St. Louis Cardinals vs Seattle Mariners Game Discussion – Sunday, April 26, 2026

The St. Louis Cardinals will look to avoid a series sweep on Sunday as they host the Seattle Mariners in the final game of their short homestand series at Busch Stadium.

Michael McGreevy is set to start for the Cardinals, while Emerson Hancock will take the mound for Seattle. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

The Cardinals dropped the first two games of the series, including an 11-9 loss on Saturday in which rookie outfielder Nathan Church had a standout performance despite the defeat. Church hit two home runs and made a leaping catch at the left-field wall to rob Mitch Garver of a potential home run, but he grounded into a game-ending double play in the ninth inning.

Church, playing in his 50th major league game, also contributed a solo home run in the second inning, a sacrifice fly in a four-run third inning, and was praised by manager Oliver Marmol for his continued growth on both sides of the ball.

JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, and Pedro Pages also homered for the Cardinals in Saturday’s game, while Julio Rodriguez, Will Wilson, and Cole Young supplied the Mariners’ power with home runs of their own.

St. Louis led 9-7 in the eighth inning before closer Riley O’Brien allowed a tying two-run single to pinch hitter Connor Joe with runners on second and third and one out. The Mariners went on to win the game in the ninth inning.

Heading into Sunday’s finale, the Cardinals will attempt to avoid being swept in the three-game interleague series. Marmol acknowledged after Saturday’s game that while the offense produced plenty of runs, the outcome was not what the team wanted.

According to THE BAT X projection system, McGreevy is expected to average 3.7 strikeouts in this matchup, while Hancock has seen his fastball spin rate increase to 2,517 RPM this season — a significant rise from last year’s 2,388 RPM — which analytics site EV Analytics notes is a key factor in generating strikeouts and preventing runs.

On the offensive side, Dominic Canzone has shown improved exit velocity recently, averaging 100.3 mph over the past week compared to his seasonal average of 94.9 mph, while Cal Raleigh faces a challenging matchup against Busch Stadium’s right-field fences, to which he pulls 43.3% of his flyballs — the highest rate in the league.