BOSTON (AP) — Michael Wacha came close to reaching the sixth inning against his former team and the Boston Red Sox shut down the St. Louis rally in the ninth inning to salvage a 6-5 win over the Cardinals on Friday. .
The Cardinals, leaders of the National League Central Division, trailed 6-1 entering the ninth and reliever Austin Davis retired the first two batters.
But Dylan Carlson doubled, Harrison Bader added a triple and Andrew Knizner was hit by a pitch, ending Davis’ job. Reliever Tanner Houck gave up an RBI double to Tommy Edman that made it 6-3 and another two-run double to Brendan Donovan.
Paul Goldschmidt was retired with a strikeout, giving Houck his third save.
Trevor Story and Rafael Devers each drove in two runs for Boston. Nolan Arenado hit 12 home runs with the Cardinals.
Wacha (5-1) gave up one run on six hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five.
Adam Wainwright (5-5) pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and a walk. Wacha’s former teammate with the Cardinals, Wainwright struck out five and hit one batter.
For the Cardinals, the Venezuelan Juan Yépez 1-0.
For the Red Sox, the Dominicans Rafael Devers 3-2 with two runs batted in and Franchy Cordero 4-1 with a run scored; and Puerto Rican Christian Vázquez 4-0.
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