Brendan Donovan delivered a two-run single, while Lars Nootbaar added an RBI triple, helping the St. Louis Cardinals stage a comeback in the eighth inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 on Saturday night.
Playing in front of their first sellout crowd since opening day, the Cardinals scored four runs with two outs in the eighth inning, marking their ninth win in 11 games. This victory came after a seven-game losing streak.
Matt Carpenter came off the bench to hit a single, tying the game, with Alec Burleson sliding headfirst to touch home plate just before being tagged by catcher Miguel Amaya.
“It was so close,” Burleson said. “I was just trying to get to the plate as fast as I could with my hand.”
Donovan followed with a single to left field, putting the Cardinals ahead 6-4 and forcing Mark Leiter Jr. out of the game. Nootbaar then added another run with his triple off Porter Hodge.
“He’s got really good stuff,” Donovan commented about Leiter, who had a 0.90 ERA and limited left-handed hitters to a .149 average. “I was just trying to hit something hard.”
In the ninth inning, Ryan Helsley gave up RBI singles to Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger, but he managed to retire Christopher Morel on a groundout to secure his 16th save in 17 chances.
“Just going against one of the best back-end bullpens in the game in that situation, to keep fighting, I really thought we were going to pull that out,” Cubs starter Jameson Taillon said. “That was pretty incredible.”
The Cubs took the lead in the seventh inning with a rally that began after Michael Busch reached base when the ball slipped out of Paul Goldschmidt’s glove while trying to catch a throw from second baseman Nolan Gorman.
After a walk to Swanson, Patrick Wisdom hit an RBI double just inside third base, putting the Cubs ahead.
JoJo Romero earned the win by getting the final out of the seventh inning and pitching a scoreless eighth. “That was a lot of fun,” Burleson said. “That game, just the back and forth, you can’t really describe it.”
