Kolten Wong’s home run in the bottom of the ninth gave the Cardinals the win they desperately needed, tying the NLCS as they head to San Francisco. On a night with more turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie, the Cards relied on four home runs from their left handed bats to keep hope alive. Closer Trevor Rosenthal once again failed to shut the door, while simultaneously testing the heart health of fans across Cardinal Nation, but the Cardinals refused to fold under yet another setback.
The scoring got started in the bottom of the third when Matt Carpenter deposited his fourth home run of the playoffs in the seats. The much maligned Randall Grichuck added to the lead in the fourth with a single to bring home Matt Adams with the bases loaded. The Cards couldn’t further capitalize as Carpenter flew out with the bases loaded.
The Giants took over the scoring from there. They got to Lynn in the fifth with Joaquin Arias able to drive in Brandon Belt with a ground ball to the right side. Hunter Pence, who eats pizza with a fork, drinks Appletinis, likes ketchup on hotdogs, can’t parallel park, etc., chased Lance Lynn and tied the game at two with an RBI single.
Possibly the biggest development of the game arrived in the Cards half of the sixth. After a Peralta walk, Molina stepped to the plate and hit into a double play, but never left the box. He was in obvious pain and the speculation began. Was it his toe from a foul ball? Was it the thumb acting up? Are his knees going bad? Was this why they bunt him in the last at bat? Was this why they added AJP before the series? He would leave the game.
It was announced later as an oblique strain, an ambiguous injury. It’s impossible to swing a bat without extreme pain, and there is no real time table. It’s ready when it’s ready. Yadi is crazy enough to try and catch with it and swing one handed because his canon of a right arm shouldn’t be effected and he will want back in the line up that bad. Some Cardinals fans might take a significantly damaged Yadi with his incalculable value, especially after the performance Cruz turned in.
In the seventh, a Choate walk, Tony Cruz passed ball, and a miraculously acrobatic Juan Cruz sac bunt set up Gregor Blanco to drive in the go-ahead run off Carlos Martinez.
However, the seventh inning remained magical for the Cardinals.
Undeterred by being called fat and out of shape by his GM today, Oscar Taveras drove a pitch over the fence in right to tie the game and earn himself a curtain call.
Not to be outdone by the rookie, Matt Adams put the Cards ahead in eight with his own home run over Hunter Pence’s head, accompanied with possibly my favorite bat flip from a Cardinal ever.
Adams home run set the stage for a Rosenthal blown save. He was wild from moment one. The few strikes he did throw seemed more by accident or chance than by hitting a spot he at which he aimed. Cruz’s framing ability or lack thereof certainly didn’t help. The Giants’ tying run scored on a fastball Rosenthal spiked into the ground before the plate and Cruz inexplicably tried to backhand. The Giants pinch runner, Matt Duffy, scored from second base because he was moving on the 3-2 pitch and it kicked far enough away from Cruz.
Seth Maness, ground ball extraordinaire and fellow Pinecrest HS Alum, picked up the relief win because he was able to come in and clean up Rosenthal’s bases loaded mess by getting Sandoval to ground out back to him.
Wong of course ended the NLCS thriller with the fourth home run of the day by a Cardinal lefty and fourth into the right field bleachers.
The Good News: The Cardinals won a great game and leave St. Louis tied 1-1 and not 0-2. They got to Peavy early. Lynn pitched well enough for the Cardinals, but he has more and can be better next time he comes out and said as much. The Cardinals continue to look like a steroid-era team, jacking balls out left and right.
The Bad News: The Cardinals are going to San Francisco tied 1-1 and not 2-0, turning home-field advantage over to the Giants for the remaining five game series. Trevor Rosenthal continues to give us heart attacks and Matheny will never give up on him. YADIER MOLINA IS HURT AND PROBABLY DONE FOR AT LEAST THIS SERIES. This is the biggest one. The fall to Cruz is so precipitous it is frightening. The Cards survived Yadi’s thumb injury, but they weren’t playing the Giants every night. What do they do with Wainwright? They have to face Bumgarner at least once more, twice if Bochy trusts him on short rest and feels he needs to use him.
But hey, who cares about the bad news on a night like tonight?
See you in San Fran for Game 3 on Tuesday. Lackey vs. Hudson. 3:07 PM CT.
Happy Flight.
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Photo Credit: Top-Arch City’s own Ryan Leopando; GIF- CJ Fogler
H/T to fellow Arch City Writer Nick Yahl for headline
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