this up, what an incredible turnaround.#stlcards #stlcardinals #cardinals pic.twitter.com/NqwYoRmB31
— Redbird Rundown Podcast (@redbirdrundown2) April 20, 2026
McGreevy, who has been working in the weight room between starts to try and regain the velocity on his fastball, got hit hard over the final two innings of his outing. Uncharacteristically, McGreevy threw just 45 strikes among his 80 pitches and he walks two hitters.
“He went out there and competed but didn’t win as many counts early as he normally does,” Cardinals pitching coach Dusty Blake told Cardinals. TV. “So, he put himself in some tough counts. He made some good pitches and got them on the ground, but there were a couple of times they were able to take advantage.”
McGreevy got eight ground-ball outs compared to two fly-ball outs. However, the velocity on his 22 four-seam fastballs fell off – from 92.3 mph in the first inning to 91.2 mph in the fifth and sixth inning.
“They had six lefties in there and I thought he navigated them well,” Cardinals’ manager Oli Marmol told Cardinals.TV. “The first time through, he got ahead a lot of guys and kept them on the ground. The third time through, he fell behind several of them and it ended up costing him. The two walks ended up scoring, a couple of ground balls ended up scoring, and the homer was hit well. But at the end of the day, I thought he gave us a good look.”
Meyer, the No. 3 overall pick from the 2020 MLB Draft who has been beset by injuries for years, showed off his massive potential on Monday by recording a staggering 17 swings and misses. Of those 17 whiffs, the Cards chased sweepers and sliders and came up empty 12 times.
Meyer needed just 5 1/3 innings of work to rack up eight strikeouts. He allowed just three hits and two earned runs, but didn’t factor into the decision.
“I felt like their starter did a really nice job and we had a tough time picking up the sweeper and we swung and missed it quite a bit,” Marmol said. “So, credit to him. At the end of the day, we just couldn’t put enough quality at bats together to get something going.”
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