Oct 7, 2022 3 min read

Philadelphia scored six times in the ninth inning off the stingy St. Louis bullpen, highlighted by a bases-loaded single by Jean Segura, and the Phillies beat the NL Central champion Cardinals 6-3 on Friday in the opening game of their National League wild-card series.

The Cardinals, who were 74-3 on the season when leading after eight innings, were poised to put away another close game after Juan Yepez connected for the first go-ahead pinch-hit homer in franchise history with two outs in the seventh inning.

But after struggling all afternoon against José Quintana and the St. Louis bullpen, the Phillies finally got their powerful offense going against Ryan Helsley. JT Realmuto began the ninth-inning rally with a single, and walks for Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos loaded the bases before the All-Star closer plunked Alec Bohm to score a run.

The Cardinals training staff came out to check on Helsley, who had jammed the middle finger on his pitching hand earlier in the week in Pittsburgh. He tried to throw another warmup pitch but was pulled for Andre Pallante, who gave up Segura’s hit through the right side of the infield that put Philadelphia in front.

Edmundo Sosa added a run when he brazenly scored on Bryson Stott’s grounder to first base, and Brandon Marsh drove in another run when a tough hop got past Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong.

By the time Kyle Schwarber added a sacrifice fly, Phillies reliever Zach Eflin had plenty of wiggle room in the ninth.

American League

Cleveland 2, Tampa Bay 1: José Ramírez connected for a two-run homer, Shane Bieber dominated Tampa Bay for 7 2/3 innings and the young Cleveland Guardians played with poise in their postseason debut, beating the Rays 2-1 in the wild-card opener.

Ramírez’s shot off Shane McClanahan in the sixth inning helped Cleveland end an eight-game postseason losing streak and left the club one win from advancing in its first season as the Guardians.

Bieber, rocked in his only other playoff appearance two years ago, allowed just three hits and struck out eight before being lifted with a runner on in the eighth.

Emmanuel Clase took it from there, getting four outs for his first postseason save and finishing a game that took just 2 hours, 17 minutes. Cleveland’s closer led the majors with 42 saves in the regular season.

Jose Siri homered for the Rays, who dropped their sixth straight game overall and must win Game 2 on Saturday to force a decisive Game 3. The series winner plays the AL East champion New York Yankees in the Division Series starting Tuesday in the Bronx.

Seattle 4, Toronto 0: Luis Castillo and Andrés Muñoz combined on a shutout, Cal Raleigh hit a two-run homer and the Seattle Mariners won in their first postseason game since 2001, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 in their AL wild-card series opener.

Eugenio Suárez had two hits and two RBIs and rookie Julio Rodríguez reached base three times and scored twice for the Mariners, who can wrap up the series with a win in Game 2 Saturday.

The series winner plays AL West champion Houston in the Division Series starting Tuesday in Texas.