Brendan Donovan scored on a passed ball by Cleveland catcher David Fry in the top of the 10th inning and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 2-1 win over the Guardians on Friday night.
Donovan, the automatic runner, stole third base and with one out, Guardians reliever Nick Sandlin’s breaking ball handcuffed Fry and rolled away far enough for Donovan to race home for the winning run.
The game started as a pitchers’ duel between St. Louis veteran Jack Flaherty and Cleveland rookie right-hander Tanner Bibee, making just his sixth major league start.
Donovan got the Cardinals on the board in the top of the second inning, crushing a slider from Bibee 361 feet into the right field seats for a solo homer.
The Guardians tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the third when Steven Kwan drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a Flaherty wild pitch and scored on Jose Ramirez’s line single to right.
Flaherty pitched with traffic on the bases most of the game, throwing only one 1-2-3 inning. He worked seven innings, scattered seven hits and walked one with four strikeouts in a 101-pitch outing.
Bibee was even better. He struck out a career-high nine, walked one and retired 12 of the last 13 hitters he faced for a no-decision in a 98-pitch outing. Bibee has thrown more than 90 pitches in five of his six starts.
The only hit Bibee allowed other than Donovan’s homer was a single to Alec Burleson. He muffled a Cardinals lineup that had been rolling the past three weeks.
Halsey (3-3) was credited with the victory while Sandlin (2-2) took the loss. Giovanny Gallegos pitched a perfect bottom of the 10th for St. Louis to record his sixth save.
-Field Level Media
