Walker Leads Late Rally as Cardinals Edge D-backs 6-5

The St. Louis Cardinals (29-23) held off a late Arizona Diamondbacks (26-26) surge to secure a 6-5 win on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium. Jordan Walker came through with two clutch swings that drove in three runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth. Matthew Liberatore continued to impress, throwing seven innings of one-run ball, striking out four D-backs.

Starting Pitchers

STL: Matthew Liberatore (3-3, 2.73 ERA) – 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 0 BB 

ARI: Merrill Kelly (5-2, 3.52 ERA) – 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 6 K, 1 BB

Scoring Summary

1st Inning 

Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan opened the game with back-to-back singles. Iván Herrera followed with an RBI knock to give St. Louis a 1–0 lead.

5th Inning 

Former Cardinal Randal Grichuk tied the game with a solo home run to left, evening the score at 1-1.

7th Inning 

Alec Burleson singled and Nolan Arenado walked to set up Jordan Walker's bases-clearing double to center, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 edge. Walker later scored on a Yohel Pozo groundout, making it 4-1.

8th Inning 

Arizona wasn't going out easy however. Kyle Leahy took the mound to start the inning, giving up a Ketel Marte double who later scored on a sac fly from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Steven Matz took over, and immediately Josh Naylor smashed a bases-clearing triple to tie it at 4-4. Grichuk followed with a bloop RBI single that landed in between three fielders after some miscommunication, putting the D-backs ahead 5-4.

In the bottom half, Herrera walked and Burleson doubled to put runners in scoring position. Arenado’s RBI groundout tied it, and Walker’s second clutch hit of the afternoon, a single to center, scored Burleson to retake the lead at 6-5.

9th Inning 

Heart attack Ryan Helsley kept it interesting, allowing a walk and a single before striking out Suárez to seal the Cardinals win.

Stats and Notes

Jordan Walker recorded a season-high three RBIs and had multiple hits in a game for the first time since April 13.

The Cardinals have won 15 of their last 19 games.

Liberatore has allowed two or fewer earned runs in eight straight starts and has given up just 11 runs over 47 innings this season.

St. Louis is now 9-8 in one-run games; 7 of their last 11 have been decided by a single run.

Standings Update

With the division-leading Cubs falling 6-4 to the Reds on Saturday, the Cardinals pulled within two games of the NL Central lead.

Betting Recap

Cardinals ML (-125) cashed and the total score went OVER 7.5 (-108) total runs. Eric Sontag’s First 5 Under SGP cashed picture perfectly, with the score tied 1-1 through five innings. Follow along to cash together!

On Deck

Sonny Gray will take the mound for the series finale on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1:15 p.m. CT.

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