After another amazing win on Monday night, the Cardinals needed just one more win to advance to the NLCS for the fourth straight season.
What a game it turned out to be. And what a series it turned out to be.
Game 4 consisted of a pitching match-up between Clayton Kershaw and Shelby Miller. And just like the night before, a pitcher’s duel began to occur. Miller pitched a 1-2-3 first, while Kershaw struck out the first three batters he faced. It wasn’t until the fourth inning, when Matt Carpenter stepped up to the plate, that a ball was hit out of the infield during the game.
Kershaw’s no-hitter ended when Randal Grichuk hit a ball past the left side of the infield, getting a single. He would later steal a base after a ball in the dirt bounced up to catcher A.J Ellis’ chest. But Kershaw would bounce back, and through four innings, he had struck out six batters.
The 5th inning begun with the score still tied at 0-0, and Los Angeles had out-hit the Cardinals, but only by a 2-1 margin.
Miller himself was pitching great as well. With a mix of his fastball and curve-ball, he was able to silence the bats of L.A through five innings.
But the sixth inning is when the scoreless tie was broken.
With two runners on and no one out, Miller was able to get Matt Kemp to ground out into a double play, but in the process, Carl Crawford scored from third, to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Miller began to lose some of his luster, and struggled for the remaining of the inning, and eventually, Mike Matheny took him out and placed Seth Maness in on the mound.
Despite the sixth inning struggles, it was a strong overall performance by the 23-year old right-hander, and he left to a standing ovation from Cardinal Nation.
Maness, in for Miller, then allowed a base hit by Juan Uribe, scoring Hanley Ramirez and almost scoring Andre Ethier, to make it a 2-0 Dodgers lead. However, Ethier would later be picked off at third by Molina after a ball went past the all-star catcher’s glove. Matheny would challenge the call after he was initially ruled safe, and wound up winning the challenge, and ending the inning with minimal damage done.
The seventh inning arrived, Kershaw remained on the mound, and shades of Game 1 started to settle in.
A Cardinals rally was in the works.
First, Holliday singled. Then, Jhonny Peralta singled. Up next came Adams.
And “Big City” hit a big city blast right into the Cardinals bullpen, and sent thousands at the game and millions at home in a frenzy.
St. Louis had a 3-2 lead, and Kershaw once again got knocked out of the game in the seventh inning in the NLDS.
Pat Neshek entered to pitch the 8th inning, and proceeded to do what he does best, and shut down the Dodgers in a 1-2-3 inning. And just like that, the Cardinals were three outs away from making it to the National League Championship Series.
But the game remained far from over.
Enter Trevor Rosenthal.
Rosenthal is known for making the ninth inning more drama-filled than usual, but despite that, he garnered over 40 saves during the regular season, and had both saves in the two Cardinals’ NLDS wins coming into Game 4.
But Tuesday night, he entered the game, got Uribe out, struck out Justin Turner, and finally, Crawford grounded out to seal the victory, as the Cardinals won the NLDS 3-1.
The Cardinals will face either the Giants or the Nationals in the NLCS (the Cardinals and Giants have had plenty of postseason clashes over the past few years).
It was a hard-fought, competitive and suspenseful divisional series, but St. Louis once again, found ways to win in clutch moments.
And now, they’re on their way to the National League Championship Series.
