CLEVELAND — Contrary to a local anthem or the glistening Rock & Roll Hall of Fame down the street, it doesn’t always take a bunch of hits to make it Cleveland.

Sometimes it’s just how loud they are. Sometimes it’s their timing. The Cardinals got three solo home runs – all in the same inning – and tried to hold on from there Sunday after against Cleveland at Progressive Field. They got within one out of a winning trip through Ohio, securing a winning month of May, and getting a long overdue win for lefty Jordan Montgomery. They did not get away with it.

Jose Ramirez, the finest hitter in the Guardians’ lineup, drilled a two-out double to center field that scored two runs and flipped the game on the Cardinals for a 4-3 loss. Ramirez’s walk-off double scored teammates Myles Straw and Steven Kwan.

Both reached on walks. Cardinals Ryan Helsley entered the ninth with a one-run lead, three outs to get, and four batters to face before Ramirez even had a swing at changing the game. Helsley walked Straw with one out, and followed that with a four-pitch walk to leadoff hitter Kwan. That primed the bases for problems. Ramirez emptied them.

For Ramirez, it was his seventh career walk-off hit, first since 2021.

The Cardinals head home after a 3-4 trip through the Buckeye State.

The Cardinals have lost the past nine games Montgomery started.

He took the decision in six of them, and when this road trip started in Cincinnati the lefty sighed and said it felt like it had been a month since his last win.

It had been longer. Montgomery held Cleveland to two runs on seven hits through his five complete innings. He faced one batter in the sixth inning and was replaced after allowing a double. Montgomery struck out three and did some of his best work steering the Cardinals out of what could have been a messy first inning.

Cardinals dodge mess, easy as 1-2-3 All of the numbers and analytics swirling around the decisions made by both managers in the eighth inning and the most important of them all were 1-2-3.

Right-hander Drew VerHagen took over for the Cardinals with a one-run lead, and seven pitches into the inning he had thrown six strikes and suddenly had the bases loaded all around him. A lead off single to right field and a double into the right-field corner put the tying and go-ahead run in scoring position and left the Cardinals’ dugout with immediate choices.

Due up to face VerHagen was lefthanded hitter Josh Naylor and his .461 slugging percentage this season against right-handed pitchers.

The Cardinals opted to walk Naylor to load the bases.

That invited Cleveland to choose from its remaining bats to pinch-hit for catcher Mike Zunino, who has a .324 slugging percentage against right-handed pitchers. They went to William Brennan, a left-handed bat, though one far less menacing than Naylor’s. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, after another mound visit, countered with lefty Genesis Cabrera. Brennan had a .111 average from two singles in 18 at-bats against lefties this season. The platoon edged had been regained.

Brennan further complicated his atbat with a pitch violation.

Down 0-2 in the count to Cabrera, Brennan skipped a ball back to Cabrera, and the Cardinals lefty threw home for an out. Knizner threw to first to complete the 1-2-3 double play, end the inning, and maintain the lead.

Cardinals power up for rally

The absence of Dylan Carlson (ankle) and Tyler O’Neill (lower back) from the outfield has cleared way for the Cardinals to play Burleson, whose mix of hitting the ball hard and not missing pitches has put him in the lineup awaiting the projected production that follows.

And waiting.

And watching. As he did at the plate in the fifth inning Saturday.

Burleson lofted a 1-0 pitch from Hunter Gaddis deep toward the seats in right field. The ball was high, the wind was blowing in, and there was the question on whether the ball would carry far enough or stay fair enough for a home run. Burleson watched. Burleson waited. And he started trotting as it the rainbow off his bat found a seat for a tie game.

Burleson’ solo homer – his first home run in 20 games and 31 days – started the Cardinals’ power binge. Every other batter in the fifth inning hit a solo homer off Gaddis.

Burleson’s was his fourth homer of the season. Two batters later, Andrew Knizner, starting at catcher Sunday, drilled a home run on a 1-1 pitch into landing beyond right field to give the Cardinals the lead. The homer was Knizner’s fourth. Two batters later, Goldschmidt extended the lead for the Cardinals with his 10th homer of the season.

Monty keeps footing despite falters in first

Before he found his groove and rode it through the first half of the game, Montgomery had to debride what could have been his undoing in the first inning.

Three of the first four batters in the bottom of the first singled, though the inning gathered momentum because of plays not made as much as hits delivered. A ground ball from Jose Ramirez was not turned into the double play it could have been, and a fly ball to right field was not tracked down for an out. Brendan Donovan lost his footing in the turf as he gave chase, and what would have been at least the second out (if not the third) became an RBI single.

Cleveland had a 1-0 lead before Montgomery got a second out, but the lefty held firm from there and did not allow another run until the Cardinals had the lead.