Field Level Media
May 19, 2018
Jorge Alfaro's RBI single in the eighth inning snapped a tie and lifted the visiting Philadelphia Phillies to a wild, rain-interrupted 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The Phillies have won two of the first three games of the four-game series to move into a tie for first place in the National League East with the Atlanta Braves, who are scheduled to play later Saturday night. Philadelphia has not been alone in first place in the NL East since the final day of the 2011 season.
The Cardinals have lost five of seven.
The Phillies squandered leads of 3-0 and 5-3 and fell behind in the seventh, when Matt Carpenter's RBI double put the Cardinals ahead 6-5. But Philadelphia rallied with two outs and nobody on against Greg Holland (0-2), who walked Nick Williams before giving up a game-tying triple to Scott Kingery and the go-ahead hit by Alfaro.
Tommy Hunter (1-0), the third of four Phillies pitchers, was credited with the win despite giving up the lead in the seventh. Seranthony Dominguez earned his first major league save by tossing two perfect innings.
Carlos Santana had an RBI single in the first and Odubel Herrera hit a two-run homer in the third for the Phillies. Herrera has reached base in 45 straight games.
The Cardinals tied the game in the fourth, when Carpenter scored on a throwing error by Santana and Jedd Gyorko laced a two-run single. An error by Gyorko allowed starting pitcher Zach Eflin and Cesar Hernandez to score in the fifth before the Cardinals scored three unanswered runs via Jose Martinez's sacrifice fly in the fifth, Tyler O'Neill's first major league homer in the sixth and Carpenter's tie-breaking hit.
Eflin allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out four over 4 2/3 innings. He was lifted following a 44-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fifth.
Cardinals starter John Gant allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks while striking out seven over 4 1/3 innings.
--Field Level Media