CLEVELAND — 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.
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, before an announced crowd of 32,484 at Progressive Field.
“Going all the way back to the first day, that practice [in Spring Training], we talked about being relentless, and I feel like it’s showing up throughout this year,” said Victor Scott II, who had the biggest hit of the game with a two-run double in the sixth. “Everybody is coming to the ballpark with a purpose and for their work and that’s showing up on the field.”
The rally from five runs down topped their comeback from a 5-1 deficit on May 14 in Philadelphia — and secured their 21st come-from-behind victory of the season, which was tied for sixth most in the Majors at the time (pending results of Saturday’s late games).
Additionally, the Cardinals won their fifth straight road game — a mark they hadn’t hit since 2021 when they won their final 11 games of the season. They swept the White Sox in Chicago from June 17-19 and captured the first two in Cleveland to secure their first series win here since 2015.
“Man, they’ve done this all year, and it feels like we’re never out of a game,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “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.”
Shutout winners on Friday when staff ace Sonny Gray threw a complete-game, one-hit masterpiece, the Cardinals won for the ninth time in 12 games. They came into Saturday 3 1/2 games back in the National League Central race, 1 1/2 games back of second-place Milwaukee and a half-game back of the NL’s No. 3 Wild Card.
Down 6-1 after a dreadful fourth inning in which Cleveland plated six runs, the Cardinals showed life in the fifth when Brendan Donovan walked, Masyn Winn doubled him to third and Alec Burleson dumped a single into left to pull the Cards within 6-3.
An inning later, the first five Cards reached on hits, and they tied the game at six when Scott drilled a double into right-center. From there, Donovan gave the Redbirds the lead with a sacrifice fly and Scott scored on an RBI groundout by Winn to make it 8-6.
The lefty-hitting Scott came into the day batting just .179 against left-handed pitchers, and the Guardians went with southpaw Tim Herrin with his team clinging to a 6-4 lead in the sixth. Marmol contemplated pinch-hitting for the speedster, but he ultimately stuck with Scott because he knew that hitting coach Brant Brown had been drilling with Scott on fixes before the game.
Scott turned around an 89.9 mph slider and drilled it into right to knot the game at 6.
“He was just trying to unlock some of my athleticism because sometimes I can get clammed up and just try to use a put-the-ball in play swing and that defeats my athleticism and takes it out of play,” recalled Scott, who was 2-for-4 on the day.
“We just started implementing more athletic moves so I could be more on time and more adjustable.”
The five-run rally allowed the Cardinals to fully enjoy a day full of major milestones. Rookie Matt Svanson got his first win and a laundry cart ride in the clubhouse, which saw him showered with various liquids. Phil Maton recorded the 500th strikeout of his career when he fanned pinch-hitter Angel Martínez with the bases loaded to end the eighth. Also, Willson Contreras notched his 900th hit and Ryan Helsley recorded the 100th save of his career.
“It’s pretty surreal because you’re not really thinking about it in the moment, but when you think about 100 saves, I don’t know how many people have done that over their careers and it’s probably not that many,” Helsley said.
Winn, who was 3-for-5 with an RBI, said he will remember the day for the Cards’ relentlessness.
“That’s something [hitting coach Brown] harps on a lot, especially at home because our ballpark is hard to hit homers in,” Winn said. “Stringing together all those hits is huge for us. We feel like we’re never out of a game. At the beginning of the year, ‘relentless’ was a big word we wanted to play up to and I think we’ve done a good job of that.”
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