A grand slam in the fifth inning put the game out of reach, as the Tampa Bay Rays secured the series win with a 7-2 victory over the St Louis Cardinals on Sunday, Aug. 24 at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

After a four-hour rain delay, the Cardinals and Rays exchanged goose-eggs on the scoreboard, with only two Rays and one Cardinal reaching base in the first three innings. A walk to Willson Contreras with two outs in the fourth proved to be costly for the Cardinals after he was caught stealing second to end the inning. When Nolan Gorman returned to the batter’s box in the fifth, he would be facing a deficit following Christopher Morel’s solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. The Cardinals went down in order, then witnessed their pitching come unglued.

Starter Matthew Liberatore allowed three walks to start the fifth and could only get one Ray to bunt out, resulting in Matt Svanson coming in. Junior Caminero smacked Svanson’s first pitch over the right field bleachers for a grand slam. A Chandler Simpson triple in the sixth allowed two more runs to score for Tampa Bay. Alec Burleson reached on a fielding error to start the seventh, eventually scoring the Cardinals’ first run on a Jordan Walker single. Burleson would also plate the Cardinals’ second run in the ninth off a Gorman single.

Ryan Pepiot allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three in five innings to get the win for Tampa Bay. Liberatore took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five.

The Cardinals (64-67) return home with a 5.5 game deficit to the New York Mets for the third wild card. A four-game home stand against the Pirates begins Monday, with Michael McGreevy getting the start. First pitch from Busch Stadium is at 6:45 p.m.