St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants Box Score on Aug 31, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 1, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO -- Randal Grichuk gave St. Louis the lead for good with a second-inning home run, and Tommy Pham drove in a pair of late insurance runs, helping the Cardinals defeat the San Francisco Giants 5-2 Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.

St. Louis starter Michael Wacha (10-7) limited the struggling Giants to one run in six innings. The right-hander combined with five relievers on a seven-hitter.

The Cardinals (67-66) gained a half-game on the idle Colorado Rockies (72-61) in the National League wild-card race, trimming their deficit to five games.

It was an all-around bad night for the Giants, who had to scratch scheduled starter Madison Bumgarner because of an illness.

Grichuk's homer, his 18th of the season, came off Bumgarner's replacement, right-hander Matt Cain (3-11), with two outs in the second. The homer also scored Jose Martinez, who had singled one out earlier.

The Cardinals led just 2-1 before adding one run in the seventh and two in the eighth against the San Francisco bullpen.

Pham's third hit of the game, a single, drove in pinch hitter Greg Garcia in the seventh, increasing St. Louis' lead to 3-1.

Right-hander Mark Melancon, the Giants' fourth pitcher, walked in a run and hit Pham with the bases loaded in the eighth as the Cardinals pulled away into a four-run lead.

Wacha snapped a personal three-game losing streak by allowing just four hits. He walked two and struck out two.

Right-hander Matt Bowman and lefty Tyler Lyons followed Wacha with one scoreless inning apiece before the Giants opened the ninth with back-to-back doubles against righty John Brebbia.

The second of the doubles required a four-minute review from New York that erased an apparent two-run homer by Brandon Crawford. The shortstop's shot toward the right field foul pole was caught by a fan near the top of a railing that separates the 25-foot-high wall from the pole.

Upon review, it was determined that the ball would have hit the railing if not interfered upon by the fan, and Crawford was given a ground-rule double.

After Brebbia got Hunter Pence to fly to right field for the first out, left-hander Zach Duke and closer Seung Hwan Oh recorded one out apiece to protect the 5-2 lead.

Oh was credited with his 20th save.

Pham's three hits included a double, one of three extra-base hits the Cardinals had among their 10 hits.

Grichuk had two hits and scored twice for the Cardinals, who improved to 2-1 on their 10-game trip.

Crawford had two doubles. Buster Posey, returning to the lineup after missing the three-game series against the San Diego Padres with a bruised thumb, chipped in with a double and a single for the Giants, who were opening a four-game homestand.

The Giants have totaled just 12 runs in their past seven games.

Cain left for a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, having allowed the two runs produced by Grichuk's homer and seven hits. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.

Pinch-hitting for Cain, Carlos Moncrief got the Giants within 2-1 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring Pence.

NOTES: Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced before the game that the earliest LHP Madison Bumgarner (illness) might make his next start is Sunday. ... The Giants plan to activate RHP Johnny Cueto (blisters, strained flexor tendon) off the 10-day disabled list on Friday and start him in the second game of the series. He hasn't started for San Francisco since July 14 at San Diego. ... The Cardinals are expected to promote RHP Jack Flaherty from Triple-A Memphis in time to start the Friday game. ... The Cardinals recalled RHP John Gant from Triple-A and designated LHP Kevin Siegrist for assignment. Siegrist (strained left forearm) was reinstated from the DL to make the transaction possible.