Burleson caps 4-hit night with 1st career walk-off home run

ST. LOUIS -- Rounding the bases following the first walk-off homer of his MLB career, Alec Burleson started thinking about how he was going to celebrate before hitting third base when, much to his surprise, very few of his teammates had gathered at home.

“It took me a while to realize that I got [the homer] because I didn’t think I got it … and then I saw [the ball] hit the berm,” said Burleson, who smashed the Statcast-projected 409-foot, ninth-inning homer to lift the Cardinals to a 7-6 win over the Pirates. “I was thinking about what I was going to do when I rounded third and hit home -- was I going to throw my helmet? But I hit third and looked at home and the guys weren’t really there yet. I was like, ‘OK, this is kind of weird. Is this what it’s supposed to look like?’ But they got there, and I got super wet, and they were trying to rip my jersey off. So, yeah, it was a cool moment.”

Burleson’s 16th home run capped the first four-hit night of his career and his 32nd multihit game of the season. He also slapped his career-best 21st double in the Cardinals' five-run fifth inning and he pushed his season hit total to a team-best 121.

Even with a log jam at several positions, the Cardinals stuck with Burleson in the everyday lineup because of his steady production and improvement throughout 2025.

“We’ve been patient with him even when he was making a lot of contact and nothing was going for him,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You could look under the hood and see that there were things pointing in the right direction. Now, we’re starting to see exactly the type of hitter he can be.

“He’s done a really nice job of taking the feedback and doing something about it. When you look at him controlling the strike zone, the swing decisions and impacting the ball more and still being able to do things when he gets two strikes -- he has a lot of different ways of beating you.”

Burleson’s walk-off fireworks were fitting on a night when Willson Contreras erupted in the seventh inning with a tirade. Contreras seemed to agree with home-plate umpire Derek Thomas’ strike three call in the seventh inning, but then the Cardinals’ first baseman was ejected when something was said between hitter and umpire. Contreras charged toward the umpire, possibly making contact before being restrained by Marmol. Then, while being held by bench coach Daniel Descalso, Contreras spiked his helmet and threw his bat backward, striking hitting coach Brant Brown on the arm. Contreras fired his shin guard and a bucket of gum from the dugout onto the field. Contreras was the first Cardinals player to be ejected from a game this season and Marmol was also ejected -- his sixth time being tossed out of a game in 2025.

“I’m still wondering, to be honest, because I don’t think he had any reason to throw me out,” Contreras said. “I didn’t argue any pitch in any at-bat and I didn’t argue any pitch in my last at-bat. The only thing I said was, ‘Call the pitches for both sides because you are missing for us.’ Then, he threw me out and he had no reason for it. Apparently, he heard something [he thought] I said and I did not say that.”

Crew chief Jordan Baker, who was working second base during the game, said that Contreras was ejected “for saying vulgar stuff to the plate, Derek Thomas.” Baker didn’t know if the contact between Contreras and Thomas was intentional.

“I don’t know his intent, to be honest with you,” Baker said in a pool report. “There was contact made. We’re going to review the tape and what the office sends to us, and we’ll send it in, send the report in to Major League Baseball and let them handle that part of it.”

Contreras, who leads the Cardinals with 19 home runs, was ejected for the ninth time in his MLB career. He had a two-run single to tie the game in the Cardinals’ five-run fifth inning that vaulted them from three runs down to two runs ahead. A batter later, Contreras scored from first base on a double by Nolan Gorman.

Then, after the Pirates pulled even in the top of the ninth, Burleson won it with his biggest blast of the season.

“I’ve definitely grown as a hitter,” he said. “Everything is always going to be a work in progress, but I think I’ve gotten really good at doing what I want in the box instead of reacting to what they’re trying to do to me.”