Bader doubles, slides home as Cards top Rockies 3-2 in debut
Harrison Bader doubled leading off the ninth inning for his first major league hit and slid across the plate to score the winning run of his debut on Jedd Gyorko's short sacrifice fly, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals over the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Tuesday night.
The 23-year-old, taken on the third round of the 2015 amateur draft, was brought up before the game when Dexter Fowler was placed on the disabled list with a strained left wrist.
Bader grounded out struck out and flied out in his first three at-bats. With his mother and sister arriving during the game following a flight from New York to join his father in the stands, Bader doubled down the left-field line against Jake McGee (0-1) leading off the ninth. Bader was batting .403 (29 for 72) with 10 homers against lefties at Triple-A Memphis this year.
Greg Garcia sacrificed as Bader took third, and Gyorko hit a fly near the right-field line that Carlos Gonzalez caught 248 feet from the plate. The speedy Bader slid across jubilantly as Gonzalez's one-hop throw went slightly up the third-base line.