A’s rally to defeat Cardinals 3-2 with two runs in eighth inning

ST. LOUIS - Khris Davis saw he had a chance to score, so he took off.

Davis hustled home on an infield grounder in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics rallied for two runs, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Saturday night.

Oakland trailed 2-1 in the eighth when Davis singled with one out against Matt Bowman (2-5) and Ryon Healy doubled, extending the longest active hitting streak in the majors to 13 games.

Seung Hwan Oh relieved and Max Muncy hit a grounder that Brandon Moss stopped with a dive, but Davis easily beat the throw to score the tying run.

“The play was to see the ball through the middle, stay on the corners,” Davis said. “He dove, so as soon as he dove I thought it would be a good time to go.”

Brett Eibner followed with a sacrifice fly.

St. Louis starter Mike Leake was scratched because he was still recovering from having shingles. The Cardinals fell to 1-8 in interleague games at Busch Stadium this season.

Zach Neal pitched a career-best six innings. Oakland pitchers held the Cardinals without a hit after the fourth inning, retiring the last 17 batters.

“I caught a second wind after that third inning,” said Neal. “My mechanics started flowing a little bit. The ball was coming out better than it was early on.”

Daniel Coulombe (2-1) and Liam Hendriks combined for two perfect innings to set up Ryan Madson, who pitched a perfect ninth for his 26th save.

“They were great,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said about his bullpen. “Daniel's now all of a sudden in a role he hasn't been in before and has to go back out and get the first out of the eighth. Hendriks came in. He was probably more rested then we've had in a while and then to get a clean ninth against that team with no base runners.”

Cardinals rookie Alex Reyes made his first major league start, giving up one run on two hits and four walks in 4-2/3 innings.

“I feel like my command could have been better,” Reyes said. “Four walks, I wasn't able to get deep in the game, but I tried to execute pitches as best as I can. Things didn't work my way, but hopefully next time they will.”

Zach Duke relieved and hit pinch-hitter Danny Valencia to load the bases, then walked Davis to force home a run. Reyes had started his big league career with five relief appearances, pitching 9-1/3 scoreless innings.

Randal Grichuk hit his 18th homer, a 431-foot drive in the second. The Cardinals have homered in 16 straight games, one shy of their season best.

NOTES

A's catcher Josh Phegley was hospitalized Friday night with synovitis in his right knee. He underwent surgery on the knee on July 5 to remove a cruciate ligament cyst and was supposed to go out on a Minor League rehab assignment on Saturday.

The A's will try Sunday to win their first road series since taking two of three from Texas Rangers from July 25-27.