By MATT PIKE
Rafael Devers and Willy Adames hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, and the streaking San Francisco Giants matched their season best with 18 hits Friday night during an 8-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
San Francisco, which has won five straight and 11 of 12, remained four games behind the New York Mets for the final National League wild card.
Carson Seymour, making his second career start, earned his first major league win, and didn’t give up a hit through his first four innings as the Giants built a 6-0 lead against Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy.
Jung Hoo Lee’s single started a four-run fourth inning for the Giants. Lee scored on a sacrifice fly by Drew Gilbert. A single by Patrick Bailey scored Casey Schmitt and another single by Devers brought Bailey home to score. The final run of the inning came on a force out, with Devers being thrown out at second, and Heliot Ramos scoring.
Jimmy Crooks led off the fifth with a sharp grounder for a single, then scored on an RBI single by Victor Scott II for St. Louis’ first run. Iván Herrera added a solo homer in the eighth.
The Giants scored their final two runs in the seventh inning. Lee driving in another run, scoring Matt Chapman with an RBI triple, and then later coming home on an RBI single by Schmitt.
Michael McGreevy took the loss, falling to 6-3 on the season, losing for the first time in seven starts and giving up six runs and nine hits in four innings. At the plate, the Cardinals had just five hits with Herrera going 1-for-4 with the home run.
St. Louis and San Francisco continue their series on Saturday. Andre Pallante (6-13, 5.38) makes the start for the Cardinals against Justin Verlander (3-10, 4.29 ERA) for the Giants, who tries to win at Busch Stadium for the first time. Verlander’s only previous starts at Busch came during the 2006 World Series and the 2009 regular season.
First pitch on Saturday is at 6:15, coverage will begin around 6:05 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
