Cards peck away before big blast helps snap 5-game skid 

MIAMI -- Nine singles built a narrow lead and a two-run homer in the ninth provided the breathing room that helped snap the Cardinals’ five-game losing skid on Monday night.

Alec Burleson had three hits and drove in two runs and Lars Nootbaar singled twice and had an RBI before Nolan Gorman went deep in the ninth as the Cardinals beat the Marlins, 8-3, in the opener of their three-game series.

Gorman’s drive, his 12th of the season, was the only extra-base hit for the Cardinals.

“Just taking good quality at-bats and moving the line. That’s all we can do,” Gorman said. “Good things happen when we do that.”

Willson Contreras returned from a four-game absence and singled twice while adding an RBI. Contreras was sidelined because of a right foot contusion.

With the score tied at 3-3 and two outs in the seventh, Iván Herrera reached on a two-base fielding error by Marlins right fielder Dane Myers. Burleson followed with a line drive to center field that scored Herrera.

“The odds were in my favor after the error, just because that’s the way baseball works,” Burleson said. “So I just wanted to put a barrel on the ball and drive him in.

“It changes the game completely. One second, they’re off the field, and in the next second, they’re behind a run. It changes the momentum of the game completely, and it allowed us to add on.”

Pedro Pagés walked twice and increased the Cardinals’ lead to 5-3 with an RBI single in the eighth.

The Cardinals finished 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position and advanced bases on four wild pitches by Marlins starter Eury Pérez. Catcher Agustín Ramírez’s passed ball also enabled pinch-runner Garrett Hampson to score from third in the ninth.

“We took advantage of their mistakes, which is huge,” Gorman said. “When we got runners on, we were able to get them in. As an offense, we’ve done a pretty good job of that as of late.”

Run-scoring singles by Nootbaar and Burleson and Contreras’ sacrifice fly in the fifth erased a 2-0 deficit and put the Cardinals ahead.

The Marlins then tied it on rookie Jakob Marsee’s double off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore in the sixth.

Matt Svanson (2-0) relieved Liberatore and threw two scoreless innings of relief. Liberatore allowed three runs and five hits in five-plus innings. The left-hander completed five innings for the first time since July 5.

“Pretty happy overall, obviously, we got the win today, and that’s the most important thing,” said Liberatore, who struck out five and walked one in his 75-pitch outing. “Velo held today. Shapes were really good today and command was really good.”

After concerns about his velocity in his previous stretch of difficult starts, Liberatore’s sinker topped out at 94.7 mph twice against the Marlins.

“Seeing Libby go out there and do what he did today with the velo, he looked like himself,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “The fastball was good, his spin was where we needed it to be. He just looked like himself. There were no red flags the entire outing.”

Nootbaar also made an outstanding play in right field that negated a run in the sixth. He fielded a line-drive single on one hop hit by Myers, then threw a strike to the plate that kept Marsee at third. Contreras then caught Liam Hicks’ line drive and tagged Myers off the first-base bag to end the Marlins’ threat.

The Cardinals’ successful offensive performance occurred hours after star infielder Brendan Donovan was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a left groin strain.

“It’s important that others pick up and do the job like we did today,” Pagés said.