Walker Delivers Late as Cardinals Rally Past Athletics, Win Series
Cardinal Chronicle
Walker Delivers Late as Cardinals Rally Past Athletics, Win Series
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Cardinals looked like they had let another one slip away Thursday afternoon. Then Jordan Walker stepped to the plate in the ninth inning and changed the story.
Walker homered earlier in the game and later drove in the go-ahead run with a ninth-inning double, lifting St. Louis to a 5-4 win over the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. The victory gave the Cardinals the series and sent them home from California with a winning road trip, the kind of finish that matters when a club is trying to keep pace in a crowded National League Central.
St. Louis improved to 25-18, while the Athletics fell to 22-21. The Cardinals scored two runs in the ninth after trailing 4-3, with Ivan Herrera tying the game on a two-out single before Walker followed with the decisive double.
Michael McGreevy gave the Cardinals exactly what they needed from the rotation, working six innings and allowing one run on five hits. He walked one, struck out three, and lowered his ERA to 2.10. It was another steady turn from a pitcher who continues to answer questions with results instead of noise.
The Athletics jumped in front immediately when Nick Kurtz opened the bottom of the first with a solo home run to center field. McGreevy settled in from there, and the Cardinals helped him with defense, including Walker taking a home run away from Tyler Soderstrom in the third inning.
St. Louis finally broke through in the fifth when Victor Scott II hit a solo home run to right field, tying the game at 1. An inning later, Walker put the Cardinals in front with his 12th home run of the season, a solo shot to right. Nolan Gorman followed later in the inning with an RBI single that scored Masyn Winn and stretched the lead to 3-1.
That should have been enough. It wasn’t.
The seventh inning turned the game on its head. Zack Gelof homered off Ryne Stanek to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2. JoJo Romero entered and could not stop the inning from unraveling. Shea Langeliers delivered a two-run single to shallow center, scoring Colby Thomas and Jeff McNeil and giving the Athletics a 4-3 lead.
For a moment, it had the feel of one of those frustrating road-trip finales — good starting pitching, enough offense early, then a late lead lost.
But the Cardinals had one more push.
Yohel Pozo, who finished with three hits, opened the ninth with a single. Thomas Saggese entered as a pinch-runner. With two outs, Herrera singled to left, scoring Saggese and tying the game at 4. JJ Wetherholt moved to second on the play, and Walker followed with a double to right that scored Wetherholt and put St. Louis back in front.
Matt Svanson earned the win after throwing a scoreless eighth inning, allowing one hit and striking out two. Riley O'Brien handled the ninth, working around a leadoff hit batter and striking out two to earn his 13th save.
The Cardinals finished with nine hits. Walker went 2-for-5 with a home run, double, and two RBIs. Pozo went 3-for-4. Scott added his second homer of the season, and Gorman drove in his 23rd run.
For the Athletics, Kurtz went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and an RBI. Langeliers had three hits and two RBIs, and Gelof homered for the second straight day.
The Cardinals now return home to open a weekend series against the Kansas City Royals at Busch Stadium. Dustin May is scheduled to start Friday night for St. Louis.
The road trip was not perfect. Few are. But the Cardinals came west, took care of enough business, survived a late bullpen scare, and rode Walker’s bat to the kind of win that feels better on the flight home.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
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