DENVER — Whether the game turned on the double play missed or the pitching change that didn’t happen, the St. Louis Cardinals still had plenty of other innings to find a way for the offense to overcome both.
Rockies shortstop Trevor Story shattered a scoreless game with a three-run homer in the seventh inning that proved enough withstand the Cardinals’ rally and carry Colorado to a 3-2 victory Saturday at Coors Field. For the eighth consecutive road loss the Cardinals’ offense stalled at two runs or less, and in 11 of their previous 12 losses overall they have failed to score more than two runs. Outside of a six-run 10th inning Friday that started with a runner at second base, the Cardinals have managed a total of seven runs in the other 27 innings of play at one of the best places to hit in the majors.
Echoing their last-gasp rally that became a victory Friday night, the Cardinals got the tying run to third in the ninth inning. They scored two runs with two outs in the eighth inning to narrow the game to that run. Dylan Carlson’s double got them started, Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single got them on the scoreboard, and Yadier Molina’s second RBI single up the middle in as many games brought in the second run and got the tying run to third base. What the Cardinals did with four batters was still shy of what Story did with one swing.
