Game result and context
Giants beat Cardinals 6-5 in 10 innings, leave St. Louis one game from wild-card elimination
The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 in 10 innings at Busch Stadium. St. Louis rallied for two runs in the ninth to force extra innings, but Drew Gilbert's two-run homer in the 10th put the Giants back in front. The loss dropped the Cardinals to 75-78 and left their wild-card elimination number at 1. The Giants improved to 64-89.
Final result
The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 in 10 innings on September 16, 2026, at Busch Stadium. Attendance was 24,960.
The win moved the Giants to 64-89. The Cardinals fell to 75-78.
How the game changed
The decisive swing came in the top of the 10th. Drew Gilbert hit a two-run homer, the only home run of the game, and gave San Francisco a 6-4 lead. St. Louis got one run back in the bottom half but could not draw even.
The Cardinals nearly took it before then. Down 4-2 after eight innings, they scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and send it to extras.
The early innings were quiet. The Giants scored once in the third, and neither team scored again until the seventh, when each side put up two runs. San Francisco added a run in the eighth to stretch its lead to two.
Key performances
Gilbert had one at-bat and made it count. He scored once and drove in two runs with the 10th-inning homer.
Giants starter Anthony Molina held St. Louis scoreless through 5.2 innings. He struck out six and allowed no earned runs.
Andrew Knizner and Jonah Cox each had three hits in four at-bats for San Francisco. Both scored a run and drove one in.
For St. Louis, Matthew Liberatore went 6.0 innings, allowed one earned run and struck out two. Thomas Saggese had one hit in four at-bats, scored twice and drove in a run.
Season and playoff context
The loss hurt the Cardinals more than any other result in the game. St. Louis is fourth in its division, 20.5 games back, and has already been eliminated from the division race. The Cardinals sit seventh in the wild-card standings, 8.5 games back, with a wild-card elimination number of 1.
The Giants are fourth in their division, 28.5 games back, and 11th in the wild-card standings, 19.5 games back. San Francisco has been eliminated from both the division and wild-card races.
Series context
This was a regular-season game and the third game of a three-game series between the clubs at Busch Stadium.