By MATT PIKE
Iván Herrera had the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, JJ Wetherholt hit a solo home run, and the St. Louis Cardinals edged the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 at Chase Field to open the second half of the MLB season.
With two outs in the first inning and the bases loaded, the Cardinals took the first lead of the game behind Masyn Winn's two-run single, scoring Herrera and Alec Burleson for the 2-0 lead. The Diamondbacks tied things up by the end of the third inning, first scoring on a sacrifice fly by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the second inning, bringing home Gabriel Moreno to cut the lead to one, then tying the game in the third with a Tim Tawa solo home run.
In the fifth inning the Cardinals took the lead back behind Wetherholt's 14th home run of the season. In the eighth, St. Louis extended the lead to two on Winn's third RBI of the night, a sacrifice fly driving in Burleson to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead. In the bottom half, the Diamondbacks again tied up the game however.
The D-backs tied it on Corbin Carroll's two-run home run in the bottom half, scoring Geraldo Perdomo, that barely cleared the fence and hit the foul pole in right. It was the All-Star's first homer since June 17th. Then, in the decisive ninth, José Fermín led off with a single that deflected off the glove of closer Paul Sewald. Jimmy Crooks followed with a walk, Wetherholt lined a single to center to load the bases with no outs, and Herrera lofted a fly ball that was deep enough to break the tie, bringing home Fermín.
Michael McGreevy gave up two runs, including one earned, on six hits and a walk over 6.1 innings in a no decision. Luis Gastelum earned the win, moving to 1-0, giving up two runs on one hit with a walk and a strikeout in one inning. All-Star closer Riley O'Brien got his 25th save despite a eventful bottom of the ninth. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up a leadoff walk to Nolan Arenado before picking off pinch runner Jorge Barrosa. Tim Tawa followed with a two-out double but O'Brien caught Ketel Marte looking at strike three for the final out of the game.
At the plate, Wetherholt was 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. Winn was 1-for-2 with a walk and three RBI's. Fermín was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
St. Louis and Arizona continue their series on Saturday. Dustin May (5-6, 4.55 ERA, 89K's) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Brandon Pfaadt (3-1, 4.70 ERA, 41K's) for the Diamondbacks. First pitch is at 3:10pm, coverage will begin at 3 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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