ST. LOUIS — Their fourth consecutive win did not come easily for the Cardinals on Monday night.
After Lance Lynn pitched into the seventh inning for only the second time this season, the Cardinals were set up to finish off the Braves in the opener of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.
What started as a 4-1 lead with Ryan Helsley on the mound in the ninth inning, however, quickly changed when the Braves scored twice and had two runner on base before Helsley finally got a game-ending strikeout.
It was the league-leading 27th save for Helsley despite allowing the two runs on two hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
Helsley has not blown a save since his first appearance of the year, on March 30 in Los Angeles in tbe Cardinals’ third game of the season. This was the fourth time he earned a save despite allowing at least one run.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals scored all of their runs in the third inning, getting four consecutive two-out hits. Alec Burleson’s double produced the first run, followed by singles by Willson Contreras, Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan. The last run scored on a designed play when Donovan got caught in a rundown, allowing Gorman to score … Donovan now has at least one RBI in his last seven games … The Cardinals had four hits after the third, three of them infield singles … Donovan had three of their 11 hits, while Burleson also had a first-inning single … Five of their 11 hits came with two strikes.
On the mound: Lynn worked 6 2/3 innings to pick up his second win in his last 12 starts. He allowed four hits, one a home run by Austin Riley in the fifth … Ryan Fernandez stranded an inherited runner to end the seventh, but then survived two walks in the eighth when Ozzie Albies Jr. flew out to the wall in right center to end the inning … Helsley walked the leadoff batter in the ninth, then gave up a single and a one-out walk to load the bases. An RBI single and sacrifice fly got the Braves within a run but Helsley was able to strand the would-be tying run on second.
Key stat: During the team’s four-game winning streak, Burleson and Donovan are a combined 18-of-30 with four homers and 14 RBIs. Burleson has gone 9-of-14 in the four games while Donovan has nine hits in 16 at-bats.
Worth noting: Contreras returned to the lineup just 48 days after suffering a broken arm when he was hit by the swinging bat of J.D. Martinez of the Mets. He was 1-of-4 in the game with one of the third-inning singles and RBIs … Nick Raposo, who had been promoted from Memphis on Saturday when Ivan Herrera went on the IL, was optioned back to Triple A … Reliever Nick Robertson also was activated from the IL and optioned to Memphis … In a significant minor-league transaction, lefthander Quinn Mathews was promoted from Peoria to Springfield, his second promotion of the season. Mathews made just seven starts at High A and for the season is 6-2 in 13 starts with a 2.18 ERA. Mathews, the fourth-round selection in last summer’s amateur draft out of Stanford, has struck out 110 batters in 74 1/3 innings.
Looking ahead: After being scratched from his last scheduled start, Kyle Gibson is set to start on Tuesday night in the second game of the series.
