ST. LOUIS — On a soggy Sunday in downtown St. Louis that forced two rain delays and kept a sparse crowd of fans late enough at Busch Stadium to cheer on the Cardinals’ first-round selection in this year’s MLB draft, the Cardinals swung their way to a win before heading into the All-Star break.

A fifth-inning swing from Willson Contreras brought them into a tie against the Atlanta Braves. An inning later, Jose Fermin provided a lead with a swing that marked a career milestone.

In the 142nd at-bat of his MLB career, Fermin lifted a fly-ball deep enough to left field to give him his first career homer and give the Cardinals the lead they needed to complete a 5-4 win vs. Atlanta. The go-ahead homer came after Contreras dropped a blooper into right field for a two-run double that made it a 3-3 game. The win helped the Cardinals avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Braves.

The Cardinals (51-46) were tied 1-1 before the first of the two delays was long enough to make Sonny Gray unavailable after three innings. When play resumed following the first delay, Steven Matz allowed two runs when Matt Olson singled on the 10th pitch of their encounter with two outs in the fifth inning, and rain began to pour.

Once the tarp came off the field past 6:30 p.m. and reliever Gordon Graceffo ended the fifth inning with a strikeout of Ronald Acuna Jr., a walk from Victor Scott II and a single from Alec Burleson put two runners on bases for Contreras to tie the game with a rain drop-like single to right field. Masyn Winn’s single to lead off the sixth set the stage for Fermin’s first homer.

Dealing with some start-and-stop because of rain, the Cardinals received relief efforts from Matz (1 2/3 innings), Graceffo (1 2/3 innings), Riley O’Brien (1 2/3 innings) and closer Ryan Helsley (one inning) to cover six innings after Gray’s early exit. Helsley’s scoreless inning required him to work through traffic and earn his 19th save in 24 opportunities.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was ejected with no outs in the ninth inning.

A first for Fermin

Starting in left field with Lars Nootbaar on the injured list for a left costochondral sprain, Fermin entered Sunday with no home runs in 76 games to begin his big league career.

In the previous two seasons with Class AAA Memphis, Fermin had connected on 13 homers, five of which were hit this year in 55 games for the Redbirds.

The homerless streak to begin his big league career was snapped on the first pitch he saw from veteran reliever Jesse Chavez.

Fermin pulled a sinker over the wall in left field for a homer that elevated the Cardinals to a two-run lead and led Fermin to turn and fist pump in front of the Cardinals dugout in celebration.

Graceffo, O’Brien key in relief

Called from the bullpen in a similar spot to his Saturday outing, right-handed reliever Graceffo produced a similar result when facing Acuna with at least one base runner on and two outs in the fifth inning.

A day after he got the former National League MVP to whiff on a curveball to strand two inherited runners on base, Graceffo struck Acuna out with a 97.6 mph fastball.

Graceffo followed the strikeout of Acuna with two strikeouts in a scoreless sixth inning that began with a hit by pitch of Sean Murphy.

When he got into trouble by allowing a run in the seventh inning, O’Brien provided some relief.

O’Brien got a pop-out vs. Olson and a strikeout of Acuna on a curveball that got Acuna to swing at a ball in the dirt on a 3-2 count. O’Brien worked himself out of trouble in the eighth inning when a single by Ozzie Albies and a walk to Nacho Alvarez Jr. put runners on first and second base with two outs.

Following a mound visit, O’Brien froze Michael Harris II on a 3-2 curveball that caught the bottom of the strike zone.

Gray’s starts hit bump in 3rd

Making his final start before the All-Star break, Gray struck out five of the 12 batters he faced across his three innings of work and retired the first nine he faced for a rain-shortened outing that will send him into the break with a 3.50 ERA in 19 starts.

The outing was Gray’s second this week involving a rain delay. On Tuesday, the righty had his start pushed back by two hours and 19 minutes before he could throw the game’s first pitch.

The lone run allowed by Gray came in the third inning on a single from Olson that came in a three-hit inning by Atlanta.

An aggressive approach by the ninth hitter he faced prevented Gray from a third consecutive 1-2-3 inning and was the first of three consecutive hits the right surrendered in the frame.

On a first-pitch fastball from Gray, Nick Allen singled to left field. He advanced to third base with a single from Jurickson Profar, who grounded an 0-1 curveball from Gray to right field. The Braves had their base runners go from first to third base once again when Olson singled home Allen on a ball that jumped off his bat at 110.7 mph.

The single kept runners on base for Acuna.

Facing the former MVP for a second time Sunday, Gray got Acuna in a 1-2 count with a called strike on a fastball and a whiff on his sweeper. When Acuna fouled off a second sweeper and laid off a sinker away to even the count, Gray got the star outfielder to whiff on a sinker placed low and away.

____

©2025 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.