St. Louis Cardinals reliever Matthew Liberatore fielded a Brett Wisely two-out bunt in the eighth inning and threw wildly past first base, allowing Tyler Fitzgerald to score from first with the San Francisco Giants’ difference-making run in a 6-5 home victory Saturday afternoon.
Entering a 5-5 game in the last of the eighth, Liberatore retired the first two men he faced before Fitzgerald nailed him in the left calf with a line drive that went for an infield hit.
After a brief delay to make sure the left-hander was OK, Wisely dropped down his bunt between the mound and third base. Liberatore (3-4) fielded it quickly and cleanly, but his off-balance throw was wide right of its target, winding up in foul territory down the right-field line.
Fitzgerald raced around from first, barely beating a strong throw from Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker.
Ryan Walker (10-4), who pitched out of a second-and-third, two-out jam to preserve the tie in the top of the eighth, was credited with the win. Rookie Spencer Bivens picked up his first save with a scoreless ninth after serving up a leadoff single to Thomas Saggese.
The Giants appeared to be in command, up 5-2 in the seventh, before the Cardinals rallied to tie it. Brendan Donovan’s two-run double got St. Louis within one before Walker greeted the Giants’ fifth pitcher, Tyler Rogers, with an RBI single.
After Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly had opened the scoring in the top half of the inning, the Giants scored two in the first on a LaMonte Wade RBI single and error by Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn, before adding two more in the fourth on an RBI single by Patrick Bailey and run-scoring double by Casey Schmitt.
The clubs then traded single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to produce the 5-2 margin the Giants took into the eighth.
Giants starter Tristan Beck worked the first four innings, allowing just one run and four hits. He walked two and struck out three.
The Cardinals’ Andre Pallante went five innings, during which he was charged with four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He struck out four without issuing a walk.
Bailey finished with two RBIs and Matt Chapman had a pair of doubles and scored twice for the Giants (80-81), who kept their hopes alive of a .500 season.
Goldschmidt and Donovan had three hits and two RBIs apiece for the Cardinals (82-79), while Winn scored a pair of runs and Pedro Pages and Alec Burleson each had two hits.
–Field Level Media
