By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals continued their rebound from a five game losing skid, winning a second game in a row over the Miami Marlins and securing their three game series with a 7-4 win at Loan Depot Park on Tuesday afternoon.
The Cardinals got the scoring started early with four runs through the first three innings, first getting an RBI single from Iván Herrera in the first inning, driving in Lars Nootbaar following his leadoff single to the game. In the second inning, it was Herrera again driving in two more runs with a single, scoring Thomas Saggese and Nathan Church. In the third, another RBI single, this time from Pedro Pagés, drove in Nolan Gorman to give the Redbirds the 4-0 lead.
The Marlins cut the St. Louis lead in half in the bottom of the fourth inning, an RBI triple by Jakob Marsee scoring Xavier Edwards after his leadoff single, before Marsee scored as Agustín Ramírez reached on a fielders choice. The Cardinals got both runs back in the fifth, Pagés striking and reaching first as Masyn Winn scoring on a passed ball, and a sacrifice bunt by Church driving in Saggese.
Trailing 6-2, Miami again cut the lead to two runs scoring their final runs on a two RBI single from Otto Lopez in the sixth inning with Edwards and Ramirez scoring. In the seventh inning, the Cardinals added their final run with Winn scoring on a sacrifice fly by Saggese after Winn was hit by a pitch to start the inning.
Michael Mcgreevy earned the win, improving to 4-3 on the season, pitching six innings and giving up four runs, just three earned, on six hits with five strikeouts. Riley O'Brien earned his second save with two walks in the ninth and two strikeouts. At the plate, Saggese was 3-for-4 with a stolen base and an RBI. Herrera was 2-for-5 with three RBIs, while Winn was 1-for-4 with two stolen bases and two runs.
St. Louis and Miami wrap up their series tomorrow. Andre Pallante (6-10, 5.04 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against former Cardinal Sandy Alcantara (6-11, 6.31 ERA) for the Marlins. First pitch is at 5:40pm with coverage beginning around 5:30 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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