Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals' Star Just Earned Exclusive Spot In St. Louis History

The Cardinals star opened up...
Patrick McAvoy|
Jun 7, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Helsley (56) pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Jun 7, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Helsley (56) pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals had a great day on Saturday.

St. Louis took on the Cleveland Guardians and came out on top, 9-6. The Cardinals' offense carried the load for the day. Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan both launched home runs and a five-run sixth inning put St. Louis over the top.

The Cardinals' bullpen thrived overall in the win. Miles Mikolas allowed six earned runs in four innings and then the bullpen handled it from there with five shutout innings. One guy who specifically had a big day was closer Ryan Helsley. He got the ball in the ninth inning and struck out one batter and secured his 16th save of the season. It went deeper than this, though. It was his 100th career save.

Helsley opened up about the milestone, as shared by MLB.com's John Denton.

"It’s pretty surreal because you’re not really thinking about it in the moment, but when you think about 100 saves, I don’t know how many people have done that over their careers and it’s probably not that many,” Helsley said.

Helsley is a homegrown star and now is the sixth pitcher in Cardinals history to reach 100 saves or more, joining Jason Isringhausen, Lee Smith, Todd Worrell, Bruce Sutter, and Trevor Rosenthal. If Helsley isn't traded, he has a chance at rising on this list quickly. Rosenthal has 121 saves just ahead of him for example. Helsley is certainly in range of that. Last year, Helsley had 49 saves. Right now, he has 16. If he could get anywhere close to that number throughout the rest of the season, he won't be at No. 6 on the Cardinals' list any longer.

More MLB: Cardinals Homegrown Star Approaching New Opportunity After Stunner

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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