Kyle Gibson pitched seven strong innings for his first win in nearly two months, Brendan Donovan hit a three-run homer in the third inning and the St. Louis Cardinals recorded a 6-5 victory over the host New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals improved to 8-11 in their past 19 games and are at .500 at 68-68 for the fifth time since Aug. 15. St. Louis won for the first time in eight all-time regular-season games at Yankee Stadium.
Gibson (8-6) allowed one run and five hits and matched his longest outing of the season by completing seven innings for the fifth time. The veteran right-hander struck out six with no walks to end an eight-game winless skid and earn his first win since July 7 at Washington.
Nolan Arenado had an RBI single to forge a 1-1 tie in the third inning when the Cardinals produced four straight one-out hits off New York rookie starter Will Warren (0-3) after Mason Wynn avoided hitting into a double play.
After Arenado laced a single to center field to score Wynn, Donovan sent a 1-1 changeup into the first row of the right-field seats for a 4-1 lead.
The Cardinals nearly scored again in the third following Donovan’s 11th homer but Paul Goldschmidt was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Alex Verdugo on Ivan Herrera’s single.
Herrera contributed to the next two St. Louis runs in the sixth off Mark Leiter Jr. Herrera had an RBI double and scored on a throwing error by catcher Austin Wells after reaching third on a wild pitch.
Anthony Volpe had an RBI single in the second for the Yankees, who lost for the third time in four games. Giancarlo Stanton had a pinch-hit bases-clearing double in the eighth inning off Andrew Kittredge when the Yankees had six hits and scored four runs.
Ryan Helsley struck out Austin Wells with two on in the ninth to secure his 42nd save.
Warren, who was called up when fellow Yankees rookie Luis Gil tweaked his back, allowed four runs on five hits in four innings. He struck out three and walked three.
–Field Level Media