Evan Longoria blamed himself for being overly aggressive in his first two at-bats against St. Louis pitcher Jack Flaherty, a byproduct of the spacious field at Oracle Park and Flaherty’s dominance early on.
The third time around, San Francisco’s slugging third baseman slowed down just enough to catch up to one of the few mistakes Flaherty made.
Longoria homered with one out in the seventh inning to break up Flaherty’s bid for a no-hitter, and the Giants held on to beat the Cardinals 1-0 on Sunday.
Flaherty was masterful before Longoria’s home run. The 23-year-old retired his first 12 batters before walking Alex Dickerson leading off the fifth. He struck out two of the next three and got Kevin Pillar to foul out.
But the Cardinals couldn’t muster much offensively and Flaherty became the latest St. Louis pitcher to come up short in a no-hit bid. Adam Wainwright twice had no-hitters broken up in the sixth inning this season, against Cincinnati on April 13 and the Cubs on June 2.
Flaherty (4-6) struck out six and allowed two hits in seven innings.
The Cardinals: Wainwright (5-7, 4.31 ERA) will face Arizona on Friday in St. Louis.