By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals had to come from behind, but the Redbirds bats came alive to snap a five game losing skid, helping to beat the Miami Marlins on the road in their series opener, winning 8-3 on Monday night at Loan Depot Park.
The Marlins took the lead in the first inning, Otto Lopez hitting a leadoff double and later scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jakob Marsee. In the fourth inning, Miami extended their lead on a solo home run by Eric Wagaman, his eighth of the season, entering the fifth inning leading the Cardinals 2-0 before St. Louis took over the game.
Lars Nootbaar opened the scoring for the Cardinals in the fifth with an RBI single, driving in Pedro Pagés after he walked with one out in the inning. The bases wound up loaded after Iván Herrera walked, and after a Marlins pitching change, St. Louis tied up the game on an Alec Burleson single, scoring Nathan Church, and a sacrifice fly by Willson Contreras gave the Redbirds the lead bringing home Nootbaar for the 3-2 lead.
The Marlins tied up the game in the sixth inning as Marsee drove in another run, this time with an RBI double scoring Agustín Ramírez who led off the inning with a double. In the seventh, the Cardinals took the lead back though, Burleson driving in another run with an RBI single, bringing home Herrera who had reached on a fielding error with two outs, to take the 4-3 lead for the Redbirds into the bottom half of the inning.
St. Louis extended the lead in the eighth inning adding an insurance run on an RBI single by Pagés, driving in Nolan Gorman who walked to open the inning, and then added their final three runs in the ninth inning with the first coming on passed ball, Garrett Hampson coming in to score, before Gorman's two run home run drove in Contreras for the final runs of the game.
Matt Svanson earned the win in relief, improving to 2-0 on the season, pitching two innings and giving up one hit while striking out one. At the plate, Burleson was 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Gorman was 1-for-4 with a walk, the home run and two RBIs, while Nootbaar was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
St. Louis and Miami continue their series tomorrow. Michael McGreevy (4-2, 4.41 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Edward Cabrera (6-6, 3.34 ERA) for the Marlins. First pitch is at 5:40 with coverage beginning around 5:30 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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