ST. LOUIS — — Corey Dickerson leveled the game with an infield single and Tyler O’Neill pulled a full-base walk, all at the bottom of the ninth inning, to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 6-5 win over the Atlanta Braves bring on Saturday evening.
“This is a really, really good team,” said Cardinals designated hitter Brendan Donovan. “Any time you can beat a team like that on track, it’s good. Not that we needed a morale boost, but it kind of makes you feel better.”
Nolan Arenado and Andrew Knizner scored for the Cardinals, who claimed their sixth walkoff win of the season.
Donovan beat Kenley Jansen (5-1) in the ninth with a one-out double and advanced to third in a wild pitch. Jansen went to Paul Goldschmidt and beat Nolan Arenado to load the bases.
“He’s usually very tough,” Arenado said of Jansen. “Regardless of not throwing shots, his ball moves a lot and he’s still a great thrower. I think it’s safe to say that today he and Morton didn’t feel as good as they wanted.
Dickerson met shortstop Dansby Swanson, scoring Donovan and leveling the game. Jansen then led O’Neill five squares to waste his fifth save in 34 chances.
“Everything was flat,” said Jansen. “This one is the one you just have to let go of. It is strange. Don’t worry about that. Tomorrow is a different day and that’s the beauty of this game that I get to face the same hitters again and go to work and get back on track.
O’Neill also earned a walk-off hit-by-pitch against Colorado on August 16 to become the first player to earn walk-off RBI without batting the ball twice in the same month since Tracy Jones of Cincinnati Walk-Off-Walks received June 28 and 30, 1988, according to STATS.
“That’s how it works,” O’Neill said. “It’s a crazy game.”
Ryan Helsley (8-1) finished goalless in ninth place in his first appearance since August 16 after missing eight games due to the birth of his first child.
Travis d’Arnaud scored for the Braves and Austin Riley added three.
Charlie Morton allowed four runs from five hits and three walks and knocked out four batters, but played no part in the decision.
“He just wasn’t quite as smart as he used to be,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker. “That will happen too. He went out with a lead and had a chance to win the game.”
Jordan Montgomery allowed five runs with eight hits in five innings after allowing just one run in 25 2/3 innings in his first four starts with St. Louis.
D’Arnaud hit his 14th home run of the season after Matt Olson and Riley led the fourth inning with singles. Montgomery had retired nine consecutive batters after Dansby Swanson’s leadoff single.
Michael Harris II later drove William Contreras down the middle with a single in the fourth inning to take Atlanta’s lead to 4-0.
Knizner hit a two-run homer in the Braves’ left midfield bullpen for his second home run of the season, cutting Atlanta’s lead to 4-2 by the end of the fourth.
Olson and Riley hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the fifth inning to give Atlanta a 5-2 lead.
Arenado responded at the end of the inning with a two-run home run down left field, his 27th of the season, reducing the Cardinals’ lead to 5-4.
I-55 SHUTTLE:
The Cardinals removed Arenado from the paternity list and recalled LHP Zack Thompson from Triple-A Memphis. The club optioned 1B/OF Juan Yepez and LHP Génesis Cabrera to Memphis. Cabrera allowed five runs with six hits in an innings Friday night and is 1-1 in 14 games since July 9 with a 10.38 ERA.
TRAINING ROOM:
Atlanta: Placed RHP Jackson Stephens on seven-day concussion injured list and recalled Triple-A Gwinnett’s RHP Jay Jackson. Stephens left Friday night’s game after being hit in the head by a line drive from Brendan Donovan’s bat.
“He was checked in last night,” Snitker said. “Everything was fine. He just needs to back off a bit.”
St. Louis: LHP Steven Matz (sprained left MCL) threw 37 pitches off the mound at Busch Stadium before the game as he works to return as a helper in September.
NEXT:
Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright (9-9, 3.11 ERA) meets the team that drafted him 30th overall in 2000. He has the highest win rate (.714) of any active pitcher with at least 15 starts against Atlanta. Braves RHP Jake Odorizzi (5-5, 3.95 ERA) from Highland, Illinois just 30 miles east of St. Louis, and is 2-1 with a 2.91 ERA in four career starts against his hometown team.
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