ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pedro Pagés hit a two-run homer off Logan Gilbert in the eighth inning, helping the St. Louis Cardinals top the Seattle Mariners 2-0 on Saturday night.
“I’m just living my dream,” Pagés said. “I’ve worked so hard for this. I’m going to keep grinding and I’m going to enjoy it.”
His teammates certainly enjoyed it.
“It was so cool. The dugout loved every second of it,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “To come up with that homer there, that was awesome to see.”
Jordan Walker was hit by a pitch before Pagés connected for his sixth homer, a drive to left-center on a 1-1 slider.
“In that last at-bat, he started me off with a cutter and then went to a curveball. I thought I’d see a slider right there and he ended up throwing that pitch and I ended up getting a good swing on it,” Pagés said. “It’s a lot of fun going out there helping the team considering how that guy was throwing against us.”
Gilbert (7-11) struck out 10 while throwing a two-hitter for his second career complete game. He threw 101 pitches, 65 for strikes.
“I left one out over the middle there at the end,” Gilbert said. “That’s how it goes. He put a good swing on it. It was a really competitive ballgame. You throw like 40 good ones and at the end of the night we’re talking about one of them. That’s baseball. You just tip your cap and move on.”
Andrew Kittredge (4-4) pitched one inning for the win, and Ryan Helsley handled the ninth for his major league-leading 43rd save in 47 opportunities.
Dylan Moore hit a two-out bloop single for Seattle in the ninth, but Helsley struck out Julio Rodríguez swinging for the final out.
Kyle Gibson struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings for St. Louis. He gave up three hits and three walks.
“Pedro and I had great plan going in,” Gibson said. “A great plan is great but you can’t execute it then it doesn’t matter. We were able to keep them guessing and throw all pitches to both sides of the plate and that’s usually a recipe for success for me.”
Gibson was lifted with two runners on in the seventh. JoJo Romero came in and walked Moore before retiring Rodríguez on a grounder to shortstop.
Cal Raleigh had two of Seattle’s five hits.
“It’s a tough one to lose, especially with such a great outing by Logan,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “We hoped it would have gone the other way.”
TRANSACTIONS
The Cardinals optioned right-hander Kyle Leahy to Triple-A Memphis and brought up right-hander Chris Roycroft. In Friday’s 6-1 loss to Seattle, Leahy gave up three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings.
TRAINING ROOM
Mariners: RF Victor Robles (elbow) got the day off. Robles exited Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch. Mitch Haniger was in the lineup in right field.
Cardinals: 2B/LF Brendan Donovan (foot infection) is listed as day to day. His foot began to hurt after Friday’s game, and he was unable to put any pressure on it. … 3B Nolan Arenado (left shoulder) was back in the lineup. Arenado exited Friday’s game for a pinch hitter in the ninth inning. He tweaked his shoulder during his at-bat in the sixth.
UP NEXT
Mariners RHP Luis Castillo (11-12, 3.60 ERA) starts against Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (8-10, 5.27) in the series finale on Sunday.
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