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Mike Yastrzemski's homer leads SF Giants to 8-5 comeback win over Cardinals

With two outs in the ninth inning, Mike Yastrzemski blasted a game-tying home run that led the SF Giants to a win over the Cardinals in Luis Matos' MLB debut.
Marc Delucchi|
Mike Yastrzemski's homer leads SF Giants to 8-5 comeback win over Cardinals
Mike Yastrzemski's homer leads SF Giants to 8-5 comeback win over Cardinals

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San Francisco GiantsSt. Louis Cardinals

The SF Giants swept the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, defeating the Red Birds 8-5 in an exciting comeback victory to close the series. The Giants have now won four consecutive series on the road and will return to California with a four-game winning streak, a 36-32 record, and sole possession of the final Wild Card spot in the National League. They are only 2.5 games back of the Dodgers for second place and 5.5 games back of the Diamondbacks for first place in the division.

The Giants first five hitters of the game reached base against Cardinals starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, highlighted by the first big-league hit of Luis Matos (Giants preseason #4 prospect) career. Singles by Thairo Estrada and Patrick Bailey (Giants preseason #21 prospect) each drove in a run to give San Francisco a 2-0 lead, but Montgomery stopped the bleeding by inducing a double play from Casey Schmitt (Giants #3 prospect) to end the inning.

Matos became the youngest player to make their big-league debut with the Giants since Madison Bumgarner in September of 2009. Given Mitch Haniger's fractured forearm, Matos should have ample opportunity to solidify himself as the team's center fielder of the future. While he was lifted for a pinch-hitter late in the game, Matos finished 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Giants' starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning, but the righty hit a snag in the second inning. DeSclafani surrendered three singles to load the bases. With two outs in the inning, he threw a 2-2 fastball to Tommy Edman down the middle, which turned into a game-changing grand slam.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 5-2 in the third inning against DeSclafani before he was replaced by Jakob Junis. The Giants bullpen continued its recent stretch of dominance. Junis quelled the Cardinals' offensive attack across three shutout innings before passing the baton to Taylor Rogers and Ryan Walker, who struck out four across two combined innings pitched.

Mike Yastrzemski drove in David Villar in the top of the seventh inning, which ultimately forced Montgomery from the game, but flamethrower Jordan Hicks shut down the Giants' offense for 1.2 innings.

Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos walked Wade to lead off the top of the ninth but retired the next two hitters. Representing the tying run (and the Giants' last hope), Yastrzemski fell behind 0-2 before working a six-pitch at bat. On the sixth pitch, Gallegos threw a .951 mph fastball right down the middle that Yaz sent to the right-field bleachers for a game-tying two-run homer.

Tyler Rogers held the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning and forced the game into extra innings. A one-out single from Estrada gave the Giants a 6-5 lead. He subsequently put himself in scoring position with a stolen base and scored on a single by Wilmer Flores.

Flores advanced to second base on a throw home by Cardinals left fielder Jordan Walker, which allowed Wade to drive him in with a single of his own. While Steven Matz retired Blake Sabol (Giants preseason #33 prospect) to end the inning, the Giants had given their closer, Camilo Doval, an 8-5 lead. Doval worked around a one-out walk in the bottom half of the inning en route to his 18th save of the season.

After sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis, the SF Giants will travel west and enjoy a day off in Los Angeles tomorrow before beginning a three-game series against the Dodgers on Friday. First pitch on June 16th at Dodgers Stadium is scheduled for 7:10 PM Pacific. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher for the matchup.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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