Nootbaar drives in 3, Helsley records franchise record 49th save as Cardinals beat Giants 6-3

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lars Nootbaar homered and tripled to drive in three runs, Ryan Helsley closed for his franchise-record 49th save and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 6-3 on Friday night.

The Cardinals have won five of six and secured their 23rd winning season in the last 25 years. The Giants' loss means they will not finish above .500 for the third straight season since winning a franchise-record 107 games in 2021.

Nootbaar, who leads the team in on-base percentage since the All-Star break, hit a solo homer in the third to cut into a 3-1 deficit and then capped a four-run fourth inning for the Cardinals when he knocked in two runs with a two-out triple.

“He hits the ball hard and he's got great plate discipline,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “With that combination, he could be a scary hitter. The last several games, you’re seeing him drive the baseball and stay through the middle of the field. That homer was fun to watch, and he drove in those other two runs as well. He's taking steps in a really good direction.”

Nolan Arenado continued tearing up the Giants with a three-hit night and he also drove in a run. The eight-time All-Star has 175 hits and 113 RBIs against the Giants, his most against any opponent.

Helsley struck out two in the ninth for his majors-leading 49th save, setting a single-season record for the Cardinals in the process to surpass Trevor Rosenthal's mark set in 2015. Helsley, who has not allowed an earned run in his last 17 games, moved two saves ahead of Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase for the major league lead.

“Just telling myself it’s something I’ve done a lot of times before, not trying to make the moment too big and just to go out there and have some fun,” the 30-year-old Helsley said of his emotions when warming up to come in.

Marmol said the Cardinals have played a lot of tight games this season and it's been important to have a trusted closer to rely on.

“He’s lights out,” Marmol said. “If you get to the ninth, you’re winning the ball game.”

Trailing 3-2 in the fourth, St. Louis sent nine batters to the plate in the inning. Masyn Winn worked a 13-pitch at-bat against Giants starter Landon Roupp (1-2) before lining an RBI double to left to tie the game. With two outs, Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals the lead with a single. Arenado followed with a ground-rule double to chase Roupp from the game before Nootbaar tripled off reliever Taylor Rogers.

The Giants scored three runs in the second. Jerar Encarnacion hit a 430-foot, two-run homer to center that he admired as soon as he hit. Mike Yastrzemski had an RBI double later in the inning.

Giants manager Bob Melvin said before the game that reaching .500 to end the season — if the Giants win their two remaining games — is still noteworthy. San Francisco was coming off a 7-2 road trip.

“When you go out and play a baseball game, you expect to win,” Melvin said.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (10-11) allowed three runs in five innings. Roupp gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings for the Giants in his fourth career start and last of the season as he pushes to be in the rotation next year.

“Definitely not the way I wanted to end it, but I think overall it was a pretty good season,” Roupp said. “Just getting my feet wet. There’s definitely some improvements I've got to make, and I look forward to doing that this offseason.”

ROSTER MOVES

Cardinals: IF Luken Baker was reinstated from the paternity list and OF Victor Scott II was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

Giants: RHP Randy Rodriguez was reinstated from the injured list and RHP Mason Black was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.

UP NEXT

LHP Blake Snell (5-3, 3.12 ERA) is scheduled to start the penultimate game of the season on Saturday for the Giants, opposite RHP Andre Pallante (8-8, 3.71 ERA) for the Cardinals.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

San Francisco Giants pitcher Landen Roupp (65) is taken out by San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, left, during the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals third base Nolan Arenado throws to first base on the ground out by San Francisco Giants' Matt Chapman during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas throws against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan, right, gets a force out against San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald, left, at second base and turns a double play on a ball hit by Giants' Casey Schmitt during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals' Michael Siani (63) is tagged out at third base by San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman, left, during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley (56) throws against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, right, hugs catcher Iván Herrera (48) after a victory against the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals' Lars Nootbaar (21) slides safely into third base after hitting a two-RBI triple against the San Francisco Giants during the fourth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals' Lars Nootbaar (21) is congratulated by Iván Herrera (48) after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the third inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan, left, Michael Siani (63) and Lars Nootbaar celebrate after a victory against the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.

Attacks on Hezbollah targets by fighter jets Friday continued into the early hours Saturday after the army said it told residents to evacuate three buildings it was targeting.

Hours before the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations, vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. Netanyahu abruptly cut his United States visit short and returned to Israel.

More than 720 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled, with more than 211,000 people now displaced. At least 20 primary health care centers have shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war. Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears that Israel’s actions in Gaza since Oct. 7 would be repeated in Lebanon.

Here’s the latest:

BEIRUT — Patients in hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs will be evacuated to medical centers in the capital and the nearby Mount Lebanon region, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.

In a statement carried by state news agency early Saturday, the ministry called on hospitals in Beirut and Mount Lebanon to stop receiving cases that can be delayed in order to receive patients evacuating from the hard-hit southern suburb Dahiyeh.

The ministry’s decision came after a night of Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, a predominantly Shiite district. The ministry also called on hospitals and medical centers to care for ill people who fled Dahiyeh overnight as a result of the airstrikes.

BEIRUT — Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.

Explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, with flames lighting up the pre-dawn darkness. Fire raged from at least one location, and smoke and flames were seen from above Beirut early Saturday. Residents reported jets flying overhead.

In a short statement, the Israeli military described the sites it hit as belonging to Hezbollah. Authorities there did not immediately acknowledge if there were any casualties.

Shelters set up in the city center for people displaced by the onslaught were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches, or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said it killed a Hezbollah missile unit commander and his deputy during a strike in southern Lebanon earlier in the week.

Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that its air forces killed Muhammad Ali Ismail, who it said was responsible for directing “numerous terror attacks” against Israel, including the firing of rockets towards Israeli territory.

The Tuesday strike also killed the commander’s deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail, it said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.

BEIRUT — The United Nations said the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah has forced at least 20 primary health care centers to shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon.

The U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said in the latest escalation that began earlier in the week, Israeli airstrikes impacted 25 water facilities, affecting access to clean water for nearly 300,000 in high-risk areas.

The escalation since Sept. 23 has also more than doubled the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon. There are now over 211,000 people displaced, some 85,000 of them now living in public schools and other shelters spread around the country’s north and east.

A new phase of escalation began Friday, when Israel targeted Hezbollah’s leader in the southern suburb of Beirut, in one of the largest blasts to hit the Lebanese capital in years. The fate of the group’s leader is still unknown. After the initial strike early Friday evening, Israeli warplanes continued to pound buildings and targets in the southern suburb for over six hours. Smoke and balls of fire covered the Beirut skyline for hours.

Flame and smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes hit a residential area that is a Hezbollah stronghold, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2015 file photo, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah addresses a crowd during the holy day of Ashoura, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Palestinian supporters march near the United Nations headquarters at a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Mourners chant slogans as they carry the coffin of Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammed Hussein Surour, during his funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese citizens watch smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)