Monday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Giants 5
By Rob Rains
Another home run from Ivan Herrera helped the Cardinals start their final road trip of the season on a winning note.
Herrera’s two-run homer came in a four-run fifth inning that carried the Cardinals past the Giants Monday night in the opener of their three-game series in San Francisco.
It was the second game in a row featuring a home run from Herrera, his 18th of the season and seventh in September.
The only player in the National League with more home runs this month than Herrera is the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani with eight. Matt Olson of the Braves and Juan Soto of the Mets have also hit seven.
The win was the third in a row for the Cardinals, who are three games below .500 at 77-80 with five games left in the season.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The home run from Herrera off Justin Verlander rallied the Cardinals from a 4-2 deficit, tying the game. They knocked Verlander out of the game in the fifth with four consecutive hits, a single by Lars Nootbaar, the homer from Herrera, a single by Alec Burleson and a double by Nolan Arenado. An error and a fielder’s choice grounder produced the other runs in the inning … Jose Fermin, a late add to the lineup, had a pair of doubles, drove in a run and scored once … Burleson had a three-hit night with an RBI and a run scored … Six of the Cardinals’ 10 hits went for extra bases, the home run by Herrera and five doubles.
On the mound: The four-run fifth helped Michael McGreevy pick up the win despite allowing five runs in only five innings. Two of the runs came on home runs, from Heliot Ramos in the first and Rafael Devers in the fifth. McGreevy walked three and struck out two in raising his record for the season to 8-3 … The bullpen protected the one-run lead over the final four innings, allowing only one single and a walk in retiring 12 of the final 13 Giants hitters. JoJo Romero earned his eighth save.
Key stat: Herrera’s seven home runs this month have come in 69 at-bats. The rest of the Cardinals combined have hit five home runs in September, in 552 at-bats.
Worth noting: Fermin was inserted into the lineup after Brendan Donovan was a late scratch with stiffness. Donovan also sat out Sunday’s game … Arenado’s career-best streak of 73 games without an error came to an end because of a throwing error in the first inning … Masyn Winn is scheduled to have the arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Thursday in Dallas. The Cardinals believe he will be fully recovered before the start of spring training.
Up next: Andre Pallante will get the start on Tuesday night in the second game of the series.
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