This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Lars Nootbaar homered, tripled and drove in three runs as the visiting Cardinals rallied for a 6-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a season-ending, three-game series Friday night.
Masyn Wynn doubled, singled and scored twice for St. Louis (82-78), which assured itself of a winning record for the 16th time in the past 17 seasons.
Now guaranteed of a non-winning season, the Giants (79-81) got a two-run homer from Jerar Encarnacion, his fifth, and an RBI double from Mike Yastrzemski in a three-run second that gave the hosts a 3-1 lead.
Nootbaar cut the deficit in half with his 12th homer, a solo shot, in the third inning, and the Cardinals took the lead for good in their four-run fourth.
Winn doubled with one out to tie the score, Alec Burleson singled home Winn to put St. Louis on top and, after Nolan Arenado’s ground-rule double ended Landen Roupp’s night, Nootbaar lashed his triple to center field, making it 6-3.
Roupp (1-2) gave up six runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (10-11) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out four and walking one.
John King, Andrew Kittredge, Matthew Liberatore and Ryan Helsley recorded the final 12 outs. Helsley gave up one hit and struck out two for his 49th save.
Arenado finished with a double and two singles for the Cardinals, who have won five of their past six games. Jordan Walker chipped in with a double and a single, and Ivan Herrera had two singles.
Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto and Brett Wisely had two hits each for the Giants, who haven’t had a winning season since 2021.
–Field Level Media
