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It wasn鈥檛 that Alec Burleson couldn鈥檛 hear Masyn Winn as they readied for the back-to-back at-bats that would spur one of the biggest, single-inning comebacks in Cardinals鈥� opening day history.

Winn had plenty of volume.

Burleson just had his focus elsewhere.

鈥淗e was in my ear the whole at-bat,鈥� Burleson said an hour or so later Thursday night in the Cardinals鈥� clubhouse. 鈥淚 told him I didn鈥檛 even register what he was saying. I heard him. I heard him.鈥�

Standing a few feet away, Winn said: 鈥淚 was just yelling.鈥�

When manager Oli Marmol and others within the clubhouse said they wanted to adopt a 鈥渓ouder鈥� style for these 2026 Cardinals this wasn鈥檛 exactly what they had in mind.

The sixth inning was.

Down by six after allowing six to Tampa Bay in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals gave a sellout crowd of 45,037 at Busch Stadium the show they鈥檝e been promising all spring. They said they wanted to be relentless: The first seven consecutive batters of the inning reached base. They said they wanted to be exhausting: The Rays needed three pitchers to get three outs and threw a total of 44 pitches to do so. They said they wanted to beat teams in a variety of ways: The Cardinals offered a sampler of offense, from groundball singles to ground-rule doubles, from bunt singles to Burleson鈥檚 432-foot blast that put the Cardinals ahead for good.

They said they would be loud, and it doesn鈥檛 get much louder than sending 11 batters to the plate and flipping a six-run deficit into a 9-7 victory on opening day.

鈥淲e promised a louder game, a relentless approach to what we do, and we鈥檙e going to continue to hold ourselves to that for 162. Today is Day 1,鈥� Marmol said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 everyone knowing their part in this and not trying to be something that they鈥檙e not is going to be important. What makes you good? Bring that to the table every day. And I feel like that is exactly what took place that inning.

鈥淢an, there is a little something with each one of those at-bats,鈥� the manager continued. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 hate the Burleson one.鈥�

We鈥檒l get to it.

The rally was a parade of baserunners that came from both production and personality. The elements of individual offensive abilities that the Cardinals spent so much of spring talking about and working on came together.

A look inside the inning from nine different types of contributions:

The Spark

The Rays cobbled together some fortunate bounces and meek hits with some well-struck singles to pepper the Cardinals with six run, all of them coming after the first out in the top of the sixth. Three different Cardinals relievers appeared in the inning. The Rays sent 11 batters to the plate, and by the time Chris Roycroft got the third out, the Rays led, 7-1.

Burleson led off the next inning with Winn in his ear and one thing on his mind.

鈥淲e knew we were going to have to chip away,鈥� Burleson said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 think it was going to be in one inning. It was more of a mindset. You don鈥檛 see a lot of eight-run innings in big-league baseball. I think when you get in that situation, you鈥檙e just trying to have good at-bats. You鈥檙e trying to string along good at-bats.鈥�

Lefty Ian Seymour began the inning for the Rays, replacing starter Drew Rasmussen. The sheer length of the top of the inning influenced Burleson鈥檚 initial approach as anything he expected from Seymour in the left-on-left matchup.

He took the first pitch just to settle in.

It was a ball.

Burleson fouled of the next pitch, missed on a changeup, and then ignored a fastball outside the zone. When Seymour went back to the changeup, Burleson pulled it for a single.

The comeback was afoot.

The Cleanup

The most discussed choice Marmol made with the opening day lineup was putting Winn at cleanup. Either Ivan Herrera or Winn was going to bat cleanup to get a right-handed bat in that spot and disrupt late-game matchups. Marmol placed Herrera at No. 2 to get him in a spot for more at-bats, and that put Winn at cleanup, which would highlight his contact while also reducing the likelihood of a mid-lineup double play.

For, Winn it was a nod to his place on the team despite, as he said, 鈥渉itting less than my weight鈥� during spring training.

His approach had to be the same regardless of spot in the lineup.

Just like Cardinals鈥� approach, when they鈥檙e down six as Winn came to the plate with Burleson at first, had to be the same regardless of the score.

鈥淭his is something that we talked a lot about going through spring 鈥� the energy that this team needs to have if we鈥檙e going to be successful,鈥� Winn said. 鈥淵ou said that firsthand today. It didn鈥檛 matter what it was. If it was a bunt single, everybody in the dugout is getting crazy. (Nathan) Church backside single, obviously a Burly bomb, a JJ (Wetherholt) bomb. It just seems like everybody is pulling on the same string. That was fun to be a part of it.鈥�

His part?

He roped Seymour鈥檚 2-2 cutter to left for a double, putting him and Burleson in scoring position.

The Contact

An emphasis of spring for No. 5 hitter and third baseman Nolan Gorman was to make more contact without sacrificing any power. He made significant strides during March and by the end of Grapefruit League play, Gorman had almost as many walks (seven) as strikeouts (eight) and more hits than either (10). A home run would have obviously dented the Rays鈥� lead, but with two teammates in scoring position and no outs, Gorman knew contact was king.

鈥淭hink small and get the ball forward,鈥� Gorman said.

In a lefty-on-lefty duel, Gorman fell behind 0-2. He fouled off a pitch to stay alive. And then, against Seymour, did what he could with the final pitch he saw.

He made contact.

The bounding grounder that came off his bat slipped past the diving second baseman and into center field for a two-run single that was the first chomp into the Rays鈥� lead.

Winn scored from second base to pull the Cardinals鈥� deficit to 7-3 and instead of chasing the three-run homer, Gorman鈥檚 approach to look for the one-run fly ball or groundout netted him two RBIs.

鈥淲e talked a lot during spring training about being relentless and not ever giving in,鈥� Gorman said. 鈥淚 think we did a really good job of that today. We could have easily just folded. We went out there and took good at-bats and did something. We all clicked at the right time.鈥�

The Stack: Carry, Oppo, Poke

With Gorman at first, Jordan Walker jumped the first pitch he saw from Seymour and sent it sizzling out to center field. Walker tagged a changeup on the line, and center fielder Cedric Mullins had difficulty reading the ball. It appeared to be a liner right toward him until it carried over his head and out of reach. Walker鈥檚 first double of the season put him and Gorman in scoring position for Nathan Church.

The first of the trio of players likely to get starts in left field this week, Church felt the six-run burst by the Rays in the top of the sixth spurred the Cardinals.

鈥淚 think it lit a fire under us,鈥� he said.

A left-handed batter against lefty Seymour, Church simplified what he was looking for. He hunted a pitch over the middle of the plate or on the outside of it. He got ahead in the count, 3-0, before Seymour landed two called strikes with a sinker. Seymour went back to the sinker and Church laced it to the opposite field for a two-run single.

The Cardinals trailed by two and the Rays hastened to their setup relievers.

Right-hander Garrett Cleavinger entered, and Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages mimicked what so many of his teammates did in the inning. He got deep into the count, remained comfortable with two strikeouts, and then poked a single up the middle.

鈥淥nce they started bringing their dudes in,鈥� Burleson said, 鈥渨e knew we had them on their heels kind of a little bit.鈥�

The Bunt

Every day of spring training that the Cardinals had practice, Victor Scott II had bunting practice. He would often meet with coach Jon Jay and a rotating cast of teammates on the short field to go through a series of bunt drills. They included pushing bunts toward third, dragging bunts down the first-base line, and landing bunts for situational success.

Scott said routinely that something as small as a bunt had to be a big part of his game this year, and that required a regimen to stay sharp for moments just like Thursday鈥檚.

With a new reliever in, two teammates on base, and no one out, Scott spied a chance to bunt with only upside.

鈥淚 thought it was funny just because (third baseman Junior) Caminero was so far in like he knew it was going to happen,鈥� Wetherholt said. 鈥淰ic just laid a beauty down. He would have had to be playing five feet even more in, and at that point if he decides to swing I might die. It was just a beautiful bunt.鈥�

Scott鈥檚 bunt single loaded the bases for Wetherholt.

The Productive Outs

Three innings after he led off the third inning with his first major-league homer, his first major-league hit, and the Cardinals鈥� first run of the season, Wetherholt had the bases loaded and the tying run in scoring position.

His goal was 鈥渏ust trying to hit a fly ball.鈥�

Cleavinger obliged with elevated breaking balls, and Wetherholt connected on a 0-1 sweeper. The ball left is bat at 101.3 mph and it travelled 362 feet 鈥� just hard enough and far enough for it to cause a stir as possible something more than a sacrifice fly. (鈥淲ould have loved it if it went a little further,鈥� Wetherholt grinned later.) Church scored, and Pages advanced to third as the tying run.

He came home one swing later when Ivan Herrera lofted another fly ball to right field for second consecutive sacrifice fly. The Cardinals first two outs of the innings produced runs.

鈥淲hen that snowball gets to building up, man, it鈥檚 not easy to stop all that momentum,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淪o it was cool to see how many base hits and situation (hits) 鈥� I mean, things that we practiced in spring training. To see it coming to fruition is really cool.鈥�

The Exclamation Point

Standing at his locker after the win, Burleson articulated what the lineup鈥檚 track record suggests and why the Cardinals spent so much time this spring describing an offense that would be more persistent than power-packed. Said Burleson: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to outslug other teams.鈥�

He also added: 鈥淐ontrary to what happened.鈥�

What happened was the punctuation on the Cardinals鈥� game-flipping rally. With two outs and reliever Griffin Jax in the game, Burleson fell into a 1-2 count. He fouled off two sweeping sliders to keep the count 1-2. Jax overcooked a fastball, at 98.6 mph, and Burleson hammered it 432 feet for the longest home run by a National League player so far this season.

An inning that began with a six-run Rays lead ended in showcase of the offense the Cardinals say they must have to compete.

They just don鈥檛 expect it to happen all at once.

鈥淚 really do feel like this group, regardless of situation, they鈥檙e going to play in a way where it鈥檚 exciting to watch them every inning,鈥� Marmol said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to give into a whole lot. I鈥檓 glad we were able to show that today.鈥�