By MATT PIKE
Former Cardinal Andrew Knizner hit an RBI triple in the eighth inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat St. Louis 4-3 on Wednesday night at Oracle Park to eliminate the Cardinals from playoff contention.
One day after the Cardinals ended the Giants’ postseason hopes with a late comeback, manager Bob Melvin’s club returned the favor with a late rally of its own.
Jung Ho Lee doubled to center opening the scoring for the Giants in the second inning off Cardinals starter Sonny Gray, driving in Casey Schmitt who scored on a fielding error by Victor Scott II. St. Louis though took the lead in the third with two runs, Brendan Donovan hitting an RBI double, one day after a game where he had four doubles, to drive in Scott II. Donovan later scored on an RBI single from Iván Herrera.
In the bottom of the third inning, Rafael Devers hit his 34th home run of the season to tie the game up for San Francisco. In the bottom of the fourth inning the Giants broke the tie on a sacrifice fly by Knizner, scoring Christian Koss. The Giants led 3-2 until Nolan Arenado tied it with a sacrifice fly, driving in Herrera in the eighth inning.
Koss then led off the bottom of the eighth with a soft single over the outstretched glove of Arenado at first base. Knizner followed with a sharp liner off Riley O’Brien that skipped past Scott in center field and rolled to the wall as Koss raced around the bases to score what would turn into the winning run.
Jose Butto (5-3), the third of four relievers used by Melvin, retired two batters to get the win, and Tristian Beck worked the ninth for his second save.
San Francisco did the majority of its scoring off Gray who had seven strikeouts in six innings, allowing three runs, two earned, and gave up seven hits. Gray now has 200 or more strikeouts in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his career. O'Brien took the loss, falling to 3-1 on the season, giving up one run on two hits and walking one in one inning of relief.
At the plate, Herrera led the way going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, also walking once. Donovan was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Scott II was 1-for-3 with a run scored in the loss.
St. Louis will have on off day on Thursday before beginning their final series of the season on Friday in Chicago. Miles Mikolas (8-20, 4.76 ERA) starts against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday.
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