51ºÚÁÏ

A sudden and dramatic finish in the ninth inning cleared away so many of the cobwebs that had accumulated for the Cardinals in the previous eight.

Down by two runs and on the verge of being shut out, the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs and brought Jordan Walker to the plate. Stuck in a personal 0-for-25 spiral, the Cardinals’ young outfielder ripped a liner through the glove of the third baseman and doubled down the left-field line to bring home two and yank a win from the Giants, 3-2.

The walk-off hit was the first of Walker’s career.

The Giants left the field still looking for their first out in the ninth.

The ninth was all about redemption – both for individuals and the Cardinals.

Nolan Gorman struck out three times in the game before opening the ninth with a single. Thomas Saggese committed the error that began the game, but he singled home the first run of the ninth and kept the bases loaded against Giants reliever Ryan Walker. After four consecutive teammates reached base, up came Walker to end his freefall with the swing that upended the Giants’ lead and radically altered the look of a ragged game.

Although they began this past week fairly close in the standings, the visiting Giants and Cardinals have played the weekend series like vastly different teams. San Francisco appears to be putting it together for a late run at a playoff berth, and the Cardinals have come apart due to injuries that have rewritten their lineup and rearranged their defense, and neither for the better.

Veteran right-hander Justin Verlander was in line to win his third consecutive game before the blown save in the ninth.

Since Verlander has been around for so long, it’s telling that the lineup the Cardinals sent forth Saturday had so little experience against him. A group of young players and players filling in for everyday players managed three hits against Verlander – and all of them were singles. Only a broken-bat single put any semblance of a rally in motion against Verlander and that ended when the Cardinals tried to steal third.

Only one Cardinal reached that far safely all evening until the ninth.

The Giants lost for only the second time in their past 13 games, and in the past week they’ve vaulted to 72-70 at the same time the Cardinals are not far off, at 71-72.

Andre Pallante authored his first quality start since July 28. He limited the Giants to two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out three, and minimized an inning that could have gone sideways with a key strikeout. Pallante contributed to the frayed feeling of some innings with two hit batters and two wild pitches. The Cardinals also got thrown out trying to steal, helped a rally a hit batter, and tried to force a hit on a 3-0 pitch that screeched the eighth to a halt with the tying run at the plate.

Pallante completed six innings and had a better start than any of his six in August.

Bruise and broken bat: 2 innings falter

In what could be described as a nod to Masyn Winn’s status with the Cardinals and place within the lineup Saturday, veteran right-hander Verlander must have completely, absolutely lost his grip on a pitch that plunked the Cardinals shortstop near his back pocket.

By the time Winn came to the plate in the fourth inning as the Cardinals’ cleanup hitter for the evening, two Giant infielders, both of them All-Stars, had been hit by a pitch.

Willy Adames was hit in the first inning.

Pallante misplace da pitch that hit Matt Chapman to open the second.

Verlander had two outs in the fourth inning, the bases empty, and the ideal teaming to level the events. He let a pitch get away, low and well inside on Winn. After the plunk, Winn grinned as he made his way to first base.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal until it almost was.

With Winn on first base, Jimmy Crooks pulled a groundball to first baseman Rafael Devers that he misplayed. Crooks reached on the error and Winn took third. All of a sudden, Verlander had the tying run on base and the Cardinals had their first baserunner in scoring position.

The inning went nowhere from there, ending on a groundout.

The Cardinals were back threatening in the fifth against Verlander, but they ran their way out of what could have been at least a dent in the right-hander’s evening. Victor Scott II roped a single to center, and Jose Fermin snapped his bat on a looper to center for a single. The Cardinals had two runners and one out with the top of the order around.

They got aggressive.

Scott took off for third base as the lead of an attempted double steal. Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, one of the best defensive players in the National League, had a clear throw to third with the left-handed Lars Nootbaar at the plate. Bailey did not miss. His throw found Chapman’s glove for the quick tag and the out call by crew chief CB Bucknor.

The Cardinals challenged the call.

The final word from the replay officials in New York was that the call at the base stood. That is different from saying it was confirmed. The video replay did not show enough evidence or angles to overturn the call – and almost as quickly as the rally started and the runners got their jump the inning was over. Lars Nootbaar grounded out to keep Verlander’s shutout rolling.

Giants capitalize on a throw

Outside of two hit batters and an early error, the Giants did not muster much against Pallante.

A day after riddling the Cardinals pitching staff with 18 hits, the Giants had to be more opportunistic than bombastic.

A pair of singles to open the fourth inning gave them that chance, but an assist came from the Cardinals defense. With Dominic Smith at first, Chapman sent a single to center field. He was able to take second behind the plate when Scott threw to third base. The throw was off line and Smith took third without a contest. But the throw gave up 90 feet to Chapman.

That helped the Giants to a two-run inning.

Smith scored on a sacrifice fly to center, and Chapman took third.

So instead of standing still at first with one out, Chapman was now at third base with one out and a short walk from a 2-0 lead. He scored easily then on Drew Gilbert’s double to left field. There’s no guarantee he would have scored from first on the same hit, but he definitely did from third to add to the Giants lead.

Limited familiarity, less success

As a lineup, the Cardinals entered Saturday’s game with only six at-bats combined against Verlander. Three of them belonged to Winn.

The most successful of them belonged to Gorman.

In two previous swings against the veteran, Gorman homered in both of his at-bats. He entered Saturday’s game 2-for-2 against Verlander with a walk for a 4.000 slugging percentage and a 5.000 OPS.

Verlander flipped that script on Gorman.

Gorman struck out in all three of his at-bats against Verlander. As Verlander struck out the side in the sixth inning, Gorman got him to a full-count pitch before watching a 94-mph fastball tickle the lowest edge of the strike zone.

Verlander also got nine swings and misses in the game, but he did so with variety of pitches. He struck out Fermin with a sweeper in the third inning. Gorman missed on a fastball in the first inning, and in the fourth inning Verlander got him chasing after a sweeping slider. Verlander got three swings and misses on his slider, his fastball, and his sweeper for his second consecutive scoreless start and third of the past month.