Paul Goldsmith had a two-run single, Lars Nootbaar belted a home run and the St. Louis Cardinals held off the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Cardinals rebounded from a 4-2 loss on Tuesday to even the three-game interleague series, which concludes on Thursday.
St. Louis received contributions throughout its lineup, with Nootbaar collecting two hits, an RBI and two runs scored. Jordan Walker added two hits and drove in a run.
Cards starter Dakota Hudson (3-0) worked five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Giovanny Gallegos closed out the ninth inning for his ninth save.
Jose Siri had two home runs for Tampa Bay.
The Rays went with Jalen Beeks as the opener and the left-hander was charged with two runs in two-plus innings. Kevin Kelly (4-2) entered in the third inning after Nootbaar singled and went on to yield three runs on five hits in two innings of work.
The Cardinals grabbed the lead in the second inning on Alec Burleson’s RBI groundout. Nolan Gorman got the inning started with a single, and Walker’s double put runners on second and third. With one out, Burleson chopped a ground ball to third and Gorman scored easily.
Tampa Bay responded quickly with a two-run home run in the second inning, a 429-foot shot to center by Siri.
In the third inning, the Cardinals reclaimed the lead.
Nolan Arenado and Walker each collected a run-scoring singles, giving St. Louis a 3-2 advantage.
St. Louis kept the pressure on in the fourth inning, building a 5-2 lead on Goldschmidt’s two-run single.
The Rays chipped back to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth on Siri’s second blast of the night, a drive to left field to give him 23 homers on the season.
Nootbaar connected off Robert Stephenson in the seventh, giving the Cardinals a three-run lead again.
Wander Franco’s 448-foot home run off Drew VerHagen in the seventh pulled Tampa Bay within two runs.
–Field Level Media
