The St. Louis Cardinals improved to 18-19 on the season and extended their winning streak to four games with a 2-1 victory over the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. Alec Burleson delivered the decisive hit with a two-out, two-run single off standout Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes. Meanwhile, second baseman Brendan Donovan pushed his hitting streak to seven games with a single in the first inning.
Brendan Donovan’s early-season surge has gotten All-Star consideration.
It’s still early in the season, but the St. Louis Cardinals’ decision to hold onto Brendan Donovan is looking smarter by the day. You could argue that the versatile utilityman has been the team’s most valuable player so far. Donovan currently boasts a .333 batting average—fifth among all MLB hitters and tops among qualified second basemen—and his .389 on-base percentage ranks 16th league-wide, tied with Boston’s Kristian Campbell.
His impressive start hasn’t gone unnoticed. In his MLB All-Star Game predictions last Friday, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter projected Donovan as the National League’s starting second baseman, slotted eighth in the batting order.
If Donovan keeps up this pace through July, he could become the Cardinals’ first All-Star Game starter since Nolan Arenado in 2023, and the franchise’s first second baseman to earn that honor since Matt Carpenter in 2013. It would be a well-deserved recognition for Donovan and an exciting moment for Cardinals fans.
However, he’s currently the only Cardinal projected to make the All-Star roster. If that projection holds, it would mark the third straight season St. Louis sends just one player to the Midsummer Classic. Still, with the team heating up—thanks in part to recent series wins over the Mets and Pirates—Donovan has clearly been the engine behind their resurgence. A potential All-Star nod would be a major milestone for both him and the club. Let’s hope a few more Cardinals join him in July.
