ST. LOUIS -- In what has been one of the most trying stretches of baseball in a career that will likely someday take him to the Hall of Fame, Nolan Arenado finally got the kind of moment he has been looking to deliver for months.
Staring at near career lows over a first half that has seen him battle left forearm soreness and a right elbow contusion, Arenado came through in the clutch on Saturday night with a two-run, eighth-inning single that propelled the Cardinals to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the rival Cubs.
“Just to come through for the boys and help us get a win -- I feel like I haven’t done that very much this first half, so it felt great,” said Arenado, who was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. “It’s been a tough first half individually, and I’m just trying to contribute any way that I can. I may not feel great or do some of the stuff that I expect from myself, but I can still help this team win on both sides of the ball. That’s what I’m focusing on until it clicks. I believe that time is coming, and tonight was really great.”
The large contingent of Cardinals fans at Busch Stadium erupted with emotion when Arenado’s 104 mph grounder evaded Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson and second baseman Nico Hoerner. Willson Contreras trotted in from third and Paul Goldschmidt -- who had doubled into the left-field corner -- scored from second base. The fiery Arenado pumped his fist at second base as the crowd roared.
Ryan Helsley, the Cardinals' lone All-Star this season, closed out the ninth inning for his MLB-leading 32nd save of the season.
The eighth-inning rally, combined with an 11-3 rout in Game 1, allowed the Cards to sweep the doubleheader against the Cubs. Relievers John King, Andrew Kittredge, JoJo Romero and Helsley held the Cubs to just two hits over five scoreless innings in Game 2.
“We’ve been doing that all year and hopefully we can just continue it,” said King, who lowered his ERA to 2.43 on the season with two innings of hitless work. “Everyone’s prepared and super confident in their abilities. We just try to throw strike one and attack, and then everything just kind of falls into place. It’s been really fun.”
The All-Star break is coming at the right time for veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson, who surrendered 15 runs in 18 innings over his past four starts (7.50 ERA). In Saturday’s Game 2, Gibson allowed 10 hits (his season high) and four runs. Six of those hits came in the second inning when the Cubs scored four times. He did manage to limit the damage by getting Christopher Morel to ground into an inning-ending double play in the fourth inning.
“These are the team wins that you look back on in September and October that build you as a team and get you to where you want to be,” Gibson said of the growing belief within the Cards clubhouse.
The Cards won Game 1 on the strength of a nine-run first inning -- their highest-scoring first inning in more than 19 years. In Game 2, Masyn Winn led off the bottom of the first with a home run.
Winn scored twice in Game 1’s first inning and again in Game 2’s first inning, making him just the third MLB player to score three first-inning runs on the same day since inning-by-inning data started being tracked in 1974, joining the Giants' Brandon Belt and Mike Tauchman on May 4, 2021, per MLB research.
“We went on a little three-game skid there [earlier in the week], but going into this break, we wanted to win this series,” said Winn, who had four hits, three runs scored and three RBIs in the doubleheader sweep. “To do it against a rival, getting two games in one day, it’s pretty fun. Especially that second one -- to come back and have Helsley shut the door and [Arenado] get that big knock, it was electric out there.”
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