The Latest Breaking News from Willson Contreras

ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals returned from their European excursion with a daunting homestand waiting for them in St. Louis with the defending World Series champion Houston Astros the first foe knocking at their door.

The Cardinals have 13 games left before the regular season pauses for MLB's All-Star break.

WASHINGTON — Rested and refreshed after a day off on Monday, Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson launched a pair of home runs into the night sky, and left-hander Jordan Montgomery kept the Washington Nationals hitters from inflicting any significant damage as the Cardinals matched their longest win streak of the season…

ST. LOUIS — Paul Goldschmidt was not a fan of the premise.

CINCINNATI — At the stadium his teammate Adam Wainwright called “The Devil’s Lair” because of the horrors it's inflicted on his ERA in Cincinnati, Steven Matz continued a downward trend that began with a tumble right there at Great American Ball Park.

Following a depressing start, St. Louis now looks like the best team in the NL Central.

ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals finished their homestand in a similar fashion to how they started it, with Jack Flaherty on the mound and their offense providing a double-digit scoring output in a victory in front of a home crowd.

ST. LOUIS — As opening day approached, manager Oliver Marmol said the player who arguably had the most impressive camp for the Cardinals did so without much fanfare or attention and just excelled all spring, quietly.

ST. LOUIS — The Los Angeles Dodgers were behind the eight-ball from the start of Thursday’s game.

ST. LOUIS — The rules of the hamburger phone are simple as initially codified during a charter flight to Chicago and just in time to make some history Thursday.

“In recent days, we have seen batters attempt to induce pitchers to violate the pitch timer regulations by creating the appearance that they are in the batter’s box and alert to the pitcher ... when, in actuality, they have not fully entered the batter’s box,” MLB senior vice president Michael…