SEATTLE (AP) – Tommy Edman capped St. Louis’ big ninth inning with a two-out,
three-run home run as the Cardinals rallied for five runs to beat the Seattle
Mariners 5-2 on Wednesday night.
St. Louis entered the ninth trailing 2-0 after a masterful performance from
Seattle starter Mike Leake, who threw 7 2/3 shutout innings against his former
team for the first time. But Seattle’s bullpen imploded and the Cardinals took
full advantage of the meltdown.
Austin Adams (1-1) got the final out of the eighth in relief of Leake but
struggled in the ninth allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases with
one out. Roenis Elias took over and was greeted by an RBI single from Dexter
Fowler to cut the deficit to 2-1. Yadier Molina followed with a sacrifice fly to
left field to score Paul Goldschmidt with the tying run, beating Dylan Moore’s
throw to the plate.
Edman came up as a pinch-hitter for Kolten Wong, and hit his third home run and
first from the right side of the plate.
John Brebbia (2-3) pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief and struck out six. Andrew
Miller struck out the first two batters of the ninth and Carlos Martinez got the
final out for his third save.
The late rally ruined Leake’s chance at a win in his first start against the
Cardinals since being traded to Seattle during the 2017 season. Leake struck out
seven and retired 11 straight at one point. It was the kind of outing that could
raise interest from contenders looking to add an arm to their pitching rotation
ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.
Leake had allowed 11 earned runs in his previous two starts, but the outing was
more what he showed in late May and early June where Leake had four consecutive
starts of at least seven innings and three earned runs or less.
St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright kept the Mariners in check but a high pitch
count ended his night early. Wainwright was lifted after 101 pitched following
Domingo Santana’s single leading off the sixth inning. Santana later scored on a
wild pitch. Moore’s hit a solo homer off Wainwright in the fifth inning.
ROSTER MOVE
St. Louis activated RHP reliever Ryan Helsley off the 10-day injured list and
optioned the rookie to Triple-A Memphis. Helsley had been with Memphis on an
injury rehab assignment. He went on the injured list June 13 and has appeared in
seven games with the Cardinals this season.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (5-4) allowed two runs in seven innings but took
the loss in his last start against San Diego.
Mariners: Seattle will use an opener to be followed by LHP Tommy Milone (1-2).
It will be the fifth time Seattle has used an opener in front of Milone and has
a 1.99 ERA in those games.
Game time Thursday is 3:10 with the pre-game at 2:15 on KTLO-AM.
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