Cardinals 6-3 Giants (September 27, 2024) Game Recap

SAN FRANCISCO – Lars Nootbaar hit a home run and a triple to drive in three runs, Ryan Helsley tied for his franchise-record 49th save and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 6-3 on Friday night .

The Cardinals won five of six games and secured their 23rd winning season in the last 25 years. The Giants' loss means they will not finish above .500 for the third straight season since winning a franchise-record 107 games in 2021.

Nootbaar, who has led the team in on-base percentage since the All-Star break, hit a solo home run in the third to reduce a 3-1 deficit and then capped a four-run fourth inning for the Cardinals when he scored two runs with a two-out triple.

“He hits the ball hard and has great plate discipline,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “With that combination, he could be a fearsome batsman. In the last few games you can see him playing the baseball and staying in the middle of the field. That homer was fun to watch, and he drove in the other two runs as well. He’s taking steps in a really good direction.”

Nolan Arenado continued to roil the Giants with a three-hit night and also scored a run. The eight-time All-Star has 175 hits and 113 RBI against the Giants, his most against any opponent.

Helsley recorded two strikeouts in the ninth for his major-leading 49th save, setting a Cardinals single-season record and surpassing Trevor Rosenthal's mark set in 2015. Helsley, who played in his last Having not allowed an earned run in 17 games, he edged Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase with two saves for the major league lead.

“I just tell myself it's something I've done many times before, I'm not trying to make the moment too big, just go out there and have fun,” Helsley, 30, said of his emotions coming in during warm-ups .

Marmol said the Cardinals have played a lot of close games this season and it was important to have a trusted closer they could rely on.

“He’s out,” Marmol said. “If you get to ninth, you win the ballgame.”

Trailing 3-2 in the fourth, St. Louis sent nine batters to the plate in the inning. Masyn Winn had a 13-pitch at-bat against Giants starter Landon Roupp (1-2) before tying the game with an RBI double to left. With two outs, Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals the lead with a single. Arenado followed with a ground-rule brace to chase Roupp out of the game before Nootbaar tripled substitute Taylor Rogers.

The Giants scored three runs in the second. Jerar Encarnacion hit a 430-foot, two-run home run to center that he admired from the first hit. Mike Yastrzemski hit an RBI double later in the inning.

Giants manager Bob Melvin said before the game that reaching .500 to end the season – assuming the Giants win their two remaining games – was still remarkable. San Francisco was coming off a 7-2 road trip.

“When you go out and play a baseball game, you expect to win,” Melvin said.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (10-11) allowed three runs in five innings. Roupp gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings for the Giants in his fourth career start and last of the season as he pushes to be in the rotation next year.

“Definitely not the way I wanted it, but I think overall it was a pretty good season,” Roupp said. “I’m just getting my feet wet. There are definitely some improvements I need to make and I’m looking forward to doing that this offseason.”

ROSTER MOVES

Cardinals: IF Luken Baker was again removed from the paternity list and OF Victor Scott II was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

Giants: RHP Randy Rodriguez was reinstated from the injured list and RHP Mason Black was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.

NEXT

LHP Blake Snell (5-3, 3.12 ERA) is scheduled to start the second-to-last game of the season for the Giants on Saturday against RHP Andre Pallante (8-8, 3.71 ERA) for the Cardinals.

——

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB