Cardinals rookie Brendan Donovan hit a two-run double in the 10th inning and St. Louis overcame a baserunning mistake to beat the Chicago Cubs 7-4 and split a doubleheader Saturday.
Tweets that Donovan sent as a teenager containing homophobic language surfaced during the doubleheader, and Donovan apologized after the nightcap.
Ian Happ had two doubles for the Cubs, who won the first game 6-1.
Donovan doubled after Michael Rucker (0-1) walked Nolan Arenado. Harrison Bader followed with an RBI single, and another run scored on a double play during a four-run 10th.
A Cardinals mistake kept them from taking the lead in the ninth. Edmundo Sosa missed third base attempting to score from second on Nolan Gorman’s single off David Robertson. Sosa had to return to third, and Paul Goldschmidt grounded out to end the threat.
“I’ll talk to him,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Sosa. “He missed first, too, had to come back and get it. I think part of it is not trying to hit it with the foot that hurts.”
Donovan had three hits and Sosa added two in the nightcap for the Cardinals, who have won 11 of 16.
“He’s taking whatever’s given, using the whole field, just grinding, wearing the pitcher down, taking his walks when needed, using the middle of the field,” Marmol said about Donovan.
Jason Heyward doubled with two outs in the 10th off Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos (1-2) but was stranded when Nick Madrigal struck out.
Happ doubled with two outs off Gallegos in the bottom of the ninth. Gallegos intentionally walked Frank Schwindel before striking out Patrick Wisdom to send the game to extras.
St. Louis loaded the bases in the seventh with three walks by Mychal Givens, but Robertson took over and struck out Goldschmidt.
“Really nice job of taking the ball and giving us a chance to win the game,” Cubs manager David Ross said about Robertson, who pitched 2 1/3 innings. “We just couldn’t push that next run across.”
Right-hander Caleb Kilian allowed three runs and three hits in five innings for the Cubs in his major league debut. The right-hander — who was acquired last season in the trade that sent former MVP Kris Bryant to San Francisco — struck out six and walked two. He went 2-0 with a 2.06 ERA in nine starts with Triple-A Iowa.
“Best day of my life,” Kilian said. “To be able to debut at Wrigley, Saturday night against the Cardinals and it starts raining, tied game in the ninth, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Kilian retired his first nine batters before walking Tommy Edman and allowing a one-out single to Goldschmidt, who extended his on-base streak to 41 games. Arenado walked to load the bases, and Edman scored on a wild pitch to tie it. Donovan doubled for a 3-1 lead.
Goldschmidt’s 25-game hitting streak was snapped in the first game. He went 0 for 2 with a strikeout, a groundout and two walks, and fell one game short of his career-best hitting streak.
Christopher Morel singled and Willson Contreras doubled to put the Cubs ahead 1-0 in the nightcap. Morel had a career-high three hits in the first game.