Alec Burleson was glad to stay with the St. Louis Cardinals and be part of their rebuild after the trade deadline passed on Monday.
Following the best performance of his career, a three-homer game, Burleson will attempt to help the visiting Cardinals earn a third straight win on Tuesday when they face newly promoted prospect George Lombard Jr. and the New York Yankees.
The Cardinals haven’t won three times in a row since July 2-4. They went 10-18 in July, prompting the front office to deal away outfielder Lars Nootbaar and pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero at the deadline.
Burleson heard his name mentioned in rumors, but he wound up staying and helping the Cardinals earn a 13-7 win on Monday. He socked two-run homers off Cam Schlittler, Tim Hill and Angel Chivilli.
“He’s human and there’s a lot of conversations around it, but he was able to kind of stay focused on the things he could control,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said postgame. “I’d give him credit for prepping the way he did today, knowing that his name was still being thrown around and having the type of night that he did.”
Burleson, who hadn’t gone deep since July 8, produced St. Louis’ first three-homer game since catcher Ivan Herrera accomplished the feat on April 2, 2025. The 27-year-old first baseman is hitting .375 (9-for-24) over a six-game hitting streak.
The Yankees are coming off one of their better offensive showings since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured rib. New York hit five homers and scored seven or more runs just for the fourth time in the past 41 games. However, New York fell to 27-27 since Judge’s last game on May 31.
Luis Garcia Jr. made an impressive debut, hitting a two-run homer to give the Yankees a brief one-run lead. He went 2-for-4 and was involved in two double plays at first base.
New York will debut not only Lombard but also outfielder Heliot Ramos on Tuesday, one day after acquiring him from the San Francisco Giants. Ramos batted .264 with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 74 games for San Francisco this year.
“They have a lot of history,” Ramos told reporters in Arlington, Texas. “… At the end of the day, I’m very happy to be a New York Yankee.”
Lombard joins the big-league club three years after being the Yankees’ first-round pick (No. 26 overall) out of high school in Miami. Lombard began this season in Double-A, and he is hitting .268 with six homers and 21 RBIs in 56 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Ramos will start in left field and Lombard at shortstop on Tuesday. To clear room on their roster, the Yankees optioned outfielder Jasson Dominguez and shortstop Anthony Volpe to Triple-A.
Ryan Weathers (4-7, 3.99 ERA) will get the start for New York on Tuesday coming off his third scoreless outing of the season.
The left-hander took a no-decision when he allowed three hits in seven innings in New York’s 2-1, 11-inning loss to the host Chicago White Sox on Thursday. It marked the sixth time the Yankees scored one run or fewer for him in 2026.
Weathers is 1-1 with a 3.71 ERA in his past five outings, having allowed one homer in 26 2/3 innings in that span. Before that stretch, he went 1-3 with a 5.55 ERA in five June starts, yielding five homers in 24 1/3 innings.
Weathers has no decisions and a 2.70 ERA in three previous appearances (two starts) against St. Louis.
The Cardinals will give the ball to Hunter Dobbins (2-1, 3.74 ERA). The right-hander last started on July 22, when he allowed six hits in six shutout innings during a 1-0 road victory over the Los Angeles Angels. In his lone outing since then, Dobbins was tagged for four runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings by the Chicago Cubs on July 27.
Dobbins has faced the Yankees twice, a pair of starts last season for the Boston Red Sox. He went 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in those contests.
–Field Level Media
