Thomas Saggese leads 5-homer outburst in Cardinals’ 13-8 win over Dodgers

The St. Louis Cardinals demonstrated their offensive prowess by hitting five home runs in a 13-8 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. Thomas Saggese led the charge with two home runs, while Jordan Walker, the Home Run Derby champion, contributed a pair as well. Ramón Urías and Joshua Báez also found the outfield beyond the fences for the Cardinals.

The team's offensive explosion came as their struggling run production; they had lost seven of their previous nine games while being outscored 63-38 during that stretch. The Dodgers, who had a solid outing with starter Eric Lauer allowing seven early runs, struggled against the Cardinals' bats. Their top hitters, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy, combined for a paltry 1 for 7 with three strikeouts.

Mookie Betts chipped in with four RBIs. The Cardinals' starting pitcher, Michael McGreevy, allowed four runs and five hits over five innings. The Cardinals capitalized on their two-base situations twice in the third inning to extend their lead to 7-0. Iván Herrera added an RBI single, Leo Bernal made his major league debut with a two-run single, and Saggese contributed a sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals led 2-0 on consecutive homers by Urías and Saggese in the second inning. Walker's two-run hit off reliever Seth Halvorsen made it 9-3 in the fourth. Saggese drove in another run with a two-run homer in the fifth. Báez added a solo homer in the seventh, pushing the Cardinals' lead to 11-4. The Dodgers' utilityman, Kiké Hernández, made a brief appearance in the seventh as a pinch hitter and later gave up a crucial leadoff hit in the ninth inning.

This was the 148th time a position player pitched in the majors this season. Lauer ultimately surrendered seven runs and eight hits over three innings. The Cardinals will face a bullpen game against Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.56 ERA) on Wednesday.