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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Cardinals put on an exciting show for the baseball-loving folks of Alabama and a national television audience on a night when Major League Baseball honored the career and life of Hall of Famer Willie Mays the oldest professional baseball park in the United States and paid tribute to the legacy of the Negro Leagues.

Unlike their most recent contests, a pair of walk-off losses that took a toll on their bullpen in Miami, the Cardinals celebrated a one-run victory and a record-breaking performance from closer Ryan Helsley in a 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants at Rickwood Field in Major League Baseball’s Tribute to the Negro Leagues showcase game.

Former Birmingham Black Baron and former Cardinal Bill Greason, 99, threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game while leaning on Cardinals coach and Cardinals Hall of Fame member Willie McGee for balance and support.

“It’s what you paid for, you want to see a good ballgame,� Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “I felt like that’s exactly what this was. There was some back and forth. … Just the history between both organizations, the fan base. It was a cool atmosphere. We’ve done several of these with Mexico, London, Williamsport, but this one was cool because you’re tapping into the history of our game in a different way.�

Cardinals rookie shortstop Masyn Winn, the only Black American player in the starting lineup for either team (Cardinals top prospect Victor Scott entered the game as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning), doubled, walked and scored twice, and Brendan Donovan, who grew up in Alabama, went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double and three RBIs to help pace the offense.

Alec Burleson also played a critical role offensively with two hits and three runs scored, and right-hander Adam Kloffenstein made his major-league debut in one of the most high-leverage situations imaginable as a set-up man in the eighth inning of a one-run game.

The Cardinals recalled Kloffenstein, acquired last summer as part of the trade that sent pitcher Jordan Hicks to the Toronto Blue Jays, prior to Thursday’s game.

The right-hander received word he’d been summoned to the majors on Wednesday afternoon in the middle of a bullpen session prior to that day’s game for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

Hicks, who signed with the Giants this past offseason, was also in uniform — in San Francisco Sea Lions throwback garb — for the contest but did not pitch in the game.

Kloffenstein, who is from the Houston, Texas, had several family members and friends make the trip to Alabama on barely a day’s notice and admitted it wasn’t until after he’d pitched that he fully grasped the role he’d been thrust into for his debut.

“The funny thing was out there (in the bullpen) the visibility is not great,� Kloffenstein said. “I knew it was a close game. I wasn’t exactly even sure what inning it was.

"I’d got up a couple times, then I heard him say, ‘Kloffy you’re in the game.’ And my heart rate spiked. I couldn’t feel my body. I was throwing the ball all over the place in the bullpen.�

Kloffenstein took some comfort in having thrown to catcher Pedro Pages before. Pages told him he had three right-handed batters coming up, which is typically a strength of Kloffenstein’s — he held right-handed hitters to a .218 batting average in the minors last season.

The first batter Kloffenstein faced, Jorge Soler, was a right-hander with a 48-home run season on his resume as well as a World Series MVP, which he earned at the expense of the Houston Astros in 2021.

Asked when he realized he’d been called upon in the eighth inning, Kloffenstein replied, “When I got in the dugout. After (the inning).�

“I was like, ‘Who is coming in after me?’ Then I turned around and saw 6-5 in the eighth,� Kloffenstein said. “I was like, 'Oh, Helsley is coming in.' I was like, 'I just set up for Helsley?'

“There was already enough stuff going on that that was the last thing I needed to know, that it was 6-5 in the eighth and I had Soler leading off.�

Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (3-3) pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks. He also struck out five and allowed one three-run home run.

Winn scored on the first of two sacrifice flies by Nolan Gorman in the first inning, and Donovan followed with a two-run home run that gave the Cardinals (37-37) an early advantage.

Donovan, who was born in Germany while his father was in the military, moved to Alabama when he was in third grade and lived there through his high school years.

Donovan attended high school in Enterprise. He then attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile. As he entered college, his parents move to Montgomery. His parents then moved to Huntsville just as Donovan signed into professional baseball after his junior year of college.

“That’s pretty cool,� Donovan said of having the first home run in an AL or NL game in the state of Alabama. “Obviously, this is a special moment for a lot of people in baseball, so to do it in this state is cool for me and some of my family and friends that were there.�

However, the Cardinals fast start didn’t provide them a cushion for very long. Giants center fielder Heliot Ramos paid homage to Mays, perhaps the most legendary center fielder in MLB history, with a three-run home run in the top of the third inning.

Ramos’ blast tied the score, but that tie didn’t last long. Winn doubled and scored the team’s fourth run on another Gorman sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third.

Pallante pitched around traffic in the fourth and fifth innings with the help of double plays turned in the infield, and he turned the game over to reliever Andrew Kittredge with two men on and one out in the sixth. Both inherited runners scored, but the Cardinals held a 6-5 lead at the end of sixth inning.

Kittredge got the first out of the seventh inning, and John King got two more outs to finish the seventh. That put Kloffenstein in line for the eighth inning.

“It’s a tough ask, and he did a really, really nice job,� Marmol said of Kloffenstein. “You look at that game. Our pen is super-thin. What happened yesterday with (Kyle Gibson) going down and us using everybody, we didn’t have many guys available today. We needed Pallante to go six. We were trying to squeeze every out out of him.

“Normally, we’d go to righty there with Soler. It would be (Ryan) Fernandez, and then we’d kind of do what normally do with Kittredge, JoJo (Romero) and Helsley. That wasn’t an option today. With runners on, bringing in Kitt because that’s where the game can get flipped. Then knowing you’re wide-open in the eighth, you can go JoJo in that righty lane. But you’ve got Soler, (Wilmer) Flores and (Austin) Slater, who do a nice job against lefties. So we took a shot with Kloff.�

Helsley worked around a leadoff walk and a two-out, two-strike single in the ninth inning, and he stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on base. He finished the game by striking out Matt Chapman.

Helsley set a new club record when he converted his 25th consecutive save chance. He’d entered the night tied with Alex Reyes for the club record.

“We definitely needed this one after the last two in Miami, for sure,� Winn said. “Especially with how we lost, a little bit heartbreaking. To be able to do it on this field is super-special. It’s super-special for Helsley to break that record for us as well. That’s pretty cool to be a part of.�