ST. LOUIS — Left-hander Wade LeBlanc, one week shy of age 37 and suddenly the second youngest member of a new potential Cardinals rotation, still hasn’t scored a personal victory yet for the Cardinals despite allowing no more than three runs in any of his six starts.
On Friday, he matched his longest outing as a St. Louis pitcher, permitting just one run to the Minnesota Twins in 5 2/3 innings before being lifted. Had he lasted one additional out, he would have had his first Cardinals win because Tommy Edman laced a 1-2 knuckle curve from Tyler Duffey for a three-run double to crack a 1-1 tie in the Cardinals’ sixth and send the Cardinals to a 5-1 interleague victory at Busch Stadium in the first game of a nine-game home stand.
For the third time in eight days, the Cardinals nudged over the .500 mark at 52-51. They haven’t been two wins clear of .500 since June 16.
Minnesota rookie Griffin Jax, a replacement for traded Jose Berrios, held the Cardinals to two hits and a run for five innings before Paul Goldschmidt singled to center off Duffey to start the Cardinals’ sixth. That was the 1,500th hit of Goldschmidt's career.
Williams Astudillo, a catcher inserted at third base when Josh Donaldson came up lame before the game with a hamstring injury, could have had a double play on Nolan Arenado’s smash but could only knock the ball down and get an out at first.
Tyler O’Neill walked and Yadier Molina struck out before Harrison Bader lined a shot headed for center. Slick-fielding shortstop Andrelton Simmons leaped to his left to get a glove on the ball but it rolled away on the infield dirt and the Cardinals had the bases loaded.
Edman could only foul off a 1-1 knuckle curve from Duffey but unloaded on the next one as he extended his hitting streak to nine games in which he has had 10 hits.
Ryan Helsley, who relieved LeBlanc, was the beneficiary for his sixth victory.
The Twins took the lead in the second inning when Miguel Sano drew a one-walk out, moved up on Nick Gordon’s groundout and scored on a two-out single by Simmons, who had three hits.
Twins second baseman Jorge Polanco rushed in to make two nifty plays on grounders by Bader and Paul DeJong to keep it at 1-0 in the Cardinals’ second.
Air Force Academy graduate Jax, just recalled from Class AAA St. Paul, allowed a runner in each of the first three innings but allowed no scoring in that time. In an earlier trial with the Twins, the right-hander was 1-1 with a 7.48 earned run average.
The Twins had a big chance when they loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, an inning which began with a sliding right fielder Dylan Carlson losing Astudillo’s ball in the lights. That ball went for a double and Sano walked. But first baseman Goldschmidt speared Gordon’s liner. Astudillo had to stop at third on Simmons’ second hit, a single to right center.
But LeBlanc got Jax to fly to short right and slowed down Polanco’s liner up the middle to where second baseman could gather in the deflection and throw to first for the third out.
The Cardinals then tied the game in the fourth on O’Neill’s single, his ninth stolen base and consecutive fly balls by Molina and Bader.
Astudillo beat out an infield hit in the sixth and, with two out, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, having seen Simmons go two for two off LeBlanc, called for right-hander Helsley, who has permitted only four of 29 inherited runners to score.
Simmons singled to right for his third hit but Helsley caught pinch hitter Max Kepler looking at strike three, stranding two runners.
Goldschmidt, who had two hits, doubled off left-hander Danny Coulombe in the Cardinals’ seventh and scored on the second of Arenado’s singles.
Giovanny Gallegos and Alex Reyes finished up as the Cardinals won for the sixth time in eight home games since the All-Star break.
