ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Drew Gilbert hit a two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning and Joel Kuhnel retired the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom half as the San Francisco Giants won 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 16, 2026, at Busch Stadium III. The Giants improved to 64-89, while the Cardinals fell to 75-78. The game took 3 hours, 14 minutes and drew 24,960.

Anthony Molina was San Francisco’s top star. Molina allowed two hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out six. He had struggled in his previous start on Sept. 11 against the San Diego Padres, allowing seven earned runs in three innings, but responded after a strong Sept. 5 outing at the New York Mets in which he gave up one hit in five scoreless innings with six strikeouts. Matthew Liberatore started for St. Louis and allowed one earned run on six hits over six innings with two strikeouts.

The Giants opened the scoring in the third. Jonah Cox singled, Bryce Eldridge walked and Brett Harris grounded into a double play that allowed Cox to score. San Francisco had chances to add more but left runners on base, and St. Louis stayed within reach behind Liberatore. Molina retired the first six batters he faced, striking out JJ Wetherholt in the first and Jordan Walker in the second. He worked around Nathan Church’s third-inning single by striking out Pedro Pagés and retiring JJ Wetherholt on a fly ball. In the fourth, Molina struck out Leo Bernal and Alec Burleson before walking Jordan Walker, then got Joshua Báez to fly out. He struck out Alec Burleson again in the sixth. Liberatore allowed six hits and one earned run, striking out two. He induced a double play in the sixth when Turner Hill lined into a pitcher-to-shortstop double play.

San Francisco broke through in the seventh. Andrew Knizner was hit by a pitch, Christian Koss singled and Jonah Cox lined a two-run single to right field. A throwing error by right fielder Jordan Walker allowed Cox to advance, and the Giants took a 3-0 lead. Cox finished with three hits and one RBI.

St. Louis answered in the bottom of the seventh. Jordan Walker walked, and Thomas Saggese reached on a missed catch error by pitcher Carson Seymour. Nathan Church then reached on a throwing error by shortstop Christian Koss, scoring Walker. Pedro Pagés walked, and José Fermín grounded out to third baseman Brett Harris to bring home another run, cutting the Giants’ lead to 3-2.

San Francisco restored a two-run cushion in the eighth. Shay Whitcomb singled and advanced to second on a fielding error by center fielder Nathan Church. After Turner Hill grounded out and moved Whitcomb to third, Andrew Knizner singled to left field to score Whitcomb and make it 4-2. Knizner had three hits and one RBI.

The Cardinals rallied in the ninth. Nolan Gorman walked, Thomas Saggese singled and Nathan Church struck out. Iván Herrera walked to load the bases, and José Fermín hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Jonah Cox that scored Gorman. Leo Bernal followed with a sharp single to right fielder Scott Bandura that scored Saggese and tied the game at 4-4. Alec Burleson grounded out to end the inning. St. Louis finished with five hits, including two singles by Church, a double by Burleson, a single by Saggese and a single by Bernal.

In the 10th, Gilbert delivered the decisive swing. Drew Gilbert homered to center field, scoring Grant McCray, for a 6-4 lead. It was Gilbert’s 10th home run of the season. San Francisco could not add more, as Jung Hoo Lee walked before Shay Whitcomb grounded into a double play, and Turner Hill singled before Andrew Knizner popped out. Gilbert finished 1-for-1 with one home run and two RBIs.

St. Louis did not go quietly in the bottom of the 10th. Jordan Walker lined out sharply to center fielder Drew Gilbert, with Alec Burleson advancing to third. Bryan Torres walked, and Nolan Gorman walked to load the bases. Thomas Saggese hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Burleson and trimmed the deficit to 6-5. Nathan Church flied out to right fielder Grant McCray to end the game.

Reiver Sanmartin earned the win for San Francisco and improved to 3-0. He pitched one-third of an inning without allowing a hit or an earned run. Riley O’Brien took the loss for St. Louis and dropped to 3-9. Joel Kuhnel recorded his eighth save with one inning of hitless, scoreless relief. Trent Harris pitched 1 1/3 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief with two strikeouts for San Francisco. Philip Abner recorded one out with a strikeout, and Carson Seymour pitched two-thirds of an inning without allowing a hit or an earned run. Gordon Graceffo pitched 1 1/3 innings of two-hit, scoreless relief with one strikeout for St. Louis.

San Francisco finished with 13 hits, while St. Louis had five. The Giants grounded into two double plays, and the Cardinals made two sacrifice flies. San Francisco pitchers combined for nine strikes, 42 balls and nine balls in play. St. Louis pitchers combined for 14 strikes, 56 balls and 14 balls in play.

San Francisco’s 13-hit attack was led by Cox, Knizner and Whitcomb. Cox singled in the third, seventh and ninth. Knizner singled in the second, fifth and eighth and also reached on a hit-by-pitch in the seventh. Whitcomb singled in the sixth and eighth. Brett Harris, Koss, Bandura and Hill also had hits, while Gilbert’s only hit was the home run.

The Giants had won the series opener 10-3 on Tuesday after dropping the first game 2-1 on Monday. San Francisco next travels to Los Angeles for a three-game series against the Dodgers beginning Friday. St. Louis will host the Washington Nationals for three games starting Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis Cardinals 5, San Francisco Giants 4. Interstat’s ELO system had projected St. Louis with a 57.1 percent probability to win. St. Louis had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 11 went under the over/under line of 8.