Pedro Pagés hit a two-run homer off Logan Gilbert in the eighth inning, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.
“I’m just living my dream,” Pagés said. “I’ve worked so hard for this. I’m going to keep grinding and I’m going to enjoy it.”
His teammates were thrilled with the moment.
“It was so cool. The dugout loved every second of it,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “To come up with that homer there, that was awesome to see.”
Jordan Walker was hit by a pitch before Pagés hit his sixth home run, a drive to left-center on a 1-1 slider.
“In that last at-bat, he started me off with a cutter and then went to a curveball. I thought I’d see a slider right there and he ended up throwing that pitch and I ended up getting a good swing on it,” Pagés said.
“It’s a lot of fun going out there helping the team considering how that guy was throwing against us.”
Gilbert (7-11) struck out 10 batters while allowing only two hits in his second career complete game. He threw 101 pitches, with 65 strikes.
“I left one out over the middle there at the end,” Gilbert said. “That’s how it goes. He put a good swing on it. It was a really competitive ballgame. You throw like 40 good ones and at the end of the night we’re talking about one of them.
That’s baseball. You just tip your cap and move on.”
Andrew Kittredge (4-4) pitched one inning to earn the win, and Ryan Helsley closed the game with his major league-leading 43rd save in 47 chances.
Dylan Moore had a two-out bloop single for Seattle in the ninth inning, but Helsley struck out Julio Rodríguez to end the game.
Kyle Gibson struck out nine batters in 6 2/3 innings for St. Louis, allowing three hits and three walks.
“Pedro and I had a great plan going in,” Gibson said. “A great plan is great but if you can’t execute it, then it doesn’t matter. We were able to keep them guessing and throw all pitches to both sides of the plate, and that’s usually a recipe for success for me.”
