MINNEAPOLIS — On a sweltering afternoon at Target Field, what it took to thaw the Cardinals’ flash-frozen offense just in time to steal a series victory was an ill-timed error.
What could have been a game-ending double play for the Minnesota Twins turned instead into an opportunity for the Cardinals to produce something more than just a solo homer. Stymied for much of the past two games against the Twins, the Cardinals stirred for two runs on Lars Nootbaar’s ninth-inning single and upending Minnesota 3-2.
The Twins got the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth against Ryan Helsley before the Cardinals' All-Star closer cemented the win and his 40th save of the season.
He’s the first Cardinals closer with that many saves since Trevor Rosenthal in 2015.
The last-gasp rally also meant the Cardinals returned to .500 for the second time over the weekend and won their second consecutive series against a team currently in line for a playoff spot. The Cardinals have won four of their past six games against Milwaukee and Minnesota, and now see what they can do head to head against a team ahead of them in the National League’s wild-card race. Mike Shildt’s San Diego Padres begin a four-game visit to ºüÀêÊÓƵ on Monday evening.
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Stymied for most of the previous 18 innings at Target Field, the Cardinals got new life with an assist from the Twins in the top of the ninth inning.
Rather, that is, the lack of an assist.
What could have been a double-play grounder to end the game instead was flung into left field by Twins second baseman Edouard Julien. Pinch-runner Jose Fermin helped force the play on the Twins with his break from first after tagging in for Nolan Arenado. Brendan Donovan, who hit the grounder, took second when the Twins chased after the errant throw.
The error put two Cardinals in scoring position with one out. With the tying run one ball and 90 feet away, Twins closer Jhoan Duran caught Tommy Pham looking at strike 3 and seemed to regain control of the inning. Nootbaar decided otherwise.
Nootbaar threaded a ground-ball single to left field that scored twice as many runs with one swing than the Cardinals had produced since Saturday.
Nootbaar’s two-run single gave the Cardinals their first lead since Friday.
The Twins took a lead into the ninth thanks to Royce Lewis. A rising star for the Twins, Lewis turned a leadoff walk by a teammate into a 2-1 lead. Lewis’ pinch-hit double to the wall off lefty JoJo Romero snapped a tie and set up Duran for his 19th save.
An error sent that possibility hurdling into left.
It gave life to a lineup that had lacked much more than a pulse.
Before the ninth-inning uprising Sunday, the Cardinals managed just one run in the previous 18 innings against the Twins.
It came on a swing by their No. 9 hitter.
Erick Fedde pitched one of his finest starts since joining the Cardinals against a familiar foe from his American League Central days. He allowed the Twins one run on one solo homer through six innings. The Cardinals backed him with only Victor Scott II’s solo homer to tie the game in the fifth inning.
Scott again shows power
One of the conversations manager Oliver Marmol had with reporters here in Minneapolis this weekend was about rookie speedster Scott getting more assertive and more strategic with when he steals bass. Scott took a run at 100 stolen bases a year ago in his first full season of professional baseball, but his attempts to steal in the majors this summer have been fewer for a sprinter who can dash around them.
Not that the Cardinals mind him trotting around them every so often.
That worked out better than a steal Sunday.
With little brewing for the Cardinals against Twins starter Zebby Matthews, Scott solved the right-hander on his own to tie the game in the fifth inning. Matthews had collected 14 outs from the first 17 Cardinals he faced to come within an out of finishing the fifth just three batters over the minimum. He struck out two batters in the first inning and had six strikeouts overall by the end of the fourth inning. Each of the strikeouts came from a different Cardinal.
In the fifth, back-to-back flyouts to left field kept the Cardinals offense stalled with zero runs for the day. And then Matthews hung a slider.
On a 2-2 pitch to Scott, Matthews’ 85.6 mph slider found too much of the plate and was too high for Scott not to pounce with his new swing. With more momentum moving forward as he begins his swing, Scott was able to loft the ball up and out over the right field wall for his second homer of the season and a tie game, 1-1.
Twins strike fast; Fedde strikes consistently
The only run Fedde allowed in his six strong innings came on the first swing against him.
Twins leadoff hitter Willi Castro got ahead in the count 2-1, and when Fedde came back with the second cut fastball of the at-bat, Castro connected. He lifted the ball into the right field seats for a quick 1-0 lead and his second career leadoff homer.
Fedde found his footing from there.
The right-hander retired six consecutive after the home run, and he faced the minimum through the next 3â…“ innings. When a hit batter and a pair of walks put him back in trouble in the fourth inning, he spun his way out of it. Fedde drove a hard, 93 mph sinker under the bat of Manny Margot for an inning-ending strikeout that defused the trouble. In his quality start, Fedde struck out seven, darted around three walks and limited the Twins to two hits. He just needed the Cardinals to come up with more than one hit of support.
Dandy defense keeps Fedde rolling
Immediately after the Cardinals tied the game top of the fifth inning, the Cardinals defense made sure it stuck there by the end of it and gave Fedde a swift inning to get him deeper into the game.
Minnesota infielder Julien skipped a grounder to the left side that escaped the reach of third baseman Nolan Arenado. It appeared as if the grounder would give Julien plenty of time to outrun it for the infield base hit. Instead, up swooped shortstop Masyn Winn to get the ball just after it got past Arenado and set his feet for a blistering throw to first base that beat Julien by a step for the first out.
The next batter, outfielder Austin Martin, lifted a popup into foul territory that appeared to have enough drift to it to land in the Twins dugout.
Instead, first baseman Alec Burleson did.
Burleson chased the popup to the railing at the Twins dugout. He reached over to catch the ball, and then his momentum twisted him around that railing and down the steps into the dugout, the ball — and the out — securely in his glove. Fedde struck out the next batter to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, an error by the Cardinals nearly sprung a leak on the tie game. Scott misplayed a single in center field to allow a runner already on to race for third base. That’s where Margot stood with a chance to score on any ball in play when Martin, in his next at-bat after the popup, drilled a grounder to Winn that allowed him to start an inning-ending double play for reliever Andrew Kittredge.