Cardinals Triple-A Affiliate Misses Out on International League Title After Late Rally

Potentially a pitch away from striking out the side and escaping the eighth inning unscathed, reliever Matt Svanson saw disaster strike in a rally that cost the Memphis Redbirds the lead and ultimately a win in Game 3 of the International League championship series.

Sadly for Svanson, the eighth inning went much like his wayward 2026 season.

Rochester reached Svanson for back-to-back doubles and an RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning to rally for a 3-2 defeat of Memphis in the deciding game of the International League championship series.

A half inning earlier, Memphis had taken a 2-1 lead on back-to-back doubles by Ramon Mendoza and Bligh Madris. However, the Redbirds missed out on a chance to add on when Cortland Lawson made a diving stop on a Chase Davis grounder to the right side. Then, Zach Levenson – who had homered earlier in the game – struck out and Noah Mendlinger grounded out to end the threat.

Memphis got the potential tying run into scoring position in the eighth inning, but Mendoza flied out to deep right field.

In the ninth, Davis – the Cardinals’ 2023 first-round pick – drilled a ball 397 feet, but to the deepest part of AutoZone Park for a loud out. Davis’ blast left the bat at 106.1 mph, but it fell short of what would have been a game-tying homer.

Svanson, 27, made the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster and hoped to build off a strong 2025 season where he was 4-0 with a 1.94 ERA and five holds. However, he allowed three earned runs in each of his first two MLB outings of the season, and when things didn’t get much better, he was optioned to Memphis on May 24.

Svanson was back in St. Louis two weeks later, but the next two months didn’t go well when his sinker flattened out and became hittable. With hie ERA at 7.27, Svanson was sent back to Memphis on Aug. 1 for the remainder of the season.

On Thursday, Svanson struck out Cayden Wallace and Riley Adams and he had Leandro Pineda in an 0-2 count before seeing the left-handed hitter punch the ball the other way for a double. Andrew Pinckney followed with another double to tie the game. Lawson then hit a 1-0 sinker from Svanson for a single back up the middle to score the game winner for Rochester.

Rochester, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, will face Oklahoma City Comets (Dodgers) in Las Vegas on Sunday for the Triple-A title.