ST. LOUIS — — Nolan Arenado hit a two-run single in the eighth inning, Masyn Winn and Willson Contreras hit home runs and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4 Saturday night to complete a doubleheader sweep.
St. Louis won the season opener 11-3, with Alec Burleson hitting a home run to drive in nine runs in the first inning and Lance Lynn (5-4) pitching six solid innings.
“Going into this break, we want to win this series and get some W’s,” Winn said. “So to do it against a rival, two games in one day, is pretty fun.”
John King, Andrew Kittredge and JoJo Romero (4-1) combined to throw four scoreless innings in relief in the second game before Ryan Helsley pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 32nd save in 34 chances, a major league-leading total.
Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson allowed four runs on 10 hits and threw 98 pitches in four innings in the nightcap.
“I can’t say enough about the bullpen,” Gibson said. “What a great job they did, throwing five outs, really giving the offense chance after chance. And then Arenado comes up with a big hit. These are the team wins that you look back on in September and October and build you up as a team and get you where you want to be.”
Contreras walked and Paul Goldschmidt hit a ground-rule double over the left-field wall to start the eighth inning. Porter Hodge (0-1) struck out Brendan Donovan before singled to Arenado to give St. Louis the lead.
“It felt great,” Arenado said. “Just to help the guys out and help us win. I feel like I haven’t done that much in the first half, so it felt great. That pitcher has a good arm. I was just happy to get a pitch across the plate and hit it hard.”
Michael Busch had three hits and Miguel Amaya homered for the Cubs in the final game.
Cubs Game 2 starter Javier Assad allowed three runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. Assad was activated from the injured list for the games and served as the Cubs’ 27th man.
“I felt good there,” Assad said through an interpreter. “I felt healthy. I just threw a couple of pitches that I didn’t necessarily execute well, and that’s where they were able to get those hits.”
Amaya started the Cubs’ two-out, four-run rally in the second inning by hitting his third home run of the season to tie the game at 2-all. Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki also added RBI singles as the Cubs batted around.
“We did a good job against Gibson by creating a lot of traffic,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I think the fourth inning is the inning you look back on and say we gave up at least a run there.”
The Cubs had the bases loaded with one out in the third inning, but Christopher Morel grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Winn hit his fifth home run of the season and his first career leadoff home run, and Contreras hit his tenth of the season to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead in the top half.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was ejected in the sixth inning by home plate umpire David Arrieta for arguing from the dugout about the first two pitches to Arenado, which were ruled strikes.
Suzuki and Patrick Wisdom both homered in the opener for the Cubs, who have won five in a row. Hayden Wesneski (3-6) allowed 11 runs — four earned — on 10 hits in four innings.
The nine runs scored in the first inning of the season opener were the most runs the Cardinals have scored in a single inning since scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning against Counsell’s Milwaukee Brewers on May 15, 2023.
ROSTER CHANGES
Cubs: RHP Daniel Palencia was recalled from Triple-A Iowa and RHP Ethan Roberts was sent to Iowa after pitching two scoreless innings in Game 1.
Cardinals: RHP Kyle Leahy was recalled from Triple-A Memphis to serve as the 27th man in Saturday’s doubleheader.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: Placed LHP Luke Little (left shoulder injury) on the injured list for 15 days prior to the doubleheader.
Cardinals: CF Michael Siani left Game 1 with a left elbow contusion late in the third inning and did not start Game 2 but entered the game as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning. … RHP Riley O’Brien (right forearm flexor injury) is expected to throw a 20-25 pitch live batting practice session with Double-A Springfield.
NEXT ONE
Cubs RHP Jameson Tailon (6-4, 2.99 ERA) will face Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (7-7, 4.88 ERA) on Sunday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb