MLB

Cleveland Guardians at St. Louis Cardinals

· Major League Baseball
Cleveland Guardians
90-65, 42-37 Away
Final
5 - 1
St. Louis Cardinals
77-77, 42-37 Home

José Ramírez homers and drives in a pair, Ben Lively goes 5 innings, and Guardians top Cardinals 5-1

“When you watch him play, it’s OK, this guy wants to play, he wants to be the best,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of Ramírez. “Nothing he does will ever surprise me. He’s capable of great things.”

Ramírez has more goals this season.

“It feels good, but obviously it’s going to feel a lot better if I’m able to hit four more homers for the 40/40,” he said through an interpreter.

Ben Lively (13-9) pitched five innings, allowing just one earned run and three hits while striking out two and walking one. It was his third consecutive start of allowing fewer than two runs.

“A couple times in the past, I’ve kind of chilled out a little bit, thinking I’ve got it figured out a little bit, and bad things happened,” Lively said. “You know what you’re doing, (so) keep going. I’ve got plenty of time in the offseason to think about it.”

Erik Sabrowski gave up two hits in 2 1/3 innings for the first save of his professional career.

Andrés Giménez and Lane Thomas added solo home runs for the Guardians. Thomas, who began his career in St. Louis, hit his first homer at Busch Stadium since Sept. 10, 2020.

The Guardians magic number for the division is now one. The Cardinals’ loss and the Arizona Diamondbacks victory over the Milwaukee Brewers officially eliminated St. Louis from postseason contention for the second consecutive season.

Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (8-8) allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. He struck out two and walked three, allowing multiple home runs for just the fifth time in 29 starts.

“Felt really good, (but) we’d like to have two pitches back,” Gibson said.

“Especially against this lineup, I feel like (Gibson) actually navigated it well,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “You’ve got a ton of lefties in there, a lot of guys that make contact, they’re in the air quite a bit, they don’t swing and miss. He gave us a shot.”

Lars Nootbaar had two hits for the Cardinals, including a popup double to shallow left field in the fourth inning to drive in St. Louis’ run. Thomas Saggese had two hits in his first career start at third base. His fourth inning throwing error allowed Bo Naylor to advance to second base on a single and score on an RBI base hit by Daniel Schneemann.

The Guardians, who locked up a playoff spot on Thursday at home, will clinch the AL Central with one more win or one more loss by the Kansas City Royals.

“(Clinching at home) was really fun, and we should enjoy it, but that doesn’t mean the work stops,” Vogt said. “We have to continue to push all the way through to the end.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Marmol said the Cardinals are still evaluating how the team will align its pitching rotation over its final eight games of the regular season. RHP Sonny Gray described pitching through undisclosed “lingering things” following his most recent start on Sept. 18.

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (right middle finger blister) is “building up volume” before pitching in a game, Vogt said. OF Steven Kwan (mid-back irritation) is eligible to come off the injured list on Tuesday, and Vogt said the team is “targeting” that day for his activation. “Obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then, but his progression is going well. He’s feeling better every day,” Vogt said. RHP Carlos Carrasco cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus.

UP NEXT

Miles Mikolas (8-11, 5.49) starts for St. Louis in the second game of the series, opposed by Cleveland LHP Matthew Boyd (2-1, 2.52). Mikolas is trying to avoid becoming the first Cardinals pitcher since Kip Wells in 2007 to pitch at least 150 innings with an ERA of 5.50 or higher.

How can I watch Cleveland Guardians vs. St. Louis Cardinals?
  • TV Channel: Guardians at Cardinals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Cardinals: 50.9%
Guardians: 49.1%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Saggese struck out looking.
9th Inning Walker grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Nootbaar out at second.
9th Inning Nootbaar reached on infield single to first.
9th Inning Fry flied out to center.
9th Inning Martínez grounded out to second.
9th Inning Schneemann struck out swinging.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/cle.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCLE https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/stl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSTL
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 0
13 Ground Balls 15
3 Strikeouts 5
5 Runs Batted In 1
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
8 Hits 7
1 Stolen Bases 0
4 Walks 3
0 Catcher Interference 0
5 Runs 1
0 Ground Into Double Play 2
0 Sacrifice Flies 0
34 At Bats 32
3 Home Runs 0
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
10 Runners Left On Base 12
0 Triples 0
1 Game Winning RBIs 0
0 Intentional Walks 0
0 Doubles 3
18 Fly Balls 12
1 Caught Stealing 0
123 Pitches 128
0 Games Started 0
1 Pinch At Bats 1
0 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 0
17 Total Bases 10
38 Plate Appearances 35
486.0 Projected Home Runs 0.0
3 Extra Base Hits 3
5.4 Runs Created 2.3
.235 Batting Average .219
.000 Pinch Hit Average .000
.500 Slugging Percentage .313
.382 Secondary Average .188
.316 On Base Percentage .286
.816 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .598
0.7 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 1.3
5.4 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 2.3
38.0 Batter Rating 17.0
11.3 At Bats Per Home Run 0.0
0.50 Stolen Base Percentage 0.00
3.24 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.66
.265 Isolated Power .094
1.33 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.60
.105 Walks Per Plate Appearance .086
.147 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average -.031
10.0 Runs Produced 2.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.6 Patience Ratio 0.4
0.2 Balls In Play Average 0.3
87.8 MLB Rating 71.3
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Busch Stadium

Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Attendance: 33,967 | Capacity:

2024 American League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Cleveland 92 69 .571 - L2
Kansas City 86 76 .531 6.5 W1
Detroit 86 76 .531 6.5 L2
Minnesota 82 80 .506 10.5 L4
Chicago 41 121 .253 51.5 W2

2024 National League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Milwaukee 93 69 .574 - L1
St. Louis 83 79 .512 10 W1
Chicago 83 79 .512 10 L1
Cincinnati 77 85 .475 16 W1
Pittsburgh 76 86 .469 17 L1
Full Standings