MIAMI — When the Cardinals beat the Marlins on April 6 to improve their record to 5-4, they had no idea how hard it would be to get back above .500 again.
They finally got there on Monday night – 72 days later – and had to play three extra innings to do it.
A loss on April 7 dropped the Cardinals back to .500, and they had six chances since then to see if they climb back above that mark before Monday night’s game – and went 0-6 in those games.
That changed in the game in Miami, after blowing a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning, when Masyn Winn hit a two-run homer in the top of the 12th.
The Marlins scored once in the bottom of the 12th but had the would-be tying run thrown out at the plate by Dylan Carlson to secure the victory.
The Cardinals have won five of their last six games and are 36-35 for the season.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Michael Siani homered in the fifth inning and the Cardinals sent eight batters to the plate and scored three times in the eighth. The big blow was a triple by Ivan Herrera that drove in two runs, before Herrera scored on a single by Brendan Donovan … The Cardinals could not score in the 10th but did push a run across in the 11th on a sacrifice fly by Carlson, only to see the Marlins tie the game in the bottom of the inning … Winn’s home run came after a sacrifice bunt by Siani, his fourth of the season. Winn had struck out in three of his earlier at-bats but also singled in the eighth to snap an 0-of-9 streak.
On the mound: Sonny Gray allowed one run on five hits through the first seven innings, walking one and striking out four. He was allowed to start the eighth and record two outs, but also walked the eighth-place hitter, and was pulled with Jazz Chisholm Jr. coming up for his fourth at-bat; he had beat out an infield single, walked and tripled in his previous at-bats … JoJo Romero relieved and walked Chisholm before giving up a three-run homer that tied the game … Ryan Fernandez left the winning run stranded at third in the 10th … Andrew Kittredge allowed one run in the 11th and in the 12th, gave up a triple to Dee Gordon that cut the Cardinals lead to one before Gordon tried to score on a fly ball to right but was thrown out at the plate by Carlson.
Key stat: Over their last eight games, Cardinals starters have allowed a total of eight earned runs over 47 2/3 innings, an ERA of 1.51. The starters have averaged six innings pitched over that stretch.
Worth noting: This was the longest game for the Cardinals by innings since they won a 13-inning game at Cincinnati on Aug. 31, 2022, getting a home run from Lars Nootbaar in that inning … The Cardinals had just one extra-inning home run last year, from Nolan Arenado in the 10th … Willson Contreras will begin his rehab assignment on Tuesday night, serving as the DH for Memphis.
Looking ahead: Lance Lynn will get the start on Tuesday night in the second game of the series. The starting time has been moved up by 30 minutes, to 5:10 p.m. St. Louis time, because of the Florida Panthers hosting game five of the Stanley Cup Final.
