Cleveland Guardians Allow Late Rally and Hand St. Louis Cardinals Comeback Win

The Cleveland Guardians fell to the St. Louis Cardinals on the road from Busch Stadium, with the late-game playing looking incredibly spotty.

Apr 11, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) hits a home run against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It wasn’t the prettiest game, but it’s one the team can learn from.

The Cleveland Guardians and the St. Louis Cardinals are now tied in the series, 1-1.

On Tuesday, April 14, the Guardians traveled to Busch Stadium to take on the Cardinals, dropping the game with a strugglesome showing late, 6-5. Following yesterday's comfortable showing, where both the bats and arms looked impressive for Cleveland, Tuesday's outing was a bit more all over the place.

One of the major reasons for such a blood pressure-raising finish was due to the heavy-hitting of the Cardinals' bats and lackluster pitching by some of Cleveland's more reliable relievers.

The Story

With a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Guardians coaching staff turned to the reliable lefty Erik Sabrowski. Unfortunately, for what felt like the first time in quite a while, Sabrowski allowed a two-run home run into left field.

That brought the game back within a run, before the Cardinals ended up tying it up in the ninth.

With two outs, closer Cade Smith seemingly had the game done and over with. He allowed a little chopper to Masyn Winn, which looked like the game-ending out, but Juan Brito committed an error and allowed him on base. The very next pitch was wild, pushing Winn into scoring position, before Yohel Pozo hit his first double of the 2026 season and brought Winn home.

While Smith did eventually end up getting out of the inning and forcing extras, the last two innings were a bad look for Cleveland.

In the top of the tenth, none of the Guardians' three batters were able to do anything. They went down 1, 2, 3, setting the stage for the Cardinals to create a walk-off scenario.

Well, they'd do just that.

After Tim Herrin's first pitch of the inning was wild, Thomas Saggese advanced to third and set up shop as the game's winning run. All the Cardinals had to do was send out a deep fly ball, giving Saggese the chance to tag up and go home.

Just one pitch later, Herrin dropped an 80.7 mph curveball into the bottom of the zone and Church popped it into right field. Saggese tagged up and made it home to clinch the win for the home team.

Moving Forward

While there are countless issues, mainly the bullpen pitching and fielding errors, there were a couple of good things.

Starting pitcher Joey Cantillo allowed just five hits, two of which were home runs, and walked two batters. He did end up striking out four batters, but more importantly, he kept himself composed and didn't allow the Cardinals to beat him down on the mound.

His season ERA is now at 2.61 across four games, showing reliability for Cleveland.

A couple of the Guardians' bats also looked sharp. José Ramírez recorded two hits in four at-bats, contributing one RBI and two runs scored, and also drew a walk. Alongside Ramírez, Angel Martinez also provided some pop. He contributed one hit and two RBI.

Kyle Manzardo, who has struggled for most of 2026, seemed to break further out of his early-season slump, going 2-for-4 from the plate, too.

At some point, the Guardians were going to lose a game frustratingly; that's just a given. Now, it's up to the coaching staff and team leaders to ensure that the heads don't start hanging and the confidence doesn't go down the drain.

After all, they are still currently sitting towards the top of the American League standings.

The Cardinals and Guardians will be back in action on Wednesday night for the series finale. The two sides will play at 1:15 p.m. EST, before the Guardians return back home for a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles beginning on Thursday.