Bernal Homers, Saggese Delivers as Cards Beat Dodgers in 10

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Bernal Homers, Saggese Delivers as Cardinals Beat Dodgers in 10
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

Leo Bernal’s first major-league hit came Tuesday night.

His first major-league home run did not take much longer.

One night after driving in two runs with his first big-league hit, Bernal went deep Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rally from multiple deficits and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-6, in 10 innings.

The Cardinals trailed 3-0.

They trailed 5-2.

They were being no-hit by Yoshinobu Yamamoto into the sixth inning.

Then the game changed.

José Fermín broke up Yamamoto’s no-hit bid. Thomas Saggese followed with a two-run home run. Bernal added a two-run homer in the seventh. Alec Burleson tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Saggese put the Cardinals ahead in the 10th with a two-strike infield single, and Joshua Báez followed with a two-run double to give St. Louis the breathing room it needed.

Riley O’Brien finished it for his 35th save.

That is how the Cardinals walked out of Dodger Stadium with an 8-6 win and moved back to .500 at 70-70.

It was not clean.

It was not quiet.

It was a September road win against one of the best teams in the National League, and for the Cardinals, that is enough.

St. Louis has spent too much of this season drifting around the break-even mark, trying to find enough momentum to turn a frustrating year into a meaningful final month. The Cardinals are still chasing. They are still imperfect. They are still asking young players to grow on the fly while the games still matter.

Wednesday night, those young players helped win the game.

Bernal, playing in just his second big-league game, delivered the swing that pulled St. Louis within one. Saggese, who homered twice Tuesday, stayed hot with another home run and the go-ahead hit in extras. Báez, coming off the bench, delivered the biggest insurance swing of the night.

That is a good way to win a game in September.

The night started poorly for St. Louis.

The Cardinals used a bullpen game, with rookie left-hander Brycen Mautz opening against a dangerous Dodgers lineup. Los Angeles did not wait long to apply pressure. Shohei Ohtani walked, Tommy Edman was hit by a pitch, and Freddie Freeman followed with a three-run home run to center field.

Just like that, the Dodgers led 3-0.

Freeman’s homer snapped a 47-game homerless drought and gave Los Angeles control before the Cardinals had settled into the game.

The inning could have been worse. Mautz walked more batters and allowed another hit as the Dodgers batted around, but the Cardinals kept the damage at three. That mattered later, even if it did not feel like much at the time.

For five innings, it looked like three runs might be more than enough.

Yamamoto was in complete control.

The Dodgers’ right-hander did not allow a hit through five innings and had the Cardinals searching for any kind of answer. His fastball played. His command was sharp. St. Louis had almost nothing going offensively.

The Cardinals had won Tuesday with five home runs and 13 runs.

For five innings Wednesday, they could not find one hit.

Then Fermín changed the game.

Leading off the sixth, Fermín singled to right field to break up Yamamoto’s no-hit bid. Nathan Church reached on a fielder’s choice, and Saggese came to the plate with a chance to make the inning matter.

He did.

Saggese drove a two-run home run to center field, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 3-2 and immediately turning a quiet night into a game again. It was his third home run of the series, coming one night after his two-homer performance in the Cardinals’ 13-8 win.

That is not a bad two-night stretch.

The Cardinals suddenly had life.

The Dodgers answered quickly.

Mookie Betts hit a two-run home run off George Soriano in the bottom of the sixth, pushing the Dodgers’ lead back to 5-2. It was the kind of answer that usually buries a road team. The Cardinals had just fought their way back into the game, and Betts immediately stretched the lead to three again.

But this version of the Cardinals did not go away.

In the seventh, Jordan Walker singled, and Bernal stepped to the plate with one out.

Then the rookie catcher delivered another first.

Bernal drove a two-run home run off Yamamoto, the first homer of his major-league career, cutting the deficit to 5-4. It came one night after Bernal picked up his first big-league hit, a 107.6 mph two-run single in his MLB debut.

Two nights.

Two milestone swings.

Four runs driven in.

That is quite an introduction.

Bernal has been known for his glove, his arm and his leadership behind the plate, but the Cardinals have also believed there was enough bat coming to make him more than a defense-only catcher. The last two nights offered a quick look at why. He did not just get his first hit and first homer in empty moments. Both swings mattered.

Tuesday’s hit helped build a big lead.

Wednesday’s homer pulled the Cardinals back into a game they eventually won.

That matters.

The Cardinals tied it in the eighth.

Joshua Báez entered as a pinch-hitter and doubled off Tanner Scott. Báez later scored on Burleson’s sacrifice fly, tying the game at 5-5.

It was another productive at-bat from Burleson, who continues to find ways to drive in runs. It also set up Báez for an even bigger swing later in the night.

The Dodgers had their chance in the ninth.

Teoscar Hernández hit a ground-rule double against Justin Bruihl and moved to third on a wild pitch. The winning run was 90 feet away. Dodger Stadium was waiting for one more ball in play to end it.

Bruihl did not let that happen.

Kiké Hernández struck out. Will Smith flied out. The inning ended with the game still tied.

That escape gave the Cardinals one more chance.

They took it.

José Fermín opened the 10th as the automatic runner at second. Nathan Church singled to center, moving Fermín to third. That brought Saggese back to the plate in another big spot.

Saggese did not need a clean line drive.

He needed a run.

With two strikes, he put the ball in play and reached on an infield single to second base. Fermín scored, and the Cardinals had their first lead of the night, 6-5.

It was not the prettiest go-ahead hit.

It was one of the most important.

That is good baseball. Put the ball in play. Make the defense handle it. Force something to happen. In extra innings, with a runner at third and the game sitting there, Saggese did exactly what St. Louis needed.

Then Báez gave the Cardinals the swing that changed the entire inning.

Báez doubled, driving in two runs and pushing the lead to 8-5. That was not window dressing. That was the difference between asking O’Brien to protect a one-run lead in the bottom of the 10th and giving him room to absorb the automatic runner scoring.

That room mattered.

The Dodgers did get a run in the bottom of the 10th when former Cardinal Tommy Edman drove in the automatic runner with a groundout. But O’Brien handled the inning, got the final outs and finished the win for save No. 35.

For a team that keeps playing tight games, O’Brien’s role at the back end continues to be one of the steadier parts of the roster. There have been nights when the ninth has not been simple, but the production is there. Thirty-five saves is a serious number.

Wednesday night added another one.

The box score shows how much work this took.

The Cardinals used eight pitchers. The Dodgers finished with 11 hits and left too many runners on base. Los Angeles had the better start, the early lead and the late chance to win it.

St. Louis had the better finish.

That is why the Cardinals won.

Saggese went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored. Bernal drove in two with his first big-league homer. Báez came off the bench and went 2-for-2 with the two-run double in the 10th. Church had two hits and scored twice. Fermín singled, walked and scored twice. Walker singled and scored.

This was not a game carried by one veteran bat.

It was carried by a wave of younger players who are trying to show they belong in the middle of what comes next.

That is the part that should matter to the Cardinals.

September is not just about the standings. It is also about evaluation. The Cardinals are still trying to win, still trying to stay alive, still trying to give themselves a reason to keep pushing. But they are also learning about the players who might shape 2027 and beyond.

Bernal is part of that.

Saggese is part of that.

Báez is part of that.

Walker is part of that.

Church is part of that.

For two nights in Los Angeles, the kids have not looked overwhelmed by the stage. They have looked like the reason the Cardinals still have something worth watching.

That does not erase the problems.

The Cardinals still fell behind early. The bullpen game started with a three-run first inning. They were nearly no-hit for five innings. They needed 10 innings to finish a game in which the Dodgers missed several chances of their own.

But when the Dodgers opened the door, St. Louis walked through it.

That is something.

This was the second straight night the Cardinals beat the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Tuesday was the loud one, with 13 runs and five home runs. Wednesday was the grind, with the Cardinals having to climb back from three different deficits before finally taking the lead in the 10th.

Those are two very different wins.

Both count the same.

The Cardinals have now taken the first two games of the series and have a chance to do something even bigger Thursday. A sweep at Dodger Stadium would not fix the season by itself, but it would change the tone of the road trip and give St. Louis something it has been searching for most of the summer.

Real momentum.

The Cardinals are back to .500.

Again.

Now the question is whether they can finally push past that line and stay there.

Wednesday night gave them the chance.

Yamamoto carried a no-hitter into the sixth.

The Dodgers built leads of 3-0, 5-2 and 5-4.

Freeman and Betts homered.

The winning run stood at third base for Los Angeles in the ninth.

And still, the Cardinals won.

Saggese started the comeback.

Bernal made more history.

Burleson tied it.

Báez gave them breathing room.

O’Brien finished it.

The Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 8-6, in 10 innings.

And for one more night in Los Angeles, the future showed up right on time.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.

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Photo Credit: Leo Bernal, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB