ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brendan Donovan hit a two-run single, Lars Nootbaar added an RBI triple and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied in the eighth inning to beat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 on Saturday night.
In front of their first sellout crowd since opening day, the Cardinals scored four times with two outs in the eighth and won for the ninth time in 11 games in a surge that followed a seven-game losing streak.
Matt Carpenter had a pinch-hit single to tie the score, with Alec Burleson sliding headfirst and touching home plate with his left hand just before he was tagged by catcher Miguel Amaya.
“It was so close,” Burleson said. “I was just trying to get to the plate as quickly as I could with my hand.”
Donovan followed by smashing a single into left field to give St. Louis a 6-4 lead and mark Mark Leiter Jr. chased (1-2). Nootbaar added a run with his triple off Porter Hodge.
“He’s got some really good stuff,” Donovan said of Leiter, who came in with a 0.90 ERA while lefties could hit just .149. “I was just trying to hit something hard.”
Ryan Helsley gave up RBI singles to Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger in the ninth, but he retired Christopher Morel on a grounder for his 16th save in 17 chances.
“I just went into that situation against one of the best back-end bullpens in the game and to keep fighting, I really thought we were going to take it out,” Cubs starter Jameson Taillon said. “That was pretty incredible.”
The Cubs went ahead in the seventh with a rally that started after Michael Busch reached base when the ball squirted out of Paul Goldschmidt’s glove as he tried to catch a throw from second baseman Nolan Gorman. After Swanson walked, Patrick Wisdom pulled a tiebreaking RBI double just inside third base to score Busch.
JoJo Romero (2-0) took the final of the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth.
“That was a lot of fun,” Burleson said. “That game, just back and forth, you can’t really describe it.”
The Cubs have lost eight of 11 and have been shutout three times in that stretch. They averaged 2.3 runs in their previous 10 games.
Nico Hoerner hit a two-run double in the fourth, narrowly eliminating a leaping Donovan and hitting the bullpen wall in left field. He then scored on Busch’s single to center to give the Cubs their first lead.
Masyn Winn’s RBI double with two outs into the left field corner in the sixth made it 3-3 and ended Taillon’s outing. Taillon gave up three runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Cubs decided to pass on rookie sensation Shota Imanaga (5-0, 0.84 ERA), the projected starter in Friday night’s cancellation.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: Manager Craig Counsell said OF Ian Happ did not start due to an illness. He pinch hit in the ninth inning and flied out. … LHP Drew Smyly (right hip impingement) rejoined the team after a month on the injured list, and RHP José Cuas was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room for him on the roster.
Cardinals: RHP Giovanny Gallegos, who rejoined the team after a rehab stint at Double-A Springfield, threw a bullpen session.
NEXT ONE
Chicago RHP Javier Assad (4-0, 1.70) was scheduled to face St. Louis ace Sonny Gray (6-2, 2.87) in the series finale on Sunday night.
