Guardians blow 5-run lead, lose to Cardinals

CLEVELAND — Victor Scott II had two hits and two RBI as the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday. Masyn Winn added three hits for St. Louis, and Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras both homered. Donovan and Alec Burleson each drove in two runs. Kyle Manzardo and Gabriel Arias went deep for the Guardians (40-41), who have lost three straight and dropped under .500 for the first time since April 9. Cleveland snapped a 21-inning scoreless drought with six runs in the third to take a 6-1 lead before St. Louis came back. Burleson had a two-run single in the fifth, and Scott tied it with a two-run double during a five-run sixth. Yohel Pozo scored the go-ahead run on Donovan's sacrifice fly, and Scott came home on an RBI groundout by Winn. Contreras added a solo homer in the ninth. Matt Svanson (1-0) got the win and Ryan Helsley earned his 16th save. Matt Festa (1-2) took the loss. In the third, the Guardians got a solo shot from Manzardo and a two-run drive by Arias off starter Miles Mikolas. Their other runs came on a RBI double by Lane Thomas, RBI triple by Steven Kwan and run-scoring grounder by Daniel Schneeman. Key momentDonovan lined a fastball over the wall in right-center on Slade Cecconi's first pitch. It was the sixth time this season a Guardians starter allowed a home run on the opening pitch of the game — most in the majors. Cleveland gave up six such homers from 2017-24. Key statIt was the first time since July 5 last year against Washington that the Cardinals trailed by five and rallied to win. The last time Cleveland led by at least five and lost was May 19, 2023, against the New York Mets. Up nextThe series finale is a matchup of left-handers. Matthew Liberatore (5-6, 3.96 ERA) pitches for St. Louis, and Logan Allen (5-5, 4.25) takes the mound for Cleveland.