Mike Shildt got a glimpse of the St. Louis Cardinals’ future Wednesday night.

The interim manager was plenty encouraged by what he saw in a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.

“That’s the blueprint of how you play the game,” Shildt said. “Every phase was executed (well) across the board.”

Rookie outfielder Tyler O’Neill hit a tiebreaking pinch single in the sixth inning and five rookie relievers dominated over 6 1/3 innings to lift the Cardinals.

“We’re playing the game the right way,” said Harrison Bader, who scored the go-ahead run on O’Neill’s single.

Bader, also a rookie, had three hits and used his speed to leg out a double and set the stage for the winning tally.

St. Louis starter Luke Weaver allowed two runs in 2 2/3 innings before handing off to the bullpen. Daniel Poncedeleon followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and Austin Gomber, Dakota Hudson, Jordan Hicks and Mike Mayers closed it out. Gomber (1-0) got his first career victory with a scoreless inning. Mayers allowed a run in the ninth but struck out three.

“I think we all showed we are ready,” Poncedeleon said.

Bader doubled with one out off Kyle Freeland (9-7) to start the go-ahead rally. O’Neill followed with a run-scoring single up the middle, his first pinch hit in nine attempts, to break the 2-all tie. O’Neill was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday.

“That was a big-time at-bat he took,” Shildt said. “You saw him bear down and take a nice swing. It was good to see.”

The relief corps allowed one run and two hits.

“We just couldn’t solve their bullpen,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Yadier Molina added a two-run double in the eighth to push the lead to 5-2. Marcell Ozuna followed with a run-scoring hit.

The Rockies scored twice in the third, on hits by Trevor Story and Gerardo Parra.

Paul DeJong cut the early 2-0 deficit in half with an RBI hit in the third. Poncedeleon brought in Yairo Munoz with a groundout to tie it in the fourth.

Freeland gave up three runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three.

“We just need to keep doing what we were doing,” Freeland said. “Getting good starts out of starters, offense doing their thing.”

St. Louis has won 17 of its last 21 at home against the Rockies.

The 3-hour, 59-minute game was the Cardinals’ longest nine-inning game of the season.

“It was worth it,” Bader said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: INF DJ LeMahieu will come off the disabled list Thursday and is expected to play in the series finale. LeMahieu has been out since July 21 with a left oblique strain.

Cardinals: INF Kolten Wong will make a rehab start with Class A Peoria on Thursday. He has been out since July 22 with left knee inflammation.

UP NEXT

RHP Antonio Senzatela (4-3, 5.01) will face RHP Miles Mikolas (11-3, 2.83) in the finale of the four-game set Thursday. Senzatela is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in two road starts this season. Mikolas has recorded 14 quality starts in 21 starts this season.

 

AROUND THE MAJORS

–It was a tough afternoon for the Seattle Mariners, who dropped another game in the AL West standings yesterday and lost possession of the second wild-card spot.

Marwin Gonzalez belted a pair of solo homers and Max Stassi added a three-run blast as the Houston Astros hammered the Mariners, 8-3 in Seattle. Jake Marisnick hit a two-run blast, to support Dallas Keuchel, who gave up three runs over seven innings to even his record at 9-9.

Wade LeBlanc surrendered three round-trippers and seven runs as the Mariners fell five games behind the AL West-leading Astros.

Seattle has dropped 10 of its last 15 games.

 

—The Athletics have pulled into a tie with Seattle for the final AL wild-card berth by completing a season sweep of Toronto, 8-3. Jonathan Lucroy had three hits and four RBIs and Franklin Barretto was 3-for-4 with a two-run double and a solo homer. Sean Manaea was limited the Blue Jays to a run and five hits over six-plus innings to help the A’s win for the 30th time in their last 40 games.

— The Indians have pushed their lead in the AL Central to 10 games by blanking the second-place Twins, 2-0 in Minnesota. Carlos Carrasco won his fifth straight decision by striking out 10 and limiting the Twins to four hits over 7 1/3 innings. Brad Hand recorded the final five outs for the Indians, who have allowed just 13 runs over their last six games.

— Trey Mancini was 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles topped the New York Yankees, 7-5. Renato Nunez also had three hits and two RBIs for the Birds, who led 7-1 in the third inning and evened their season series with the Yanks at six games apiece. Sonny Gray was chased in the third inning as the Yankees fell 5 ½ games behind the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox.

— Cole Hamels won his Cubs debut and Willson Contreras went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBIs in a 9-2 thrashing of the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Hamels struck out nine while holding the Bucs to an unearned run and three hits over five innings. Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward also had three of Chicago’s 15 hits.

— Chicago reclaimed first place in the NL Central when Yasmani Grandal belted a two-run, walk-off home run in the 10th inning to send the Dodgers past the Brewers, 6-4. Grandal also homered in the fifth inning, one batter before Brian Dozier provided his first round-tripper since coming to Los Angeles. The Brewers now sit one game behind Chicago, while the Dodgers are in a first-place tie with Arizona in the NL West.

— Tommy Milone picked up his first major league win in 15 ½ months and Anthony Rendon slammed a two-run homer off Noah Syndergaard  as the Nationals beat the Mets, 5-3 to complete a two-game sweep. Milone struck out nine and allowed a run and three hits over seven innings to help the Nats climb back over .500. Jose Reyes homered from both sides of the plate for New York, which was outscored 30-7 in the two-game set.

— Jake Bauers smacked a two-run homer and Willy Adames added a solo shot and an RBI single in the Rays’ 7-2 win against the Angels. Mallex Smith lined a go-ahead triple to cap Tampa Bay’s three-run fourth after Los Angeles grabbed a 2-0 lead. Winning pitcher Jake Faria worked 3 2/3 innings of one-run relief.

— Jose Iglesias collected three RBIs and Jim Adduci hit a solo homer while the Tigers were building a 6-0 lead in a 7-4 downing of the Reds. Detroit finished the game without starting pitcher Mike Fiers, who suffered a bruised left shin from a comebacker off the bat of Mason Williams. X-rays were negative, but it was unclear whether Fiers will make his next scheduled start.

— Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer and drove in four in leading the Royals’ 10-5 rout of the White Sox. Jakob Junis pitched 5 2/3 innings of four-run ball in his first win since May 18. Yoan Moncada broke out of a slump with his fifth career leadoff homer, two hits and two walks, but he also committed one of two costly errors for the White Sox.

— The Braves and Marlins were rained out in Atlanta, leading to a split doubleheader on Aug. 13. The postponement keeps the Braves a half-game behind the NL East-leading Phillies, who were idle.