Helsley has uncharacteristic night, gives up go-ahead HR

ST. LOUIS -- Ryan Helsley said he felt good. Unfortunately for him and the Cardinals, the results weren’t.

Appearing in back-to-back days for just the third time this season, Helsley gave up a two-run home run to Avisaíl García with two outs in the ninth, and the Marlins escaped with a 4-3 win Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.

“That's baseball right there,” Helsley said. “You know, you can make the best pitch and give up a hit, and make the worst pitch and get an out. So, just try to learn from it and move on and try to start another streak.”

The Cardinals seemed poised to continue to frustrate Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara until García’s Statcast-projected 411-foot blast landed in the grass past the center-field wall. Alcantara entered the game winless against St. Louis (0-3) despite having a 0.99 ERA against his former club.

“We took some pretty good, impressive at-bats against a really good pitcher, one of the best pitchers in the game right now,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You got your best guys in the back end, and sometimes it doesn't work out.”

It has worked out more often than not when Helsley enters the game.

Finally healthy, he has established himself as one of the game’s most dominant relievers. Helsley entered the game with a 3-0 record this season. His 0.30 ERA and 0.83 batting average against were the tops in the majors among relievers with at least 20 appearances and his 0.573 WHIP was second.

García’s homer was the first Helsley had allowed this season, and he has 45 strikeouts to just 10 walks.

“He's nasty,” García said. “He's one of the best closers right now. I thank God that I put a good swing on the fastball.”

And it isn’t as if Helsley was throwing batting practice Wednesday. He had three strikeouts in the inning, and the homer happened after a leadoff walk to Garrett Cooper on a borderline 3-2 call by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild.

“I thought it was there in the moment and then went and looked at it and thought it was a good pitch,” Helsley said. “But, no, we're all humans and nobody's perfect.”

Helsley’s struggles put a damper on Andre Pallante’s best start in the Majors. The rookie went seven innings and threw 96 pitches, both career highs. He allowed two runs on five hits and one walk.

“This is a kid that prepares as if he's been in the league for several years,” Marmol said. “So, we talk about building off of each start, that's probably what's going to allow him to continue to have success upon success. He truly has a game plan for the opposition. He knows how to use this stuff. He knows what he needs to do in order to have success but he also has a really good idea of what the other guys can do and can't do.”

Pallante kept the Cardinals in the game by pitching out of a bases-loaded no-out jam in the fifth. He allowed just one run and escaped without any further damage with an inning-ending groundout.

“I kind of found my sinker a little later in the game in the fifth inning,” Pallante said. “So, that was a pitch I knew I needed tonight to get a lot of those ground-ball outs.”

Edmundo Sosa continued to make the most of his opportunities with a pair of hits and runs. Sosa used his speed with a single and a stolen base to put himself in scoring position for a Dylan Carlson sacrifice fly in the third and then legged out a triple to spark a two-run rally in the fifth that gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead that they held until the ninth.

“I did my thing, I prepared during the practice,” Sosa said through an interpreter. “I knew Sandy was pitching really nicely and I just did my part to try and help the team win.”

The triple from Sosa, a nice piece of hitting by driving a slider on the outside, was his second three-bagger in as many nights. Before Tuesday’s game, Sosa had not had an at-bat in two weeks and hadn’t had a hit since June 4.

“He took some really good at-bats,” Marmol said. “He continues to just bring energy and life whether he's in the lineup or not. But that's a tough role to not play for as long as he did, take the at-bats he did yesterday and do the same thing against Sandy. That's impressive.”