Giants eliminated from postseason contention following stunning loss to Cardinals

The visiting Cardinals rallied for two in the ninth inning to stun the San Francisco Giants 9-8 on Tuesday, who are now officially eliminated from postseason contention.

BY FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Sep 23, 2025, 10:26 PM Updated: Sep 24, 2025, 12:41 am

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Brendan Donovan tied the score with his fourth double of the game in the ninth inning and Alec Burleson put St. Louis ahead with a run-scoring single as the visiting Cardinals rallied for two in the ninth inning to stun the San Francisco Giants 9-8 on Tuesday.

Ivan Herrera and Nolan Arenado hit home runs for the Cardinals (78-80), who remained 3 1/2 games behind the New York Mets (81-76) in the National League wild-card race. St. Louis has just four games remaining.

Heliot Ramos launched his 20th home run for the Giants (77-81), who were eliminated from postseason contention.

Donovan tied the franchise record for doubles in a game. The mark was set by Hall of Famer Joe “Ducky” Medwick on Aug. 4, 1937, against the Boston Bees and matched by Matt Carpenter on Aug. 26, 2018, against the Colorado Rockies.

Donovan joined the Rockies’ Ezequiel Tovar as the only players in the majors to have a four-double game this year.

After a four-run Cardinals seventh erased all but one run from an 8-3 Giants advantage, the visitors jumped on Giants closer Ryan Walker (5-7) in the ninth. Victor Scott II produced a leadoff single, and Donovan followed with a game-tying double.

One out later, Burleson singled to right field, scoring pinch runner Jose Fermin.

Riley O’Brien, the seventh St. Louis pitcher, entered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and struck out pinch hitter Wilmer Flores with the potential tying run at second base to record his sixth save. Matt Svanson (4-0) threw a scoreless eighth inning.

After Burleson and Thomas Saggese contributed RBI singles to a three-run uprising in the St. Louis first, the Giants built their big lead on the back of a five-run third inning, which featured a two-run throwing error by third baseman Arenado.

Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee added RBI singles later in the third before run-scoring hits by Bailey and Koss in the fifth. Ramos’ homer, a solo shot, made it 8-3 in the sixth.

Giants starter Logan Webb allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out five.

The St. Louis assault on the San Francisco bullpen began with four runs in the seventh, three coming on Herrera’s 19th homer and the other on Arenado’s solo shot, his 11th.

Cardinals starter Andre Pallante was charged with five runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out four.

Herrera, Burleson, Arenado and Lars Nootbaar had two hits apiece, Burleson drove in a pair of runs, and Herrera and Scott scored twice each for the Cardinals, who out-hit the Giants 15-11.

Ramos scored twice and joined Adames and Bailey with two hits apiece for the Giants, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

–Field Level Media

More MLB on Sactown Sports

Automated ball-strike challenges are coming to Major League Baseball next season.

A Tuesday vote from the MLB Joint Competition Committee, an 11-person group that includes six team owners, four players and one umpire, made the proposed rule change official.

“The previous rule changes that have been adopted by the Joint Competition Committee have had staying power and created momentum for the game. We used the same process with ABS that started with listening to fans, conducting extensive testing at the minor league level, and trying at every step to make the game better,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

“Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players. The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today.”

Read More:

MLB approves ball-strike challenge system for next season

When is the next San Francisco Giants game?

Monday, September 22nd – Wednesday, September 24th – vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Friday, September 26th – Sunday, September 28th – vs. Colorado Rockies

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