ANAHEIM, Calif.—Alec Burleson hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning, Pedro Pagés had a three-run double for his first major-league hit, and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Angels 7–6 Tuesday night.
Burleson finished with three hits as he homered for the fourth time in 16 games after not having gone deep in his first 19 games. Nolan Arenado led off the seventh with a base hit before Burleson connected on Amir Garrett’s slider and drove it over the right-field wall to give the Cardinals their third straight victory.
“I think we put together good at-bats all day. We came out swinging and kind of hit a lull, but we just continued to string things together,” Burleson said.
Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray (5–2) struck out nine in six innings, but allowed five runs and eight hits. Ryan Helsley picked up his 13th save, which is tied for the major-league lead.
“I did a good job to strike out nine, but I didn’t do a good job consistently enough when I got to two-strike counts of putting guys away,” Gray said.
Kevin Pillar had three hits and Logan O’Hoppe hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning as the Angels fell to 1–5 on their current homestand despite rallying from an early five-run deficit. The Angels are a major league-worst 5–16 at home.
Pillar drove in a run with a base hit in the seventh inning, giving him 13 RBIs in his first nine games with the Angels, which ties a franchise record. The team signed Pillar on April 30 after star outfielder Mike Trout went on the injured list due to a torn meniscus in his left knee.
The Angels had the bases loaded with one out in the eighth, but Zach Neto was caught stealing home on a suicide squeeze gone awry, and Luis Guillorme struck out.
“A sinker ball left-hander, I didn’t want him to hit into a double play,“ Angels Manager Ron Washington said. ”He can handle the bat. He didn’t do the job. It wasn’t anything I did wrong. He didn’t get the bunt down.”.
Hunter Strickland (1–1) took the loss.
St. Louis put up two runs in the second inning after the first two runners reached base. A wild pitch by Reid Detmers brought in Dylan Carlson, and Nolan Gorman scored on Angels’ third baseman Cole Tucker’s errant throw home.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the third, Pagés lined a curveball down the third-base line and into the left-field corner to make it 5–0. Pagés, the Cardinals’ sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft, was hitless in his first six at-bats.
“Pagés did an incredible job,“ Cardinals Manager Oliver Marmol said of his rookie catcher. ”The double was fun to see. The dugout loved that. But also navigating that lineup and the different arms we used today. He blocked a ton and some really tough ones too, in key moments.”
Gray retired the first seven Angels’ hitters before Cole Tucker tripled to right-center and scored on Nolan Schanuel’s base hit.
O"Hoppe got Los Angeles within 5–4 in the fourth when he drove an elevated sinker from Gray into the rock pile beyond the wall in left-center field.
