SEATTLE — Having built another lead as sturdy and permanent as a sandcastle, the Cardinals found themselves once again fighting against the tide to chase down what they had lost.
They finally got their arms and legs in sync to stay afloat.
Jack Flaherty bought the offense time with his first quality start of the season, and Nolan Gorman became a one-man, two-out tidal wave of production Sunday with a three-run homer. Gorman’s tie-breaking mash airlifted the Cardinals toward a 7-3 victory against Seattle at T-Mobile Park, rescuing them from the undertow of a misspent weekend beside Elliott Bay. The Cardinals have won only two series so far this season and have yet to win the first game of any series, but they again sidestepped a continental shelf in the standings by taking at least one game for the sixth time in seven series.
All three runs allowed by Flaherty came in the second inning, and from there the right-hander was at his best. He retired 12 of the next 13 batters.
He faced the minimum in his final 3 1/3 innings.
Flaherty (2-2) struck out nine and authored the Cardinals third quality start of the season, the first by a pitcher not named Jordan Montgomery. By steadying the ship through the middle innings, Flaherty was able to give the Cardinals a chance to rally – and then hold the lead when it was restored. In the fourth inning, backup catcher Andrew Knizner singled and leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar followed with his second of three hits.
A lineout nearly gave the Mariners their escape but the throw to second was not controlled by Seattle’s Kolten Wong and instead of a double play, the Mariners had to face the National League’s two-out RBI leader. Gorman added to his total. His three-run shot snapped the 3-3 tie and gave him 14 two-out RBIs this season.
The Cardinals’ three homers in the series finale at T-Mobile included a solo homer from shortstop Paul DeJong to punctuate his return to the majors and three-hit afternoon.
DeJong knows how to make a debut
Robbed of playing time during spring training because of a sore arm and a stiff lower back that put him on the injured list, DeJong returned to the majors with familiar flair.
The Cardinals’ infielder, starting at shortstop because the manager liked the matchup against Mariners’ starter Chris Flexen, tagged two singles in his first two at-bats. In the seventh inning, he increased the Cardinals’ lead with a solo homer.
Don’t call it a comeback.
Call it an encore.
He’s followed the script before.
Three times in his career, DeJong has been brought up from Class AAA Memphis and homered in that first game with the Cardinals. He did so in his major-league debut on May 28, 2017 at Colorado in his only at-bat that day. In 2022, after a demotion to Class AAA because of his struggles, DeJong came back to the majors on July 30 and homered in Washington. His return Sunday was from a rehab assignment in Memphis, but the result was the same. DeJong had only his second game with at least three hits since July 2021.
Cardinals start fast for lead (again)
For the second time in as many games against Seattle, the Cardinals revved for at least a run in the first inning. The Cardinals, with Paul Goldschmidt moving up to No. 2 and Gorman batting third, laced Flexen with three consecutive hits to start the first inning.
Nootbaar homered on the first pitch of the game for his second career leadoff homer.
Goldschmidt and Gorman followed with singles, and then the Cardinals stumbled out of a bigger inning with a caught stealing. Gorman was tagged at second on Nolan Arenado’s strikeout for a double play that got the first two outs. Goldschmidt took home as the plate unfolded for a 2-0 lead.
Cardinals lose that early lead (again)
For the second time in as many games against Seattle, the Cardinals misplaced the lead taken in the first inning before the end of the second.
Flaherty’s most turbulent inning was the second, and it took the right-hander 32 pitches to navigate around six Mariners who reached base. The two-run lead the Cardinals claimed in the first vanished beneath the surf of four hits, an error, and two walks. Blossoming talent Jarred Kelenic drilled an off-speed pitch on the inner half of the plate into the left-field seats for an opposite field homer and the Mariners’ first run. Flaherty retired the next batter, A. J. Pollock, and then four consecutive Mariners reached base.
Two scored on Ty France’s two-out single to overtake the Cardinals for a 3-2 lead.
The throw home from left fielder Tyler O’Neill was wide of the plate, and that France to move into scoring position. Flaherty walked the next batter to load the bases before asserting his control of the moment. He struck out catcher Cal Raleigh on a 94.9-mph fastball to end the inning, and as he walked back to the dugout. He gestured to the field and spoke to anyone who was listening as he did.
He then got 12 outs from the next 12 Mariners he faced.
Fuming, furious Contreras ejected
It took five innings for Willson Contreras’ frustrations with home plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s strike zone to erupt into an ejection.
And Contreras wasn’t even catching Sunday.
The critical lobs came from the dugout during the first inning as Contreras took a pitch that was called a strike, and he felt differently. As the Cardinals’ designated hitter for the day, Contreras eventually took walk in the first inning and walked again in the third inning, but his skepticism of the strike zone remained. On a 2-1 pitch to lead off the fifth inning, Contreras questioned the location of the pitch called a strike. He had two pitches in that same area called strikes on him in that at-bat.
Contreras struck out on the next pitch – and outside fastball.
He turned, slammed his bat into the dirt, and snapped it.
After he returned to the dugout, his running commentary on the calls continued, and Iasssogna ejected him. It was the seventh ejection of Contreras’ career, first as a Cardinal.
