Lars Nootbaar scored the winning run from second base after a wild pitch, and Andre Pallante only gave up one hit in seven innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday.
Myles Straw’s single in the sixth inning was the only hit Pallante (8-8) allowed during his seven innings. He walked two batters and struck out three.
“He feels out of sync out of the windup and goes to the stretch for the rest of the game,” said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol. “That’s something that he just wouldn’t have done months ago or last year. He is adapting and making adjustments on the fly, and that’s what you want to see out of your guys.”
Andrew Kittredge pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth to earn his major league-leading 47th save, surpassing Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase.
Gavin Williams allowed one run on four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings for the Guardians, who secured the American League Central Division title Saturday night. Williams has only received 18 runs of support in 16 starts this season.
“I felt like I was commanding the ball the best I have all year,” Williams said. “Even the slider was going back foot, going back door with it. I threw some changeups and felt pretty good with it.”
Nootbaar scored from second base when Andrew Walters’ ball four to Masyn Winn bounced past Guardians catcher Austin Hedges to the backstop, giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
Nootbaar had been hit by a pitch from Tim Herrin (5-1) earlier in the inning.
Nolan Arenado hit a two-out RBI single that fell in front of Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel, scoring Winn from first to tie the game at 1-1.
“They’re still playing the game hard, and that’s what you want to see,” Marmol said. “They’re playing for pride as far as just finishing strong. For us to score the way we did today, not a whole lot of offense, but there were some plays where it’s just a matter of getting after it and hustling, and it leads to two runs.”
