By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals swept a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday after rain postponed their game on Wednesday, winning game one 5-4 and game two 8-6 in 10 innings.
St. Louis did have to rally back in the opener to the day but took the lead in the first inning, loading the bases with walks to Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson and a single by Iván Herrera, before Winn scored on a sacrifice fly by Willson Contreras.
The White Sox tied up the game in the fifth, Josh Rojas reaching on a throwing error by Winn, scoring Miguel Vargas, and then took the lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Vargas driving in Andrew Benintendi.
St. Louis did tie the game back up in the top of the sixth, a bases loaded walk to Lars Nootbaar bringing home Herrera, but in the bottom half the White Sox took the lead again with two runs. Lenyn Sosa struck out against Cardinals starter Erick Fedde, but reached first on a wild pitch, and scored as Michael A Taylor hit a two run home run to give Chicago a 4-2 lead.
The Cardinals rallied though in the eighth inning, first tying things up after Burleson singled and then scored as Contreras hit a two run home run. Following the home run Nolan Gorman reached on a fielding error, and later scored the go ahead run, and ultimately winning run, on a single by Yohel Pozo.
Willson Contreras just CRUSHED that baseball!
Send him to the All-Star game: https://t.co/H9MeQwBo86! pic.twitter.com/m7jfLWSsts
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 19, 2025
Pozo pokes it perfectly! pic.twitter.com/UeYwo6F9Yg
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 19, 2025
Andre Granillo earned the win in relief, his first of the season now 1-0, pitching just 1/3 of an inning. Ryan Helsley earned his 14th save. At the plate, Burleson was 2-for-3. Herrera was 2-for-4, while Contreras was 1-for-4 with 3 RBI’s.
In the second game, the Cardinals were dominating the White Sox early, looking like the opposite of the opener, but a late rally by Chicago forced St. Louis to win in extra innings.
After Ryan Noda gave the White Sox the lead in the second inning with a solo home run, the Cardinals scored six unanswered runs over the next two innings. In the third inning, Victor Scott II singled and Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch before Alec Burleson blasted the Redbirds ahead with a three run home run. St. Louis went back to back as Nolan Arenado hit a solo home run to extend the lead in the third, the 350th home run of his career, giving the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.
With the home run, Arenado became the seventh player in Major League baseball history to hit 350 or more career home runs and also have 10 or more Gold Gloves.
Three-run Burly Bomb! 🌮 pic.twitter.com/DLzb5Orgj1
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 19, 2025
Nolan Arenado becomes just the 7th player in Major League history with 350+ career home runs and 10+ Gold Gloves! pic.twitter.com/F24vmUR7l6
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 19, 2025
The Cardinals added two more runs in the fourth inning. Nolan Gorman led the inning off with a double and Pedro Pagés singled, before both scored as Contreras doubled with two outs, driving both in, giving Contreras five RBI’s on the doubleheader after driving in three in the opener.
In the seventh inning though, the White Sox rallied to tie up the game against the St. Louis bullpen. Lenyn Sosa led the inning off with a single, and moved to third on a single by Austin Slater. Sosa scored on a single by Mike Tauchman, and then Kyle Leahy loaded the bases walking Chase Meidroth. With the bases loaded, Andrew Benintendi hit a grand slam to right center, tying up the game.
The game remained tied until the 10th inning when Arenado singled home Jordan Walker, who pinch ran for Contreras at second base to open the inning. Arenado ended up thrown out trying to advance to second base, but the Cardinals still got some insurance in the next at bat as Lars Nootbaar hit a solo home run to right center field. With the two run lead, St. Louis brought Andre Granillo on for the save, getting the first two outs easily before walking Noda, but coming back and striking out Slater for his first save.
JoJo Romero earned the win in relief, improving to 3-3, pitching one inning and walking one. At the plate, Arenado was 3-for-5 with the home run and two RBI’s. Burleson was 2-for-5 with three RBI’s.
St. Louis returns home next to take on Cincinatti. Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.83 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Brady Singer (7-4, 4.34 ERA) for the Reds. First pitch is at 6:15pm, pregame will be joined around 6:05 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
