Ivan Herrera hit a three-run homer and scored twice as the St. Louis Cardinals held off the visiting Cleveland Guardians for a 6-5 win on Saturday night.
However, the Guardians (90-66) still clinched the American League Central. Their magic number was one coming into Saturday’s action, and the second-place Kansas City Royals’ 9-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants earlier in the day was enough to get the job done.
Jordan Walker hit a two-run shot for the Cardinals (78-77), who won for the fourth time in their past six games.
St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas (9-11) allowed one run on four hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked none. Ryan Helsley worked the ninth for his 46th save of the year.
Jose Ramirez hit a three-run homer and Bo Naylor smacked a solo shot for the Guardians.
Cleveland starter Matthew Boyd (2-2) allowed two runs on four hits in four innings. He struck out six and walked three.
The Guardians ran into an out at the plate in the second inning. Lane Thomas hit a one-out single and went to third on a single by Andres Gimenez. When the throw from the outfield skipped away from the cutoff man, Masyn Winn retrieved the ball and threw Thomas out at home.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Herrera walked and Walker hit his homer one out later.
Naylor’s fifth-inning blast cut the Cleveland deficit to 2-1.
The Cardinals increased their lead to 6-1 in the seventh inning against reliever Nick Sandlin. Michael Siani hit a leadoff single and Winn reached on an error.
After Alec Burleson popped into a double play, Paul Goldschmidt reached on an error, allowing Winn to score from second. Nolan Arenado was hit by a pitch, then Herrera hit his three-run homer.
Cleveland pulled within 6-5 in the eighth against JoJo Romero and Matthew Liberatore. Angel Martinez and David Fry hit singles, Ramirez hit his homer, Thomas walked and Gimenez hit an RBI double.
–Field Level Media
