Tommy Pham hits grand slam in his return, Cardinals beat the Rangers 8-1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tommy Pham hit a pinch-hit grand slam in his first game back with the Cardinals and St. Louis beat the Texas Rangers 8-1 on Tuesday night.

Pham’s blast off reliver Cody Bradford capped a five-run fifth. It was his first at-bat since being dealt to the Cardinals from the White Sox as part of a three-team trade on Monday. Pham began his career with the Cardinals, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2006.

“Definitely my best moment here,” Pham said. “One of the top moments of my career.”

Pham’s second career grand slam, and his first since May 6, 2019, helped make a winner out of Lance Lynn, who gave up one run on three hits in five innings. Lynn (6-4) struck out three and walked one as the Cardinals won for the second time in their last three games.

“I’ve known Tommy since Low-A,” said Lynn, who is also in his second stint with the Cardinals. “So, we’ve known each other since you know, 20, 21 years old. So, for both of us to still be playing, to be back here where we started our career and to have success and do all that. Hopefully, we can keep things rolling.”

Max Scherzer lasted just four innings, allowing three runs on four hits. He struck out five and walked one.

It is the third start out of the last four that Scherzer (2-4) didn’t pitch past the fourth inning.

“With Max, you know, his arm just fatigued there,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were hoping to get him around 80-85 pitches, but he could feel it in the triceps area so that was far enough.”

The Rangers lost for the fourth time in their last five games.

Masyn Winn homered on Scherzer’s first pitch of the game into the left field bullpen. It was Winn’s second career leadoff homer. The last Cardinal to hit a home run on the first pitch of the game was Brendan Donovan against Toronto on April 2, 2023.

“Especially against someone like Scherzer, who’s got a really good arm, and the energy that that brings when you’re able to do that on pitch one, it’s pretty cool,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.

Wyatt Langford led off the second with a solo homer to tie the game at 1-all.

“Lynn pitched a great game,” Bochy said. “We got a run there early, but after that he settled in and he was tough on us.”

The win over the Rangers gave Lynn a win against all 30 major league teams in his career.

“That’s pretty cool,” Lynn said. “Obviously, you got to stay around a long time to do it, especially with interleague play and stuff like that. But, you know, I’m pretty proud of it.”

Brandon Crawford regained the lead for the Cardinals in the bottom of the second with an RBI double and Lars Nootbaar added to the lead with another RBI double in the third to make it 3-1.

Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals a three-run lead with an RBI single in the fifth before Pham’s grand slam blew the game open. It was the first pinch hit grand slam for the Cardinals since Albert Pujols hit one against the Rockies on Aug. 18, 2022.

“He really just left that pitch up, you know, and I didn’t miss the mistake,” Pham said.

Pham received two standing ovations from the 32,395 in attendance, one as he stepped to the plate and another for a curtain call after the homer.

“What a cool moment,” Marmol said. “From the second he stepped onto the on-deck circle the you can hear the crowd start to get into it and once they said his name the place went nuts. … I mean the players loved every second of it. Our fans were really into it and we got a right-handed bat we can use, man. So yeah, welcome back Tommy.”

TRAINERS ROOM

Rangers: 3B Josh Jung (right wrist fracture) played in his first game since April 1. … OF Evan Carter (lumbar sprain) suffered a setback in his rehab and is doubtful for the rest of the season.

The Rangers will start LHP Andrew Heaney (4-10, 3.77 ERA) on Wednesday against the Cardinals and RHP Michael McGreevy, who will make his major league debut. Heaney is 0-2 with an 11.05 ERA in two career starts against St. Louis.

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