The St. Louis Cardinals secured a 7-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night in their series opener.
Returning to the lineup after not starting on Wednesday was Cardinals slugger Jordan Walker. He ended up recording two hits and two runs across four at-bats.
However, ahead of Saturday evening’s game, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol made a sudden lineup decision involving the All-Star outfielder.
Cardinals Make Walker Decision
Even though he sat out three days ago and had a productive day on Friday, Walker is not in the Cardinals’ starting lineup for Game 2 of the series.
Joshua Baez will instead draw the start in right field, while Nathan Church gets the nod in center, and Jose Fermin starts in left.
Via Underdog MLB: “Cardinals 9/12 J. Fermín LF I. Herrera DH A. Burleson 1B J. Báez RF L. Bernal C N. Gorman 3B T. Saggese 2B M. Winn SS N. Church CF.”
Cardinals 9/12
J. Fermín LF
I. Herrera DH
A. Burleson 1B
J. Báez RF
L. Bernal C
N. Gorman 3B
T. Saggese 2B
M. Winn SS
N. Church CFK. Leahy SP
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) September 12, 2026
Looking at Walker’s 2026 Season With Cardinals
Named an All-Star for the first time in his career, this has been Walker’s best season of his young MLB career, which has spanned four years, all of which have come with St. Louis.
He’s appeared in 144 games, and across 562 at-bats, Walker is hitting .283 with 92 runs, 159 hits, 28 home runs, and 100 RBIs, while slugging .491 with an .829 OPS.
Cardinals Right Now
St. Louis has played itself into a tough spot in the National League Wild Card race, which for most of the season, they’ve been firmly in the mix for.
They enter Saturday 73-75 overall and are in fourth place in the NL Central, 19.0 games back in the division and 6.5 games back of a Wild Card spot with 14 regular-season games remaining.
St. Louis Cardinals Make Sudden Jordan Walker Decision During White Sox Series