Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Brewers 5
By Rob Rains
Nolan Arenado helped the Cardinals win a game on Friday night with his glove, throwing out the would-be tying runner at the plate in the eighth inning.
On Saturday, he did it with one swing of the bat.
Arenado bailed out closer Ryan Helsley with a walk-off home run with one out in the ninth inning to give the Cardinals the win over the Brewers at Busch Stadium.
The home run came against Trevor Megill, who also allowed a walk-off grand slam to Arenado on Aug. 21 of last season.
The Brewers had tied the game in the top of the ninth on a two-run homer by Jackson Chourio off Helsley.
Arenado’s homer gave the Cardinals back-to-back wins for the first time since April 13-14. It’s only the third time this season they have won two or more consecutive games.
Here is how Saturday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals built a 5-0 lead after four innings before the Brewers began to chip away … Lars Nootbaar, who also drew another leadoff walk in the first, had two hits, drove in two runs and scored twice … Masyn Winn had a pair of doubles and scored two runs … Brendan Donovan also had two hits and an RBI and Pedro Pages contributed a sacrifice fly … Arenado had been 0-of-3 with a walk prior to his home run. It was his third homer of the season and first since April 14, a span of 36 at-bats.
On the mound: Sonny Gray allowed three runs over six innings, although great defensive plays by Victor Scott II and Thomas Saggese in the fifth and sixth innings, as well as picking a runner off second, helped limit that total … Steven Matz, Riley O’Brien and Phil Maton protected the two-run lead before turning the game over to Helsley in the ninth. He gave up a leadoff single and retired Brice Turang on a long fly to center before Chourio’s home run.
Key stat: This was the sixth career walk-off homer for Arenado, his third with the Cardinals.
Worth noting: The Cardinals observed a moment of silence before the game in honor of Walt Jocketty, the team’s longtime general manager who died on Saturday after a long illness. Jocketty was 74 … Jordan Walker had the day off on Saturday. He has just two hits in his last 26 at-bats … The win improved the Cardinals’ record to 10-4 at home compared to 2-11 on the road.
Up next: The Cardinals will send Erick Fedde to the mound on Sunday to try to complete a sweep of the three-game series. Former Cardinal Jose Quintana is scheduled to start for the Brewers.
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