With Dustin May's quality start and tight bullpen, Cardinals take series opener vs. Red Sox

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Apr 10, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — Coming off a pair of rugged outings to begin his Cardinals career, starter Dustin May provided a quality start Friday night against his former team that handed a lead over to a Cardinals bullpen that did not budge.

After May was removed following six innings and two runs (one earned) allowed against the Red Sox, the Cardinals received a hold from Ryne Stanek in the seventh inning, an escape job by JoJo Romero in the eighth and a save from Riley O’Brien in the ninth to secure a series-opening, 3-2 win at Busch Stadium. Runs to take the lead over Boston were provided in the fifth inning from birthday boy Thomas Saggese, who singled in a run, and Jose Fermin, who produced a run on a sacrifice fly.

Saggese’s game-tying hit on this 24th birthday came following a late entry into the game. He replaced shortstop Masyn Winn at the start of the fifth inning after Winn was hit above his left knee by a pitch during his at-bat in the second inning and exited with a left lower leg contusion.

The two RBIs regained a 1-0 lead the Cardinals lost in the fourth inning.

Saggese delivers, Fermin follows

Following the departure of their Gold Glove shortstop, Friday’s game found Saggese quickly.

During his first inning on defense, Saggese made a diving grab on a sinking line drive off Caleb Durbin’s bat to record the last out of a 1-2-3 inning.

In the bottom half of the frame, Saggese strolled to the plate with runners on base for his first plate appearance. Hitting with runners on first and second base while his team trailed 2-1, Saggese offered at the first pitch he saw and grounded a single to left field that allowed Jordan Walker to score.

An at-bat and a wild pitch later, Fermin capitalized with runners in scoring position.

Fermin fell behind, 0-2, in his at-bat vs. Kelly but took a fastball above the plate for a ball, fouled off a 1-2 sweeper and saw the next two pitches miss the strike zone to make the count full.

On the seventh pitch, Fermin drove a fly ball deep enough to left field that allowed Ramon Urias to score from third base to give the Cardinals back a one-run lead.

May takes comebacker of hand

Hit by a comebacker in his most recent start before Friday, May had a comebacker hit him on his throwing hand in the second inning against the Red Sox.

With a runner on first base and two outs, May got Carlos Navarez to hit a one-hopper back to the mound. May appeared to instinctively put his right hand up to protect himself. The one-hopper hit May on the hand and deflected toward the third base line.

May was able to field the baseball and make an accurate throw at first base to end the inning. When he walked into the Cardinals’ dugout, May could be seen shouting in frustration. The righty retired the next three batters he faced when he returned to pitch the third inning and appeared to have no issues through the final four innings of his bounce-back start.

Slow roller, steals yield runs for Sox

Scoreless through three innings vs. May, it took a slow roller to shortstop and a double steal in the fourth inning for the Red Sox to flip their 1-0 deficit Victor Scott II's second inning sacrifice fly put them into.

After singles from Masataka Yoshida and Wilyer Abreu put runners on the corner with one out in the frame, May got Story to hammer a sweeper into the ground in a spot where a double play could get him through the inning unscathed. But the 66 mph exit velocity on the roller and the Cardinals’ infield alignment at regular depth allowed them to settle for one out at second base on a ball fielded by Winn and flipped to JJ Wetherholt. A throwing error by Wetherholt, whose throw to first base sailed into the dugout, allowed Story to advance to second base.

The throwing error was followed by a single from Marcelo Mayer, which advanced Story to third and set the Red Sox up to try a double steal. The attempt was successful as catcher Pedro Pages’ throw one-hopped Wetherholt in front of the bag, allowing Mayer to slide in safely. And at home plate, after he waited for Pages’ throw to break for the plate, Story slid in to score without a tag as Wetherholt’s throw home pulled Pages away from home and could not be corralled.

In return game, Contreras meets Romero

In his first game at Busch Stadium since getting dealt to the Red Sox over the winter, Willson Contreras received an ovation from the home crowd in his first at-bat but was held hitless. The final at-bat came against Romero with the runners on the corners and two outs in the eighth inning.

Facing his former teammate with the game-tying run on third base, the go-ahead run on first and two outs in the inning, Contreras worked into a 2-1 count before offering at a slider Romero placed on the outer half of the plate.

Contreras lifted the slider for a fly ball to right-center field that was hauled in by Scott to end the scoring threat.