DENVER (AP) — Nolan Gorman sparked St. Louis' three-run ninth inning with a tiebreaking solo homer off Pierce Johnson, and the Cardinals topped the Colorado Rockies 9-6 on Tuesday night.
Gorman's third homer of the season gave St. Louis a 7-6 lead. Paul Goldschmidt then singled in Brendan Donovan and scored on Tyler O'Neill's single.
Tommy Edman and Juan Yepez also went deep for the Cardinals, who trailed 6-2 after six innings. Nolan Arenado hit a three-run double in the seventh, and rookie Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
“It was awesome, a comeback win,” Gorman said. “Couldn’t write it up any better.”
Giovanny Gallegos (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win, and Ryan Helsley gave up a pair of singles before retiring three straight for his second save.
Elías Díaz, C.J. Cron and Ryan McMahon homered for Colorado, but Johnson (0-1) faltered in the ninth. McMahon also committed a costly error.
The Cardinals scored four unearned runs in the seventh after McMahon booted Edman’s two-out grounder to second, loading the bases.
“It just kind of kicked up on me and I didn’t handle it,” McMahon said. “Like I told the rest of the guys here, it’s a play I expect to make 99 out of 100 times. These things do happen. Hopefully they don’t happen too often but they’re going to happen and we have to be able to bounce back.”
Dinelson Lamet then relieved Jake Bird and walked Goldschmidt before Arenado, who spent his first eight years in Colorado before being traded to St. Louis ahead of the 2021 season, laced a double down the left-field line.
“Goldy had that great at-bat right before me and I just wanted to keep it going,” Arenado said. “He got me fired up with his at-bat and I was like, all right, it’s my turn to do something.”
The Rockies had opened a 6-2 lead with five runs in the fifth, batting around against Miles Mikolas. McMahon hit a three-run drive and Cron followed with another homer. Yonathan Daza added a sacrifice fly.
Edman homered in the first, snapping a 13-inning scoreless streak to start the season by Colorado starter Kyle Freeland, and Yepez went deep leading off the third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar (left thumb contusion) took swings in the batting cage and manager Oliver Marmol said he is encouraged by his progress. Nootbaar was eligible to come off the 10-day injured list on Monday.
Rockies: RHP Germán Márquez said an MRI showed he has a strained muscle in his right forearm, and he expects to go on the injured list. “They’re going to give me a little time to rest,” said Márquez, who left Monday night’s game against the Cardinals because of forearm tightness. ... INF Elehuris Montero sat out because of right hand soreness. ... RHP Daniel Bard pitched to batters on the field in a pregame session that marked his first time facing hitters since opening the season on the injured list due to anxiety. “It was another step in the right direction,” manager Bud Black said. “He’s like anybody on the injured list. He’s got to go through steps to get back.” There is no timetable yet for his return.
UP NEXT
Cardinals RHP Jack Flaherty (1-1, 1.80 ERA) is set to make his first career appearance at Coors Field in Wednesday’s series finale. Rockies RHP José Ureña (0-2, 14.40 ERA) will be looking to pick up his first win of the season.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
