Two swings, six clean innings
Landen Roupp allowed two hits across six innings at Oracle Park overnight. San Francisco needed almost nothing more. The Giants beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Tuesday night, a second straight win over a team still clinging to a wild-card hope.
Bryce Eldridge opened the scoring in the first with a solo shot, his 16th of the year. Christian Koss followed an inning later with his fourth. Roupp (9-13) walked four and struck out only two, which reads shaky on paper, but St. Louis never got a runner home against him. Reiver Sanmartin, Carson Seymour and Joel Kuhnel finished off the five-hitter.
Quinn Mathews (1-3) matched him almost everywhere else. Six innings, five hits, four strikeouts, two walks. Two swings decided it.
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A passed ball that nearly turned the night
The eighth is where San Francisco almost handed it back. Seymour got a high strike three past Leo Bernal and catcher Andrew Knizner could not hold it. The ball skipped toward the Cardinals’ on-deck circle. Knizner gave chase, slipped as he reached for it next to a weighted batting ring, then threw late to first. Bernal was safe, the bases filled up, and Kuhnel walked in cold to get Joshua Baez on a fly ball to center.
Kuhnel stayed out for the ninth and coughed up the only St. Louis run, two-out singles from Nathan Church and Bryan Torres with a fielder’s indifference sandwiched in between. Pinch runner Victor Scott II stole second to move the tying run into scoring position. Ivan Herrera grounded to shortstop. Seventh save.
What it costs St. Louis
The Cardinals went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded ten. Not one extra-base hit all night. Arizona (78-68) had already won earlier in the evening, so St. Louis (72-74) slid six games back of the final National League wild-card spot with the calendar shrinking. The Cardinals are 4-4 on a nine-game Western swing.
San Francisco sits at 61-85 and has not swept a home series all season. That chance comes Wednesday afternoon, when the three-game set closes out.
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