There’s a particular cruelty to what JJ Wetherholt did on April 30 at PNC Park. The kid grew up in the Pittsburgh area. He’s been watching Pirates baseball his whole life, probably had a Paul Skenes poster up somewhere in the last twelve months given how fast Skenes ascended. And on the third pitch of the series finale — a 95 mph fastball, count 2-0, the kind of pitch you’re supposed to respect — Wetherholt put a 107.7 mph exit velocity on it and sent it out of his childhood ballpark. Off the reigning NL Cy Young winner. In the first inning. On the third pitch.
That’s not just a good at-bat. That’s a statement.
Jordan Walker followed with a two-run shot off a Skenes sweeper in the same inning. Alec Burleson went 3-for-5 with three RBIs by the time the afternoon was done. The Cardinals won the series finale 10-5 and completed a four-game sweep at PNC Park — April 27 through 30, one of the more thorough road series beatdowns you’ll see.
The Cardinals’ Offensive Core Is Starting to Take Shape
Walker is a known quantity at this point. We’ve written about his emergence before — he was the centerpiece of the Cardinals’ dominant April stretch — and he remains a cornerstone of what this offense can become. But the Wetherholt development changes the calculus entirely. Wetherholt came into this series batting .784 OPS with 8 home runs in 43 games, already the leading NL Rookie of the Year candidate — and the Skenes home run was the exclamation point on a season that has been building since day one. You can’t pitch around two guys. You can barely pitch around three, and Burleson is quietly having a real season.
What makes Wetherholt interesting isn’t just the home run off Skenes. It’s the timing and the manner. A leadoff shot on the third pitch in a series finale is an aggressive, confident swing from a hitter who isn’t waiting to see what the pitcher wants to do. He came up in the count, got a fastball in his zone, and punished it. That’s big-league instinct.
Wetherholt’s reaction after the game said it all:
The kid is alright!
LEADOFF HOME RUN for JJ Wetherholt! 💣 pic.twitter.com/N6WrNnnWhK
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 30, 2026
That’s a guy who knows exactly what he did.
The Cardinals are 100% in the NL Central conversation now, and the Brewers should be paying attention. For years the knock on St. Louis has been that the pitching was fine but the offense was too streaky, too dependent on one or two guys catching fire at the same time. This series against Pittsburgh is a data point that the offense might actually be growing a spine.
Wetherholt torching Skenes — at PNC, in a sweep clincher, as a Pittsburgh kid coming home — is the kind of story that doesn’t need any embellishment. The Cardinals have found something real.
