The only Alabama player in the first National League game in the state turned out to be the star of the night in Birmingham on Thursday.

Brendan Donovan had three hits – a single, double and home run – drove in three runs, scored one run and played left field and third base in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Rickwood Field.

Major League Baseball played a regular-season game in Alabama for the first time as the concluding event of “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues.” The visit to Birmingham took on a deeper meaning after former Giants Hall of Famer Willie Mays died on Tuesday at age 93.

An area native, Mays was one of the reasons that MLB chose Rickwood Field for the event. As the home field for the Birmingham Black Barons, Rickwood was the site of Mays’ days as a teenage professional, and on Thursday night, the ample space between the plate and the backstop was emblazoned with a giant 24, Mays’ uniform number.

Built in 1910, the Birmingham ballpark is the oldest professional baseball stadium in the United States, opening two years before Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.

The teams wore throwback uniforms of Negro Leagues clubs, with the Giants dressed as the San Francisco Sea Lions and the Cardinals garbed as the St. Louis Stars. Each uniform featured an orange-and-black patch of “Mays 24.”

“What a special night,” Donovan said immediately after the game in an interview with FOX Sports, which televised the contest nationally. “This is something we should celebrate. This right here is pretty amazing, and to do it in Alabama – and I got some friends and family in the stands – I think it’s pretty cool. It’s like I’m playing summer ball again. …

“I had heard about this field. I know a lot of my buddies had played here. But I’d never been here myself, so I wasn’t sure. They always told me it was a big yard, so I’m glad they brought the fences in just a tick.

“But I was just looking forward to being around some friends and some family and hopefully getting a dub, and that’s what we got tonight.”

Donovan lined a two-out pitch from starter Keaton Winn well over the right-field fence as the Cardinals took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff walk by shortstop Masyn Winn, right fielder Alec Burleson’s single off the Budweiser sign in right and second baseman Nolan Gorman’s sacrifice fly had produced the first run before Donovan delivered the next two with his seventh homer of the season.

Donovan doubled high off the right-field fence with two out in the Cardinals’ two-run third. Winn doubled off the base of the big scoreboard to open the frame and, after Burleson’s single, scored on another sacrifice fly by Gorman. Donovan’s double put Burleson into position to score when reliever Randy Rodriguez unleashed a wild pitch against the first batter he faced.

Donovan had another two-out hit in the fifth, when his single to center scored Burleson to give St. Louis a 6-3 lead.

At Enterprise High School, Donovan earned a spot on the ASWA Class 7A All-State team as the Wildcats’ shortstop in 2015, when Collegiate Baseball selected him for the Louisville Slugger High School All-American team. Donovan batted .311 across three seasons at South Alabama.

Heliot Ramos tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the third when the San Francisco center fielder – a position filled for 14 years by Mays — dropped a high fly just over the right-field fence after singles by right fielder Mike Yastrzemski and second baseman Brett Wisely. The homer was Ramos’ 10th of the season.

The Giants cut the lead to one run in the sixth. Third baseman Matt Chapman started the rally with a double off the right-field wall. Designated hitter Jorge Soler’s walk, back-to-back singles by first baseman Wilmer Flores and right fielder Austin Slate and shortstop Nick Ahmed’s sacrifice fly produced two runs. But reliever Andrew Kittredge got Wisely to fly out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley earned his 25th save of the season with a scoreless ninth. The 100-mph right-hander struck out Chapman, San Francisco’s cleanup batter, with two on to end the game.

The Cardinals played their fifth consecutive one-run game. St. Louis had lost the previous two in Miami Marlins walkoffs.

The Cardinals evened their 2024 record at 37-37, while the Giants dropped to 36-40. Since only four teams in National League have winning records, both clubs are in contention in the wild-card playoff picture

The teams will complete the three-game series Saturday and Sunday in St. Louis, with each game starting at 1:15 p.m. CDT at Busch Stadium.

Thursday night’s game featured the first all-Black umpire crew in MLB history with Adrian Johnson as the crew chief for Alan Porter, C.B. Bucknor, Jeremie Rehak and Malachi Moore. They wore patches in honor of Emmett Ashford, who became the first Black umpire in the big leagues in 1966.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.