Nolan Gorman hit a home run early and then had an RBI single in the eighth inning when the St. Louis Cardinals scored five runs to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Saturday night.
Nolan Arenado, Alec Burleson, Iván Herrera, and Gorman all hit singles in a row to start the eighth inning against Justin Slaten (2-1). This helped the Cardinals quickly regain the lead after the Red Sox had tied the game in the top of the inning.
“Our lineup is strong from top to bottom,” said Cardinals rookie Masyn Winn, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games. “We all knew it was just a matter of time before it started working well.”
Arenado moved from first to third base on Burleson’s single to right field. He then scored the go-ahead run when Herrera hit a sharp grounder to left field, getting through the Red Sox’s infield.
Gorman added an RBI single, and then Winn’s sacrifice fly made the score 5-2. Two more runs were scored when right fielder Rob Refsnyder made an error while fielding Lars Nootbaar’s RBI single.
“Unfortunately, in baseball, things like that happen. Sometimes the ball goes straight to a fielder, and sometimes it doesn’t,” Slaten said. “That’s just how it goes.”
Nootbaar also contributed with a bases-loaded RBI grounder in the seventh inning for the Cardinals, who have won five out of their last six games. JoJo Romero (1-0) gave up Refsnyder’s pinch-hit RBI double in the eighth inning, and Kyle Leahy pitched a scoreless ninth inning to finish the game.
Boston’s Rafael Devers hit a home run in his fourth consecutive game — this is the third time he’s achieved this in his career. However, the Red Sox have lost four games in a row and 11 out of their last 15.
Connor Wong’s quick thinking helped Boston stop a Cardinals rally in an unusual way in the sixth inning. After relieving starter Kutter Crawford, Brennan Bernardino threw a pitch behind Gorman’s head, which bounced off the bricks behind home plate directly to Wong.
Wong then threw to third base in time to catch Arenado trying to advance. Crawford allowed one run and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out five.
“I think ultimately, we need to score runs. We can’t have these close games all the time, right? Close games put pressure on the bullpen. At some point, we need to start scoring runs,” said Boston manager Alex Cora, whose team has a 3-7 record in Crawford’s starts despite his impressive 2.17 ERA.
Gorman hit a home run in his first at-bat for the second consecutive game, hitting a solo shot down the right-field line in the second inning.
“He’s really powerful with his bat,” teammate Brendan Donovan remarked. “So, I think everyone gets excited every time he’s up at bat. It’s great to watch.”
This continues a recent streak of strong hitting for St. Louis. They hit four home runs in Friday night’s win against Boston and have now hit home runs in six consecutive games, which is their best streak of the season. During this time, the Cardinals have been scoring an average of 6.7 runs per game.
“I think we just realized we need to relax and let our skills shine through and compete, and whatever happens, happens,” Arenado commented.
Devers tied the game in the fourth inning when he hit a low 1-2 pitch from Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas 431 feet into the center-field bleachers. This was the first hit allowed by Mikolas, who managed to escape a one-out jam in the first inning and then retired nine consecutive Boston hitters.
After Gorman made an error at second base on Wong’s hard grounder, advancing Wilyer Abreu to third base with one out, Mikolas struck out Devers and then got Tyler O’Neill to ground into a force play.
The only other hit allowed by Mikolas, who came into the game with the highest ERA among all qualifying starters in the majors, was a one-out double by David Hamilton in the fifth inning. Mikolas walked one batter and struck out four in five innings.
