NEW YORK — The Cardinals’ relievers kept the television on and volume up all afternoon Saturday in the bullpen, tuned to the YES Network’s broadcast of the game so that they could listen to the call on a delay but promptly comment on the strike zone.
As Kyle Gibson pitched superbly and their teammates took a lead that swelled to five runs by the start of the eighth inning, the relievers heard all about how it had been decades since the Cardinals won in the Bronx. The game was out of his jurisdiction with two outs in the eighth, so closer Ryan Helsley got to enjoy as the Yankees’ network counted the years. The Cardinals were winless in limited visits to the current Yankee Stadium — No. 3 at this subway stop — and they had not won any game in the Bronx since Bob Gibson pitched them to a Game 5 victory in the 1964 World Series.
“Which I thought was insane,†Helsley said. “Surely, it will happen at some point.â€
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It would not until the game was in his right hand.
That history was about to become his future.
Most of the five-run lead evaporated in the comet tail of Giancarlo Stanton’s pinch-hit, two-out, bases-clearing double off the center-field wall in the eighth. That brought Helsley into the game and virtually assured he’d face the other Bronx Bombers, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, in the bottom of the ninth. All it took for the Cardinals to win 6-5 and accomplish something they have not done in 60 years was to survive the final 60 seconds against the Yankees on Saturday.
“That’s what the fans came to see right there,†said infielder Brendan Donovan, whose three-run homer gave the Cardinals the lead. “You’ve got two of the best hitters in baseball on base and you’ve got the best closer in the game on the mound. And you’re in Yankee Stadium. It’s the bottom of the ninth. You’ve got a bunch of people screaming. This is what people came to see. This is special.â€
With two outs, Soto doubled off Helsley. That opened up first base, but after a meeting on the mound to review the approach vs. Judge, Helsley expected to face him, power on power. That was when he heard a whistle from the dugout.
Scratch that.
Four fingers shot up and Judge took first, 90 feet closer to being the winning run. That intentional walk was the 277th time Judge has reached base this season, the most for a Yankee since Mickey Mantle’s 303 in 1958. Mantle was present the last time the Cardinals won in the Bronx, too — hitting cleanup and playing right field.
“The last inning there, whether you let Judge beat you — one of the best players in the game — or I’ll go to the next guy, yeah,†manager Oliver Marmol said.
The next guy was catcher Austin Wells, and that guy beat the Cardinals on Friday night with two home runs. He doubled and scored in his first at-bat Saturday to claim a briefly held 1-0 lead for the Yankees. Helsley got ahead with a 100.8-mph fastball and a 80.5-mph curveball and then split the difference with three consecutive sliders. Wells chased after the slowest of them, at 87 mph, to strike out and give the Cardinals their first win in the Bronx since Oct. 12, 1964.
With his 42nd save of the season, Helsley got the first save by a Cardinal in the Bronx since Game 4 of the ’64 World Series. He’s only the third Cardinal ever with a save at a Yankee Stadium and the first with a save of three or fewer innings since Grover “Old Pete†Alexander ambled in from the bullpen on what was supposed to be his day off to close Game 7 in 1926 and secure the Cardinals’ first World Series championship. Babe Ruth was caught stealing for the final out.
Starting with Old Pete and climaxing with Dominant Bob, the Cardinals thrived in the Bronx. They still hold the distinction of being the only club to face the Yankees multiple times in the World Series and have a winning record against them. But with expansion and dilution came fewer meetings, and the interleague schedule brought the Yankees to ºüÀêÊÓƵ more often than the Cardinals to face them in New York. Their only previous visit to Yankee Stadium 3.0 was a 0-3 stop in 2017.
For the decades without a win to end it started with another Gibson.
Kyle Gibson (no relation) allowed Wells’ double and run in the second inning, but otherwise kept the Yankees’ vaunted lineup grounded. Soto and Judge combined to go 0 for 6 against Gibson. The only time one reached base vs. Gibson was on an error, and the only ball one of them put in the air was a liner snagged by Donovan to end the fifth inning with a runner in scoring position. Gibson struck out Soto twice and Judge once. The Yankees failed to generate much against Gibson (8-6) because of nine groundouts and zero walks.
When he learned after the game that he was the first Cardinal with a win since the most famous Gibson to ever be a Cardinal, Kyle asked for a game ball as a memento.
“Any time you’re mentioned in the same sentence or paragraph with Bob Gibson is pretty good,†he said. “Had no idea even it had been that long.â€
The difference offensively for the Cardinals between Friday and Saturday was the impact of their swings. It took four singles to conjure two runs Friday. Donovan produced three with one swing. His 11th homer of the season shattered a tie in the third inning. The Cardinals added two runs with back-to-back doubles by Lars Nootbaar and Ivan Herrera in the sixth. Herrera turned his double into an opportunistic run when he took third on a wild pitch and scored on an error.
To avoid the muscle atop the Yankees’ order coming up again, Marmol turned to Matthew Liberatore in the eighth and had JoJo Romero warming for the ninth. Liberatore got two outs thanks to a rundown that ended with third baseman Nolan Arenado diving toward first to reach Gleybar Torres with a tag before he reached the base. Four singles followed, including two infield hits, and the Yankees had the bases loaded and tying run coming to the plate. It was the best possible spot for their brawniest bat off the bench.
Enter Stanton.
The Cardinals turned to reliever Andrew Kittredge to face the former MVP, and Stanton nearly flipped the game on the first pitch. He crushed a slider to center field that came less than a foot shy of reaching the protective net above Monument Park. Instead of tying the game, Stanton emptied the bases. By then Helsley was away from the TV and readying to determine what was broadcast, not just listening to it. Stanton’s three-run double put the Yankees one run away from forcing extra innings — which would have been fitting.
That could echo the Cardinals’ previous win in the Bronx, when the Yankees rallied in the late innings to knot the game, 2-2, and send it into the 10th. In the top of that inning, Tim McCarver hit a three-run homer — a catcher providing the deciding run just as Herrera did Friday. But there would be no save like Helsley’s in ’64. Nope. Bob Gibson pitched the 10th just as he did the previous nine for the most recent win for a Cardinals pitcher until Kyle Gibson’s.
Told of Bob Gibson going 10 to win in the Bronx, Marmol said with a grin: “Sorry for pulling ours early.â€