Nootbaar’s 10th-inning hit lifts Cardinals over Tigers
Paul Goldschmidt homered twice and scored the game-ending run on Lars Nootbaar’s single in the 10th inning as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Wednesday in St. Louis.
Goldschmidt was intentionally walked to open the 10th and executed a oneout double steal with automatic runner Tommy Edman. Nolan Arenado was intentionally walked. After a fielder’s choice for the second out, Nootbaar lined a single to right field off Michael Fulmer (5-6), and St. Louis improved to 11-5 in extra innings.
It was the first walk-off hit in Nootbaar’s big league career. He is a El Segundo High graduate and a former USC standout.
“It’s pretty unbelievable honestly,” he said. “I always wanted to know what it felt like, but now it’s here.”
The Cardinals led 2-1 entering the ninth. Miguel Cabrera hit a two-out pinch double to right field off St. Louis closer Alex Reyes. Harold Castro, the third Tigers pinch hitter of the inning, drove in Cabrera with a soft single to center, giving Reyes his third blown save in 31 chances.
Cardinals starter Jon Lester allowed one run on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in five innings.
T.J. McFarland (3-0) pitched a scoreless 10th and has not allowed a run in 18 2/3 innings over 12 August appearances.
Tarik Skubal gave up Goldschmidt’s homers in the first and third innings but held the Cardinals to one additional hit and had 10 strikeouts in five innings.
“Tip your hat off to Goldschmidt, he got two really good swings off of him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “For a while, those were the only two swings that looked good at all.” CUBS 5-10, ROCKIES 2-13 >> Ryan McMahon lofted a two-run homer in the 10th inning, Brendan Rodgers followed with a two-run double that gave him five RBIs for the game, and visiting Colorado rallied to beat Chicago 13-10 and split a doubleheader that featured almost as many innings as a pre-pandemic twinbill.
The Cubs won the opener 5-2 in a tidy 2 hours, 9 minutes, thanks to Patrick Wisdom’s tiebreaking three-run homer in the fifth inning. It went over the left-field bleachers and onto Waveland Avenue for his 21st home run.
The nightcap lasted exactly twice as long — 4:18 — as the teams combined to play 17 innings.
GIANTS 3, METS 2 >> Jake McGee induced a gameending popup from Pete Alonso with the bases loaded, and visiting San Francisco turned five double plays to beat freefalling New York. Brandon Crawford hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh inning after New York manager Luis Rojas gave starter Taijuan Walker an aggressive hook.
ASTROS 6, ROYALS 5, 10 INNINGS >> Alex Bregman had two hits and an RBI in his first action in more than two months, and he scored the winning run in the 10th inning on a groundout by Jake Meyers to lift host Houston over Kansas City.
TWINS 9, RED SOX 6, 10 INNINGS >> Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer to lead off the 10th after host Boston rallied from a four-run deficit to send the game into extra innings, and Jake Cave added a three-run shot to help Minnesota beat the Red Sox. Donaldson and Jorge Polanco homered for the second straight game, and Miguel Sanó hit a 495foot homer that is the longest in the majors this year and one of the longest in the history of Fenway Park — just 7 feet shorter than Ted Williams’ 502-foot “red seat” shot.
RAYS 7, PHILLIES 4 >> Francisco Mejia hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the ninth inning, Brandon Lowe connected for his 30th of the season and Tampa Bay beat host Philadelphia. Rookie Wander Franco had two hits to extend his on-base streak to 26 straight games for the Rays, who upped their league-best record to 79-48.
BLUE JAYS 3, WHITE SOX 1 >> Alejandro Kirk broke a tie with an RBI single in the eighth inning and host Toronto beat Chicago. After Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray matched his career high by striking out 14 over seven innings, Tim Mayza (4-1) worked a perfect eighth and Jordan Romano finished for his 13th save in 14 chances.