Wednesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 8, Dodgers 6 (10 innings)
By Rob Rains
Thomas Saggese is going to find it hard to leave Los Angeles when this series against the Dodgers is over.
After hitting two home runs in the opening game, Saggese homered again on Wednesday night and his infield single in the 10th inning gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night and opened up a three-run inning that gave them their second consecutive victory.
The Cardinals trailed 3-0 four batters into the Dodgers’ half of the first inning and trailed 5-2 after the sixth before tying the game on Leo Bernal’s first career home run, a two-run shot in the seventh, and a pinch-hit double by Joshua Baez and a sacrifice fly by Alec Burleson in the eighth, his 101st RBI of the season.
In the 10th, Nathan Church singled to advance the automatic runner to third before Saggese’s go-ahead hit, then Baez drove in the next two runs with his second double of the night.
In the first two games of the series, Saggese – starting at shortstop because of the injuries to Masyn Winn and JJ Wetherholt, has gone 4-of-7 with the three homers, a sacrifice fly, a walk, five runs scored and six RBIs.
Here is how Wednesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had only one baserunner through the first five innings against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jose Fermin, who walked leading off the third but was erased in a double play. Fermin also got the Cardinals’ first hit, a leadoff single in the sixth, and after a fielder’s choice grounder, Saggese hit his third homer in the two games … Jordan Walker doubled in front of Bernal’s homer in the seventh. Bernal has two RBIs in each of his first two games.
On the mound: The Cardinals used eight pitchers to get the win. Brycen Mautz started the bullpen game, giving up a three-run homer to Freddy Freeman, and retired only three of the 10 hitters he faced … Gordon Graceffo worked three scoreless innings, striking out six … George Soriano allowed a two-run homer to Mookie Betts in the sixth … Riley O’Brien picked up his 35th save, allowing the automatic runner to score in the 10th.
Key stat: In his first 32 games this season, before he was optioned to Memphis in June, Saggese had one home run and four RBIs. In the three games he has started since he was called back up, he has gone 7-of-11 with the three homers, six RBIs and seven runs scored.
Worth noting: The home run by Freeman in the first inning was the Dodgers’ only hit in 18 at-bats with a runner in scoring position. They left 13 runners on base … Nolan Gorman struck out in all three of his at-bats … Ramon Urias, who came out of Tuesday night’s game with more discomfort in his elbow, was able to pinch-hit for Gorman and finished the game at third base … Baez now has 11 hits with the Cardinals – six homers, four doubles and one single.
Up next: The Cardinals will start rookie Quinn Mathews on Thursday night as they attempt to complete a sweep of the three-game series. Tarik Skubal is scheduled to start for the Dodgers.
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