Gorman plays hero when Cards need him most for finale win

PHILADELPHIA – Mostly shut down the previous two nights while forced to play without injured standouts Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol lamented the negative effect of losing two trusted left-handed bats on the rest of the team’s batting order.

“It’s a big reason why we were able to get back to where we got to because those guys were getting on base, getting their hits and [Nootbaar] was starting to drive the baseball,” Marmol said, referring to a recent stretch where the Cardinals won seven of eight and 12 of 15 at one point. “Having them one-two [in the lineup] was meaningful. Losing that going into a series against the best record in baseball across the way makes it a tough series, but we’ll take our shot.”

Looking for more production from the left side of the plate, the Cardinals found it when Nolan Gorman homered in the first inning and singled in the winning run in the 10th inning and Alec Burleson added another homer in St. Louis’ 5-4 defeat of the Phillies in the finale of the three-game series on Sunday night.

“Without those two guys [Donovan and Nootbaar] it really hurts us, but we’ve still got to do our jobs and compete,” said Gorman, who keyed wins over the D-backs, Orioles and Phillies this season with late go-ahead RBIs. “It’s the same way we would try and do it if they were in there.”

Gorman continued to come on strong following a slow start to the season. He laced a 99 mph line drive into right field in the top of the 10th to score Masyn Winn from third base with two outs for the go-ahead run. Earlier, his towering first-inning homer had 6.7 seconds of hang time, per Statcast, and it stayed just inside the foul pole in right field to give the Redbirds an early 2-0 lead. It was Gorman’s seventh home run in his past 18 games, giving him a team-best 11 long balls on the season.

Marmol was more impressed with Gorman’s approach in the 10th inning to get the go-ahead run home while facing Phillies left-handed reliever Gregory Soto.

“That was a really good at-bat there because it’s a tough at-bat with Soto because he has some stuff for you and Gorman stayed in there well,” Marmol raved. “He was short to the ball [and got a] big line-drive base hit for that run. And he had the big homer, as well.”

Burleson brought out the boo birds at Citizens Bank Park when he pounced on a 3-2 sweeper from Taijuan Walker for a two-run home run in the third inning. Burleson’s smash left the bat at 105 mph, and it ricocheted off the facing of the second deck.

Cardinals lefties also factored heavily into the game out of the bullpen. Matthew Liberatore, who was moved back into the relief role that he thrived in earlier this season, used three straight sliders to strike out Phillies star Bryce Harper with two on in the fifth inning. Liberatore has not allowed a hit since returning to the bullpen and has retired seven straight hitters.

Fellow left-hander JoJo Romero came in with two on in the sixth inning and struck out slugger Kyle Schwarber. Then, he breezed through the seventh and struck out Harper. In the ninth inning, the Cards turned the game over to lefty John King, who had surrendered a mammoth, second-deck homer to Harper a night earlier. On Sunday, King got Harper to line out to left to send the game into extra innings.

“With [Liberatore] being back down there, with what John [King] has been doing and with JoJo being awesome from the get-go, it’s shaping up really nicely down there,” said Cards starter Lance Lynn, who was the victim of some shoddy defense, including his own fifth-inning error. “We’ve just got to make sure we don’t bring them in before the sixth or seventh inning. I gave them a cluster-[expletive] and they rallied, did the job and we won. I gave them an absolute mess and we still won the game. That’s huge.”

Also huge was closer Ryan Helsley, who tied his career-high saves mark by shutting down the Phillies in the 10th for his 19th straight save conversion in 20 outings.

“Having [Romero, Liberatore and King] for matchups, we can really shorten games if we need to,” said Helsley, whose 19 saves match his total from his All-Star season in 2022. “I’m kind of a product of their success. I’m not me without them and vice versa. It’s cool to watch them go to work and the attitude they take to the mound every day.”