ST. LOUIS – Stuck in the throes of a career-worst 0-for-25 skid prior to coming to the plate in Saturday’s ninth inning, Jordan Walker delivered just the kind of swing that both he and the Cardinals badly needed.
Hitless in his last six games -- a drought that stretched to Aug. 28 -- Walker drilled a 97.3 mph liner that deflected off the glove of standout third baseman Matt Chapman and into left field for a double that plated Masyn Winn and pinch-runner Garrett Hampson as the Cardinals rallied for a 3-2 defeat of the Giants.
It was the first walk-off hit of Walker’s three-year MLB career. He had also been stuck in a 5-for-65 skid, and the hit came at a good time to lift his sagging spirits.
“Honestly, it was just about getting into the box and putting it in play,” said Walker, who looked to do damage early to avoid risking a strikeout that might ruin the rally. “I kept it that simple and swung at the first one that looked good to me.
“It was a pretty surreal feeling, because it has been a while since I had a hit. So, to come through right there after the whole team had rallied there off a really good reliever, it was super sick, and it was some great team energy.”
Shut out for eight innings and limited to three hits by Justin Verlander, Joey Lucchesi and José Buttó, the Cardinals’ offense came alive in the ninth against Ryan Walker. Nolan Gorman, who struck out in his first three at-bats, singled and Masyn Winn followed with an opposite-field hit. Then, after rookie Jimmy Crooks was hit by a pitch after falling behind 0-2 in the count, Thomas Saggese delivered a hard-hit single to score Gorman.
Walker, who had a pep talk with Saggese in the dugout, followed with one of the biggest hits of his young career. Previously, he hadn’t ever gone longer than 19 at-bats without a hit, per MLB.com research, so he was overdue when he stepped into the box late Saturday night.
“Tommy [Saggese] and I were on deck, and we talked about it; I told him how good of a hitter he was, and he told me how good of hitters we were,” said Walker, who pushed his RBI total to 36 for the season. “Him coming through and getting that big RBI there, I feel like the energy was just passed down.”
Walker’s game-winning hit came just four days after Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and hitting coach Brant Brown publicly discussed the 6-foot-6 outfielder’s need to elevate his preparation and ramp up his sense of urgency. Walker appears to have gotten the message, arriving at Busch Stadium early on Friday and Saturday to fit in an extra batting practice session in the cage near the clubhouse.
“Personally, I don’t think I’m out of [the slump] yet, and I’m probably going to come in early again tomorrow and get some work on offspeed and stuff like that,” Walker said. “I can’t be satisfied, and I want to keep building off this last at-bat. I want to be one of the first ones in the cage, so I hit after the guys who are on the IL [on Saturday afternoon].”
Marmol said he was thrilled with how Saturday’s game flipped in a matter of minutes, and that it was Walker who won the game with a hard-hit single. He is hopeful that the emotional moment will serve as a springboard for a player who has struggled with his confidence throughout a skid that has lasted nearly a month.
“I absolutely love tonight for [Walker] for a lot of reasons,” said Marmol, whose Cardinals won for the third time in the past four games. “He’s had a tough week. Everyone in this industry is going to go through something publicly that just doesn’t feel great. I think he’s handled it really well. An at-bat like that can instill a lot of confidence in you.”
Rebounding from an appendicitis that cost him three weeks of the season, Walker strung together his most solid 13-game stretch of 2025 while coming out of the All-Star break. That hot stretch, sparked by changes made to the positioning of his hands, included six doubles and an .808 OPS, but it simply didn’t last long enough. Walker said the past weeks have been especially trying for him, but he’s tried to stay strong while searching for solutions.
“It’s tough, man. Honestly, it’s really tough when you just don’t feel as good,” Walker said. “In that moment, I can’t think about that. In all honesty, I just had one goal and one approach, and I had to stick to it.”