JJ Wetherholt hit a home run and four St. Louis pitchers combined on a seven-hitter as the Cardinals blanked the Los Angeles Angels 1-0 to salvage the final game of their three-game series on Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.

Hunter Dobbins (2-1) picked up the victory, allowing six hits over six innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five to pick up his sixth career major league win.

Luis Gastelum, George Soriano and All-Star closer Riley O’Brien each pitched a scoreless inning of relief after that with O’Brien notching his 26th save.

The win, just the fifth in the last 15 games for the Cardinals, snapped a season-high matching four-game losing streak for St. Louis. It marked the first time since May 17, 2025 at Kansas City that the Cardinals won a 1-0 game.

Wade Meckler and Josh Lowe each had two hits for Los Angeles, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Reid Detmers (3-7) was the hard-luck loser, giving up one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. It marked his 19th straight start at Angel Stadium without picking up a win dating back to 2024.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning on Wetherholt’s 15th home run of the season, a 409-foot drive to left-center.

Los Angeles had multiple runners on base in four different innings, including the bottom of the ninth against O’Brien. Jo Adell and Meckler both walked with one out but O’Brien bounced back to strike out Oswald Peraza and Josh Lowe to get out of the jam.

St. Louis had blown six leads in its 10 losses over a 15-game stretch, including back-to-back walk-off losses at Arizona on Sunday and to the Angels on Monday night when O’Brien hit Adell with a pitch with the bases loaded. That snapped a streak of 106 games that the Angels had lost when trailing after eight innings, including 48 this season.

–Field Level Media

Between games of their day/night doubleheader with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, the New York Yankees activated left-hander Max Fried so he could start Game 2.

Fried, 32, had not appeared in a major league game since May 13, when he left after three innings against the Baltimore Orioles. He went on the injured list three days later (retroactive to May 14) with a bone bruise on his left elbow.

Fried entered Wednesday’s game with a 4-3 record and a 3.21 ERA in 61 2/3 innings spread across 10 starts. He owned a 4-1 mark and a 2.09 ERA through April, but surrendered 11 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings during May before going on the shelf.

To make room for Fried, the Yankees sent right-hander Kervin Castro to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Castro, 27, was called up in the middle of Sunday’s doubleheader with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He allowed one run in two innings on May 8 in his only game for the Yankees, which doubled as his first MLB appearance since 2022.

–Field Level Media

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Jake Mangum was scratched from the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the host New York Yankees due to right foot discomfort.

Mangum was slated to lead off against New York left-hander Max Fried before getting scratched to have his foot examined. Nick Gonzales moved up to the leadoff spot and Billy Cook replaced Mangum in center.

Mangum fouled a ball off his foot during Pittsburgh’s 5-3 win in Game 1, but he stayed in the game. He had two hits in Pittsburgh’s ninth win in 13 games, including an RBI single in a two-run 10th inning off Fernando Cruz.

Mangum is hitting .303 with two homers and 21 RBIs in 81 games this season. His 19 stolen bases rank third on the Pirates behind Konnor Griffin and Oneil Cruz, both of whom are on the injured list.

–Field Level Media