Hunter Goodman's pinch-hit homer lifts Rockies to 6-5 over Cardinals

Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post on Aug 13, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Colorado Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer likes to talk about his young club’s “resiliency.” Oftentimes, it’s just window dressing.

Not on Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

All-star catcher Hunter Goodman hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning to lift the Rockies to a 6-5 comeback victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Goodman launched closer JoJo Romero’s 3-1 sinker 436-feet to dead center. Rookie third baseman Kyle Karros set up Goodman’s game-winner by drawing a leadoff walk off of Romero.

The Rockies rallied from a 5-2 deficit to clinch the three-game series. Colorado won four of six games against the Cardinals this season, taking the season series for the first time since 2009.

Closer Victor Vodnik set the Cardinals down in order in the ninth to post his fourth save. He notched a five-out save in Colorado’s 3-0 win on Tuesday night.

In Wednesday’s matinee, the pesky Rockies kept chipping their way back into the game.

Ezequiel Tovar’s RBI single scored Tyler Freeman in the fourth. Karros — who’s hitting .333 in his infant career after going 2 for 3 — opened the fifth with a leadoff single, took third on Yanquiel Fernandez’s single, and scored on Braxton Fulford’s groundout.

Mickey Moniak’s leadoff homer to right field trimmed St. Louis’ lead to 6-3 in the sixth.

Karros, who reached base three times as the leadoff hitter and scored all three times, sparked another mini-rally in the seventh. He hit a leadoff double, took third on a wild pitch by Kyle Leahy, and scored on Braxton Fulford’s sacrifice fly to center.

Per usual, the Rockies fell behind early. Left-handed starter Austin Gomber never imploded, but he wasn’t very effective. The Cardinals tagged him for five runs on nine hits over five innings, leaving him with a 6.75 ERA.

Three big swings hurt Gomber. No. 9 hitter Pedro Pages ripped a two-out, two-run double to left in the second inning to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. Lars Nootbaar’s leadoff homer put the Cardinals ahead, 3-1, in the fourth. The most painful blow was Alex Burleson’s two-run homer to right in the fifth that stretched the Cardinals’ lead to 5-2.

Colorado’s bullpen, which has struggled mightily in the second half of the season, kept the Rockies in Wednesday’s game. Wednesday. Nick Anderson, Jaden Hill and Jimmy Herget all pitched a perfect inning, combining for six strikeouts.

The Rockies return to Denver on Thursday to open a four-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field.

____