For the second straight day, the Giants scratched and clawed their way back from an early deficit against the St. Louis Cardinals. And once again, their bullpen could not preserve a tie. The details were different, but the result was the same, as Tyler O’Neill took Mark Melancon deep with two out in the 10th to give the Cardinals a 5-4 win.
The Cardinals commenced the scoring in the second when Adam Wainwright singled home Jedd Gyorko, but the Giants countered in the third when Joe Panik singled home Aramis Garcia. In the bottom of the frame, however, the Cardinals regained the lead, as Paul DeJong singled home Matt Carpenter.
Wainwright and Rodriguez mostly cruised through the middle innings, but that changed in the seventh. Hunter Pence and Alen Hanson singled to set the table, with Hanson advancing to second on Marcell Ozuna’s error. Aramis Garcia then blooped a single to left-center, scoring both Pence and Hanson and advancing to second on Harrison Bader’s fielding error. Rodriguez singled Hanson to third, and Gregor Blanco grounded into a fielder’s choice, beating out a potential double play at first to enable Garcia to score and put the Giants up 4-2.
Rodriguez struggled immediately with control in the bottom of the frame, walking Gyorko on four pitches to lead off the inning. Two pitches later, he left a curveball up to Yadier Molina, who drove it down the left-field line and over the wall to tie the game at 4.
Each team’s bullpen kept the other scoreless until extras. The Giants had a runner on third in both the ninth and 10th innings, but were unable to score in either inning.