Field Level Media
Aug 15, 2020
Tyler O'Neill hit the decisive two-run homer to power the visiting St. Louis Cardinals past the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Saturday to complete a doubleheader sweep.
The Cardinals won the opener 5-1 in their first game since July 29 because of a coronavirus outbreak that hit the team. They returned to action with 10 players on the infected list.
Both teams treated the game as a "bullpen start" and sent a parade of relievers to the mound.
Genesis Cabrera (1-0), the second of five Cardinals pitchers in the seven-inning game, got the victory. Andrew Miller closed out the game and earned his first save.
Evan Marshall (0-1), the fifth of seven White Sox pitchers, took the loss.
Cardinals starter Jake Woodford breezed through the first two innings in his major league debut, but Luis Robert blasted a homer into the right field seats in the third to put the White Sox up 1-0.
Paul Goldschmidt greeted White Sox reliever Zack Burdi with a leadoff fourth-inning homer to left to tie the game.
The White Sox took a 3-1 lead on Cabrera in their half of the inning. Yasmani Grandal drew a one-out walk and Eloy Jimenez hit a two-run homer to the opposite field.
The Cardinals battled back in the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead against relievers Jimmy Cordero and Marshall.
Harrison Bader beat out a potential double-play grounder, then moved up when Cordero hit Tommy Edman with a pitch. Bader took third on a wild pitch and scored on Matt Carpenter's RBI groundout.
Marshall replaced Cordero and allowed Goldschmidt's RBI single up the middle and O'Neill's two-run homer to left.
Brad Miller reached on a bloop single and moved to third when Dylan Carlson smashed a double for his first big-league hit. But Jace Fry relieved Marshall and struck out Matt Wieters to strand the runners.
The Cardinals pushed their lead to 6-3 in the seventh. Carpenter hit leadoff single, moved to third on O'Neill's one-out double and scored on Miller's sacrifice fly to the right field wall.
--Field Level Media