Cardinals rally to defeat struggling Angels

Nolan Arenado homered and Matt Carpenter had a tying two-run single during St. Louis’ eight-run seventh inning, and the Cardinals rallied from a four-run deficit for a 10-5 victory over the Angels on Monday night at Angel Stadium.

Iván Herrera had two hits during the Cardinals’ massive rally, and he capped it with a two-run single as St. Louis sent 14 hitters to the plate against the Angels’ best relievers.

“It’s great to see us rally, come back, have a big inning,” said Arenado, who led off the seventh with only his third homer of the season. “The back end of their bullpen is pretty good, so we were happy to get those runs in and get the win.”

Kyle Leahy earned his first major league victory for the Cardinals, who won back-to-back games after a seven-game skid. St. Louis is in Anaheim for only the third series in the franchise’s history, and the first since May 2016.

“It’s nice to win back-to-back games,” Arenado said. “Feels like it’s been quite some time, so hopefully we just keep that going.”

Kevin Pillar had an early two-run homer and a late RBI single for the Angels, who have lost four of five during their homestand to drop to 5-15 at the Big A this season.

“Bad night,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “We had the best [relievers] we had in the bullpen in there [in the seventh]. I really didn’t see that coming. ... It was a surprise, because those guys have been good.”

Matthew Liberatore gave up four runs, five hits and two walks while failing to get out of the fourth inning in the reliever’s second start of the season for St. Louis.

Leahy (1-1) pitched 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief to earn a postgame beer shower from his excited teammates. The 26-year-old reliever is a former 17th-round draft pick out of Division II Colorado Mesa.

“I have a lot of close friends that I’ve come up with on this team,” Leahy said. “We have a lot of veteran leadership, and hopefully it all comes together here and we get on a roll.”

Pillar extended his impressive start with his new team, putting the Angels up 4-0 with a 362-yard line drive into the short porch in left.

Pillar, a veteran slugger and L.A.-area native, has nine hits and 12 RBIs in his last five games with the struggling team that picked him up after the White Sox designated him for assignment late last month. Pillar also tied Joe Rudi‘s franchise record for the most RBIs in a player’s first eight games with the Angels.

Kyren Paris doubled for the second RBI of his career during the Angels’ four-run third inning.

St. Louis managed only a single from Paul Goldschmidt in the first five innings against José Soriano. The Cardinals loaded the bases in the sixth, but Angels reliever Adam Cimber got Goldschmidt to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Cimber has been a bright spot in a dim Angels season, stranding all 15 of his inherited runners — but Cimber’s first pitch of the seventh was blasted for a homer by Arenado, a native of Newport Beach who now lives in nearby San Clemente during the offseason.

St. Louis’ next four batters singled against Cimber and Matt Moore (0-1). Shortly after Carpenter delivered a full-count single to make it 4-4, reliever Luis García hit Goldschmidt with his first pitch to drive in Wynn.

“Up and down the lineup, guys did a really nice job of driving the baseball, getting their hits, and also taking their walks, which is a good sign,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We did a little bit of everything.”

Eight Cardinals scored one run apiece in the rally.

Niko Goodrum made two errors at third base in the ninth inning, allowing St. Louis to score two more runs.

Up next

Inconsistent left-hander and boyhood Cardinals fan Reid Detmers (3-4, 4.96 ERA) takes the mound for the Angels against Sonny Gray (4-2, 2.29 ERA), who gave up six earned runs to Milwaukee in his last start.