Cardinals eliminated from playoff contention following 4-3 loss to Giants

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San Francisco Giants' Casey Schmitt slides into second base with a double as St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan applies a late tag in 2nd inning during MLB game in San Francisco on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

St. Louis Cardinals' Lars Nootbaar, right, slides into third base as San Francisco Giants' Casey Schmitt awaits the throw after a wild pitch by JT Brubaker in the fourth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP) — San Francisco Giants' Casey Schmitt slides into second base with a double as St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan applies a late tag in 2nd inning during MLB game in San Francisco on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Audio By Carbonatix

12:24 AM on Thursday, September 25

By MICHAEL WAGAMAN

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Andrew Knizner hit an RBI triple in the eighth inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat St. Louis 4-3 on Wednesday night to eliminate the Cardinals from playoff contention.

Rafael Devers hit his 34th home run of the season, and Casey Schmitt had three hits to help the San Francisco avoid the series sweep.

One day after the Cardinals ended the Giants’ postseason hopes with a late comeback, manager Bob Melvin’s club returned the favor with a late rally of its own.

Christian Koss led off the eighth with a soft single over the outstretched glove of first baseman Nolan Arenado. Knizner, who had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, followed with a sharp liner off Riley O’Brien (3-1) that skipped past Cardinals diving center fielder Victor Scott and rolled to the wall as Koss raced around the bases.

Jose Butto (5-3), the third of four relievers used by Melvin, retired two batters to get the win, and Tristian Beck worked the ninth for his second save.

San Francisco did the majority of its scoring off St. Louis starter Sonny Gray. Gray had seven strikeouts in six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and seven hits.

The Giants led 3-2 until Arenado tied it with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Giants starter JT Brubaker allowed two runs and four hits over four innings of his first start in the majors since 2022.

Key moment

Cardinals reliever Kyle Leahy got Jung Hoo Lee to strike out swinging with the tying and go-ahead runs on base to end the seventh.

Key stat

Gray now has 200 or more strikeouts in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his career.

Up next

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (8-20, 4.76 ERA) starts against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday.

Giants rookie RHP Trevor McDonald pitches against the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB