NEW YORK — When Kyle Gibson walked off the mound with a 6-1 lead at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, he was six outs away from getting his first win since July 7.
While Gibson could do nothing but watch, those last two innings seemed to last about as long as the wait since that last victory.
The Cardinals survived Giancarlo Stanton’s bases loaded double that just missed being a game-tying grand slam by a couple of feet in the eighth before Ryan Helsley stranded the tying and would-be winning runs on base in the ninth to finally secure the victory.
The ninth inning began with a pitch-clock violation resulting in a strikeout. Juan Soto doubled with two outs and the Cardinals intentionally walked Aaron Judge before Helsley struck out Austin Wells on a 3-2 pitch.
The win was the first by the Cardinals after losing their only seven games in the Bronx since another Gibson, Bob, won game five of the 1964 World Series.
Here is how Saturday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Brendan Donovan hit a three-run homer as the Cardinals scored four runs in the third inning, only the 23rd home run by the Cardinals this season with a runner in scoring position … Back-to-back doubles from Lars Nootbaar and Ivan Herrera gave the Cardinals another run in the sixth and Herrera was able to score on a wild pitch and a throwing error, the only two hits by the Cardinals after the third inning as the Yankees bullpen retired the final 11 batters in order … Jordan Walker was 0-of-4 and struck outy three times.
On the mound: Gibson had gone eight starts since his last win and had a 6.91 ERA in five August starts before holding the Yankees to one run over seven innings, allowing five hits, not walking a batter and striking out six … Matthew Liberatore allowed four consecutive singles with two outs in the eighth, two of which did not get out of the infield, before Andrew Kittredge relieved and gave up the double to Stanton, who was pinch-hitting, on his first pitch. He was able to get out of the inning and turn the one-run lead over to Helsley, who earned his 42nd save.
Key stat: The Cardinals have hit 139 home runs this season but only 16 percent have come with a runner on either second or third, and their 23 homers with a man in scoring position are the fewest in the major leagues. This was only their third homer in those situations out of 27 they hit in August.
Worth noting: Outfielder Tommy Pham was claimed off waivers by the Royals and will be eligible for the postseason should the Royals advance to play in October … Rosters can expan to 28 players on Sunday and the Cardinals are expected to activate pitcher Steven Matz from the injured list and perhaps outfielder Michael Siani, who has been on a rehab assignment at Double A Springfield … The Cardinals finished August with a 12-16 record.
Looking ahead: Miles Mikolas will get the start on Sunday in the final game of the series.
