NEW YORK — A feat nearly 60 years in the making came down to a game of inches.

The St. Louis Cardinals weathered everything the New York Yankees threw at them in the final few innings to seize their first victory in the Bronx since 1964 and give them a chance to win a series against the Yankees like they used to reserve for October meetings. A 6-5 victory at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon began with one of Kyle Gibson’s finest starts of the season and ended with the Yankees coming inches away from drama.

Throw in a clock-violation strikeout in the ninth and the game had just about everything.

Brendan Donovan launched the Cardinals to a lead with his three-run homer in the third inning. The Cardinals added to the lead with back-to-back doubles in the sixth, and Ivan Herrera created a run on his own by advancing on a wild pitch and scoring from the resulting error. His run proved decisive as the Yankees surged for a two-out rally that came inches shy of tying the game with a pinch-hit grand slam. The Yankees had to settle for a three-run double that tightened the game and set the stage for a compelling ninth.

It began with No. 9 hitter Oswaldo Cabrera getting called for a pitch-timer violation on a two-strike count. Credit Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley with the strikeout.

When Juan Soto connected for a two-out double into the right field corner that brought presumptive MVP Aaron Judge and a tailwind of his 51 homers to the plate. The Cardinals elected to avoid him entirely and challenge Austin Wells. All he did was hit two home runs to beat the Cardinals on Friday night.

The Cardinals’ 40-save closer struck out Wells to secure save No. 42.

The last time the Cardinals defeated the Yankees in the Bronx was 1964 in Game 5 of the World Series. It took 10 innings from Bob Gibson that day to best the Yankees and send the series back to St. Louis, where the Cardinals won the championship in Game 7. Since, it didn’t matter what Yankee Stadium the Yankees called home, they were successful against the Cardinals. In four previous games at the current coliseum, Yankee Stadium III, the Cardinals were winless.

Kyle Gibson (no relation) pitched seven superb innings, hinging several of them around his ability to keep Soto and Judge grounded. Gibson allowed one run on five hits through quality start. He struck out six and he did not invite any trouble by walking zero. The start was Gibson’s second of the season for the Cardinals with at least seven innings and one or fewer earned runs.

Well, 8th could have been worse

If not for a rundown that ran on and on far longer than the Cardinals wanted and a few inches of the wall in center field, the eighth inning would have gone more than sideways on the Cardinals.

They would have been upside down.

A leadoff single by Gleyber Torres was erased by a double play that took four different Cardinals getting involved and only ended when third baseman Nolan Arenado dove back to first base ahead of Torres. Torres was caught in the rundown that eventually included pitcher Matthew Liberatore and Arenado coming over from third. When Torres committed to race back to first base, so did Arenado – diving just as Torres did for the base and connecting with the Yankees runner before he reached safely.

That play cleared the bases and gave Liberatore two outs.

The Yankees would load them again.

Four consecutive two-out singles off Liberatore produced the Yankees' first run since the second inning. It also brought the potential tying run to the plate.

With center fielder Trent Grisham due up, the Yankees turned to their biggest bat off the bench in the biggest moment of the game. Giancarlo Stanton came out to pinch hit with the bases loaded. The Cardinals countered with right-handed reliever Andrew Kittredge. One pitch later, a ball pinballed off near the top of the center field wall. That was the difference between a bases-clearing double and a game-tying grand slam.

For Stanton, the double was the 300th of his career, but it was just shy of epic.

Donnie Baseball lifts Cardinals

In a homage to another left-handed hitter who took aim at the left-field seats at a Yankee Stadium, Donovan’s teammates a few years ago started calling him, “Donnie Baseball.”

The nickname, “Donnie,” was stitched onto any number of the gloves Donovan brought to the field for all of the positions he played. And the “Baseball” – well, that was just the nickname for a gamer, like the Yankees' longtime first baseman, Don Mattingly. Donovan continues to play all over the field, though a recent relocation to second base is likely to stick for the remainder of this season, just as his swing is also starting to sting from the cleanup spot.

Donovan’s three-run homer to flip Saturday’s game was his 11th of the season.

That matches his career best set a year ago before elbow surgery.

Donovan homered a week ago in Minnesota, had a three-hit game for the Cardinals against San Diego, and did with one swing what the Cardinals craved to do Friday night in the Bronx.

Through the first three innings Saturday, the Cardinals accepted a walk in each from Yankees starter Will Warren and came close to doing nothing with the gifts. Victor Scott II took a leadoff walk to start the third inning, and only Masyn Winn’s speed and a double-clutch from Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe kept a double play from clearing the bases. What followed was the same kind of rally the Cardinals had Friday night – until Donovan got involved.

The Cardinals turned four singles into two runs Friday and could not keep pace with the pinstripes’ power.

In the third Saturday, Alec Burleson and Arenado hit back-to-back singles to send Winn home and tie the game, 1-1. Three baserunners had produced one run.

Donovan’s one swing produced three runs.

The infielder turned on a 1-1 changeup from Warren and piloted it into the left-field seats. Donovan’s homer broke the tie and put the Cardinals up by three.

Gibson defuses Bronx’s best bombers

If not for an error on an in-between grounder, Gibson would have slipped through his seven innings without allowing either Soto or Judge to reach base.

Neither of them got the ball out of the infield against the veteran right-hander.

Gibson struck out Soto twice, including once looking at strike 3 in the first inning. Judge hit two hard ground-balls toward Winn at shortstop in his first two at-bats and he reached only when Winn did not pick the grounder cleanly to his backhand. In the sixth inning, as Gibson pushed toward the seven-inning gem, he got to face Judge for a third time. Judge fell behind, 1-2, and then stared at a 91.4-mph sinker from Gibson for a called strike 3.

The only time either of them got a ball in the air against Gibson was in the fifth inning with a runner in scoring position. Soto lined a ball toward right field.

True to the game, Donovan was there to intercept the liner for an out.

Just as he was there to gobble the grounder that ended the problematic eighth.

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