Cardinals pull out victory over Giants
SAN FRANCISCO -- Kolten Wong's sacrifice fly capped a two-run rally in the top of the ninth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals overtook the San Francisco Giants for a 3-2 victory Saturday night.
Trailing 2-1 and two outs away from a third consecutive loss in the series, the Cardinals now will go for a split when a pair of rookie right-handers, St. Louis' Alex Reyes and the Giants' Albert Suarez, square off Sunday afternoon.
The loss dropped the Giants (79-69) five games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (84-64) in the National League West and into a tie with the New York Mets (79-69) in the NL wild-card race.
The Cardinals (77-71) are two back of the Giants and Mets.
The Cardinals trailed by a run when Jedd Gyorko singled off the fifth Giants pitcher, Sergio Romo, with one out in the ninth.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy went to Santiago Casilla, and after pinch-runner Tommy Pham stole second, Yadier Molina drew a walk.
Randal Grichuk then singled to tie the score, sending pinch-runner Jose Martinez to third.
Left-hander Matt Reynolds replaced Casilla, but Wong greeted him with a liner deep enough into center field to allow Martinez to tag and score easily with the decisive run.
Seung Hwan Oh, who took over in the eighth inning, allowed two-out singles to Eduardo Nunez and Denard Span in the ninth before getting pinch-hitter Conor Gillaspie to pop up to end the game.
Oh (5-3) got the win. Castilla (2-5) took the loss.
Giants starter Jeff Samardzija appeared headed for his first win in September with 6 2/3 innings of five-hit ball, limiting to the Cardinals to one run, a product of Brandon Moss' home run three batters into the game.
Samardzija walked four and struck out four.
Will Smith, Javier Lopez and Derek Law combined to retire four consecutive batters, allowing the Giants to take a 2-1 lead into the ninth.
Wong reached base in three of his four plate appearances with a single and two walks for the Cardinals, who improved their best-in-baseball road record to 44-30.
Moss' homer was his 27th of the season.
Cardinals starter Mike Leake pitched the first six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three.
Nunez, Span and Hunter Pence had two hits apiece for the Giants, who fell to 2-4 on their seven-game homestand.
The Giants out-hit the Cardinals 9-7.
For the second time in three nights, the Giants took a lead in the middle of the game on a sacrifice fly by a pitcher.
This time it was Samardzija in the fifth inning, after singles by Eduardo Nunez and Denard Span had put runners at the corners with no out out.
Samardzija gave the Giants a 2-1 lead with his flyball to right field, but a relay throw from Stephen Piscotty nailed Span trying to advance, turning it into a double play.
The Giants had erased the 1-0 deficit created by Moss' first-inning homer with a run of their own in the second. A single by Hunter Pence, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, and double by Brandon Belt produced the run.
NOTES: Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman threw out the game's ceremonial first pitch. ... The Cardinals held a 10-minute team meeting before taking the field for pregame warmups. ... With the Giants cancelling pregame batting practice for a third consecutive night, the Cardinals took advantage of the wide-open spaces in the outfield to play football. Among the participants: RHP Adam Wainwright, an all-star wide receiver and all-district placekicker at Glynn Academy in Georgia. ... Cardinals LF Matt Holliday (fractured thumb) waved off a scheduled live batting practice session for the second time in a week because of swelling in the thumb. His season is now in doubt. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants would take batting practice in Los Angeles on Monday night to get acquainted with the sight lines before the opener of their series against the Dodgers.