LOS ANGELES -- It was a tale of two games for the Cardinals -- in more ways than one.
After Tuesday’s 13-hit, 13-run barrage in the series opener, St. Louis was no-hit through five innings on Wednesday by Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, showing few signs of life at the plate after a historic offensive night one day prior.
But as the game entered the sixth, something shifted for the Cardinals, who would go on to score in the sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th innings in an 8-6 comeback win that brought the club back to .500 on the season.
José Fermín led off the sixth with a single to right field to break up the no-hitter, and two batters later, Thomas Saggese sent a first-pitch Yamamoto sinker into the center-field seats for a two-run home run.
It was Saggese’s third blast in a span of five at-bats after his two-homer game on Tuesday. He became the first Cardinal since Albert Pujols in 2011 with three homers in a two-game span at Dodger Stadium.
In the seventh, Jordan Walker scorched a leadoff double 106.8 mph off the bat before Leo Bernal hit his first career home run to cut the Dodgers’ lead to one run. Bernal narrowly missed another round-tripper in the ninth.
Joshua Báez led off the eighth with a pinch-hit double off Tanner Scott and scored the tying run on Alec Burleson’s sac fly. And in the 10th, Nathan Church’s leadoff single put runners at the corners (due to the extra-innings automatic-runner rule) for Saggese, who legged out an RBI infield single to give the Cardinals their first lead of the night. Báez brought them both home with a two-run double on the next pitch to put the game away.