NEW YORK -- When the clubhouse celebration following the Cardinals¡¯ best offensive day of the season ended -- and the roar from 42,768 mostly stunned fans at Yankee Stadium finally subsided -- second-year outfielder Jordan Walker was presented with two game balls by which he could remember his historic day.

To commemorate the first five-hit day of his MLB career, the 22-year-old Walker was presented with the balls by Cardinals teammates and staffers. On the first ball, veteran right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson playfully wrote the wrong date (Sept. 2 instead of Sept. 1) and the wrong location (New York¡¯s Citi Field instead of Yankee Stadium) just to keep the former top prospect humble. The other ball, however, will likely have more significance for the young outfielder who has had to endure two humbling Triple-A demotions this season.

That baseball, snagged and saved by bullpen catcher Jamie Pogue, was the one Walker hit a Statcast-projected 422 feet for a home run that keyed his five-hit day and propelled the Cardinals to a 14-7 rout of the Yankees and a series win.

¡°When I look back and see [memorabilia] things like that, I remember just how fun this game is,¡± said Walker, who became the youngest Cardinal to have five hits in a game since Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby did it at 20 years old in 1916, per MLB.com¡¯s Sarah Langs. ¡°Playing it brings me joy, and sometimes it¡¯s hard to find [joy]. But at the end of the day, I do like playing the game, and stuff like this helps me remember that.¡±

Walker¡¯s four singles and one home run helped key a Cardinals attack that smashed a season-best 21 hits off Yankees starter Nestor Cortes and six relievers. Every Cardinals starter had a hit, and Lars Nootbaar (3-for-5, one home run, five RBIs) and Brendan Donovan (3-for-5, three runs scored) had big days on each side of Walker in the lineup. Paul Goldschmidt added three hits (two doubles), while righty slugger Luken Baker -- strategically placed in the No. 2 hole against the lefty Cortes -- had a two-run homer in St. Louis¡¯ four-run fourth inning.

Statistically one of MLB¡¯s least productive teams with runners in scoring position in 2024, the Cardinals finally got the power production they have been seeking for much of the season to get back over .500 for the first time in nearly three weeks. St. Louis, which came into Sunday 27th in the Majors in batting average, 30th in home runs and 25th in RBIs with runners in scoring position, went 8-for-18 in those spots Sunday.

Nootbaar had the biggest swing of the day with a clutch bases-clearing double in the seventh inning after the Yankees had rallied from 7-2 down to knot the score.

¡°Hitting with runners in scoring position is very big, and being able to cash in those runs -- I didn¡¯t know the stat, but 8-for-18, we¡¯ll take that every day of the week,¡± Nootbaar said.

With two wins over the Yankees, the Cardinals (69-68) climbed above .500 for the first time since Aug. 12, when they were 60-59. In a 22-game stretch against teams with winning records, the Cardinals are 9-7 against the Dodgers, Brewers, Twins, Padres and Yankees, with three games against the Brewers and three vs. the Mariners on deck. They are still hopeful of getting back in the playoff chase.

¡°We came into New York and won two out of three, we won the last two against San Diego and we¡¯ve got Milwaukee ahead of us,¡± Nootbaar said. ¡°We¡¯ve been playing a lot of good teams, but it¡¯s almost in our favor because they are ahead of us and we can try to knock them down.¡±

Walker knocked down hit after hit by laying off the pitches off the plate that caused him to struggle in the series opener. On Sunday, he went the other way for two of his three singles rather than flying open and trying to pull the ball.

¡°This isn¡¯t the easiest environment to play, so for him to go out and do what he did, it was important,¡± Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. ¡°You need some confidence in this game, and games like that do exactly that.¡±

Confidence might have been an issue when Walker was sent to Triple-A Memphis after hitting just .155 over his first 20 games of the season, then getting demoted a second time after going 1-for-11 over a four-game period from Aug. 12-18. Now that he¡¯s back, the Cards have informed him that he¡¯s going to play every day. Assuredly, they are hoping for more days like Sunday.

¡°I think five-hit days are sick and they¡¯re nice to have,¡± Walker joked. ¡°I¡¯m always confident in my hitting abilities. But I¡¯ll take this one, for sure.¡±