ST. LOUIS — Sunday’s Game Report: Cardinals 2, Guardians 1
In a season when a lot of things didn’t fall the Cardinals’ way, a couple of lucky bounces helped them win the final game of the season at Busch Stadium on Sunday.
A bloop single that landed just in front of the right fielder in the sixth and a wild pitch that let a runner score from second base in the seventh produced the two runs the Cardinals needed to defeat the Guardians.
Those two unlikely runs gave Ryan Helsley just enough margin to pick up his 47th save of the year, leaving him just one save shy of tying Trevor Rosenthal’s team record of 48 saves set in 2015.
In what might have been their final games at home for the Cardinals, Paul Goldschmit was hitless in four at-bats and Matt Carpenter drew a walk in three plate apparances. Both are eligible to become free agents after the season.
The Cardinals are now 79-77 for the season and have six road games remaining in Colorado and San Francisco.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Masyn Winn led off the sixth inning with the Cardinals’ third hit of the game and running with two outs, he was able to score when Nolan Arenado’s fly to short right landed between the right fielder and second baseman … In the seventh, Lars Nootbaar was hit by a pitch with one out and after Pedro Pages walked with two outs, Nootbaar was running from second when ball four to Winn went to the backstop and bounced away, allowing him to score from second … The Cardinals had only five hits in the game, going 0-of-5 with a runner in scoring position.
On the mound: Andre Pallante allowed only one baserunner through the first five innings, on a walk in the first inning, before he was picked off. Myles Straw got the Guardians first hit when he singled on the first pitch of the sixth inning … Straw then stole second and third and scored on a squeeze bunt … That was the only hit allowed by Pallante over his seven innings … Andrew Kittredge pitched around a two-out double in the eighth before Helsley retired the side in order in the ninth … Helsley ended the season 26-of-26 in save opportunities at Busch Stadium and has either saved or won 54 of the Cardinals 78 wins (69 percent).
Key stat: A crowd of 39,100 on Sunday brought the Cardinals total attendance for the year at Busch Stadium to 2,869,783. It’s the first non-Covid season they failed to reach 3 million fans since 2003 and marked their lowest home attendance for a season since they drew 2.6 million in 1997 at Busch Stadium 2.
Worth noting: Despite playing the last three weeks of the season in the majors, Thomas Saggese is still going to be one of the prospects heading to the Arizona Fall League when the Cardinals’ season ends. Ben Johnson from Memphis will be the manager for the Glendale Desert Dogs. The full rosters are expected to be announced this week … The Cardinals finished the year with a home record of 44-37.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals left after the game for Denver where they will have the day off on Monday before opening a three-game series against the Rockies. Michael McGreevy will make his second major-league starter in the first game on Tuesday night.
