The Cardinals had a brief, fleeting instant early in Saturday’s game where they punched above their lineup’s current weight class and momentarily overpowered the New York Yankees to reset a game for their leading pitcher – and even went so far as to provide him with a three-run lead.

It was lost beneath the avalanche that followed.

The Yankees drummed the Cardinals for nine runs after the hosts took that three-run lead and rolled to a 12-8 victory at Busch Stadium. Ben Rice alone nearly matched the output from the Cardinals with seven RBIs to go with his three hits, which included a three-run double and the three-run homer off Sonny Gray that flipped the game. The Cardinals’ lineup has been thinned by injury and to reward the comeback for the lead, it needed a pitcher who could suppress

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