Nolan Gorman homered leading off the ninth inning to spark a three-run rally, Tommy Edman also went deep in a three-hit game, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 9-6 in Denver on Tuesday night.
Juan Yepez had two hits including a homer, Nolan Arenado had two hits and three RBIs, Giovanny Gallegos (1-0) got the win in relief, and Ryan Hensley picked up his second save for St. Louis.
Ryan McMahon and Elias Diaz each homered and had two hits, C.J. Cron also homered, and Kris Bryant had two hits for the Rockies.
With the game tied at 6-6 after eight, Gorman hit the first pitch from Pierce Johnson (0-1) to the seats in right for his third home run of the season.
Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill had RBI singles later in the inning to extend the lead.
Kyle Freeland, who allowed two runs over six innings, needed two scoreless innings to begin the game to set a Rockies record for consecutive scoreless innings to start the season. Edman spoiled that with his first homer of the season with one out in the first to put the Cardinals ahead 1-0.
Yepez gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the third with another solo homer, also his first of the season, but Colorado rallied. Diaz homered in the fourth, his second of the season, to get the Rockies on the board. The next inning, Colorado’s first six batters of the frame reached base off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.
Jurickson Profar walked, Bryant singled and McMahon homered to center to put Colorado ahead 4-2. It was his third of the season.
Cron followed with his fourth homer of the season, Mike Moustakas doubled to left and Diaz singled to put runners on the corners. After a groundout, Moustakas scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.
Mikolas gave up six runs on 10 hits and two walks with three strikeouts over five innings.
St. Louis had two runners on when McMahon’s two-out error loaded the bases in the seventh. Goldschmidt walked to drive in one run and Arenado’s three-run double tied it.
–Field Level Media
