The St. Louis Cardinals scored eight unanswered runs on Saturday in their epic comeback victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field.
The plate explosion gave St. Louis win No. 46 on the season. The Cardinals are now just 3.5 games back in the division and tied for the third National League Wild Card spot (entering Sunday).
MLB.com’s John Denton described Saturday’s comeback aptly.
“A team that prides itself on stringing together hits -- something that often allows them to overcome their lack of home runs -- the Cardinals systematically picked apart the Guardians with seven hits over a two-inning stretch to author their largest come-from-behind win of the season on Saturday,” Denton wrote.
“Once down five runs after four innings, the Cardinals scored two in the fifth and five more times in the sixth inning and pounded out 14 hits to storm past the Guardians, 9-6.”
Denton also shared a postgame soundbite from Cardinals manager Oli Marmol:
“Man, they’ve done this all year, and it feels like we’re never out of a game. When we gave up that six-spot, that was a big inning for them, but you refocus and try to chip away. We put two on the board [in the fifth]. And we know there’s a time to slug and a time to hit and we were able to string together some hits.”
St. Louis rising star Masyn Winn (3-for-5 on Saturday) echoed Marmol’s comments on the team’s never-say-die attitude, per Denton:
“Stringing together all those hits is huge for us. We feel like we’re never out of a game.”
It wasn’t just Winn helping St. Louis secure the win in the batter’s box. Victor Scott II went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras both went yard. Alec Burleson continued his torrid stretch with a two-run single.
The Cardinals are firing on all cylinders. Marmol is doing a magnificent job and vibes are excellent with this ball club.
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