ST. LOUIS (AP) Harrison Bader got a 30-second standing ovation in his return to St. Louis.

“I put a lot of years in here. The love and appreciation for that, that's why I do it,” Bader said after helping the New York Yankees beat the Cardinals 6-2 Saturday night.

Bader played in St. Louis for the first time since the Yankees acquired him at last year’s trade deadline in a deal for left-hander Jordan Montgomery.

A crowd favorite who made his big league debut with the Cardinals in 2017, Bader spent Friday visiting children at Cardinals Glennon Hospital. He went 0 for 3, hitting a first-inning sacrifice fly,

“That was amazing,” he said. “I tried to keep my emotions in check, tried to reserve as much emotion as possible and just focus on going out there and just playing the game.”

St. Louis won the rain-interrupted opener 11-4 behind Paul Goldschmidt's go-ahead, three-run homer off Luis Severino in a five-run third. Jack Flaherty pitched six shutout innings, Goldschmidt had four RBIs and Nolan Gorman also homered for the Cardinals, who reached double-digit runs for the first time since May 21.

Then at night, rookie Anthony Volpe hit a go-ahead triple as part of his fifth straight multihit game. Volpe has raised his average from .193 to .220 in his last six games.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits in the second game as the Yankees won for the fifth time in their last seven. He is hitting .455 with seven RBIs in his last eight games.

“Tonight we were able to play a little bit of small ball,” Kiner-Falefa said.

Lars Nootbaar homered for St. Louis, which fell to a 34-48, its worst 82-game start since 1990 Nootbar hit a first-inning homer off opener Ian Hamilton as the Yankees went with a bullpen game because of Friday's rainout.

Michael King (2-4) allowed one hit while pitching scoreless relief over a season-high 3 1/3 innings. Wandy Peralta, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes followed with an inning each.

Volpe tripled in the second off Matthew Liberatore (1-3) and DJ LeMahieu followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead. Jose Trevino drove in Kiner-Falefa with a safety squeeze bunt single in the ninth off Chris Stratton and Gleyber Torres followed with a two-run single.

Liberatore, a 23-year-old left-hander taken 16th overall by Tampa Bay in the 2018 amateur draft, allowed three runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He has a 5.68 ERA in seven starts and one relief appearance.

“If you look at his last several starts and then you look at his last couple innings tonight, the velo on the fastball his first couple innings is just down and it doesn't work at - he can't pitch there. The fastball doesn't do enough for him to pitch at that velocity,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “So he ticked it up and you saw some 93s and his outing looked better as this game went on. And there's a conversation about the intent behind his fastball and he was able to go ahead and reach back and get there. So it's being able to start there rather than wait until the third and fourth.”

Giancarlo Stanton played left field in the night game, his first appearance there since last July 21.

Rain twice stopped the opener twice for a total of 2 hours, 37 minutes. Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson made his big league mound debut and got three straight outs, throwing 11 pitches ranging from 82-86 mph.

Flaherty (5-5) won his second straight start after going 0-1 in his previous five. He allowed four hits, struck out four and walked two.

“You take the good and the bad and you learn from both," Flaherty said. “I had an emphasis on getting a better start this time out. Instead of trying to find a feel for the game, just attacking from pitch one.”

Severino (1-3), coming off six shutout innings against Texas, gave up seven runs and nine hits over four innings as his ERA rose to 6.30. Severino’s 56 fastballs averaged 95.1 mph, down 1.5 mph from his season average.

Goldschmidt's 15th homer put the Cardinals ahead, and Alec Burleson and Paul DeJong added RBI singles. Gorman hit a two-run homer in the fourth.

St. Louis rookie Jordan Walker went 0 for 5, ending his 17-game hitting streak. He had an RBI double in the third inning of the night game.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Carlos Rodón (strained left forearm, back pain) allowed one hit over 3 2/3 scoreless innings for Class A Hudson Valley in his third rehab outing, striking out eight and walking two. He threw 61 pitches. ... LHP Nestor Cortes threw 20 pitches from a mound on Friday and will likely throw again on Monday or Tuesday.

Cardinals: INF/OF Brendan Donovan missed both games with a sore throwing arm.

UP NEXT

New York RHP Gerrit Cole (8-1, 2.78) will face Montgomery (5-7, 3.52) on Sunday, Montgomery pitched five shutout innings in a 1-0 win against the Yankees last Aug. 6, four days after the trade.

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