The Cardinals saw a seven-run lead disappear after two bases-loaded walks, a misplay in the outfield and a clutch, two-run homer by Arizona third baseman Nolan Arenado, 13 stranded runners and an error on the basepaths in an 8-7 loss to the Dbacks.
The St. Louis Cardinals lost so much more than just a seemingly safe seven-run lead on Sunday.
They also lost their usually fundamentally sound style of play while collapsing under an avalanche of critical errors throughout the final five innings. In the process, they lost a game in frustrating fashion and lost a critical season series against one of the teams competing with them for a Wild Card slot in the National League playoff chase.
Up seven runs through five innings, the Cardinals came unglued in a variety of ways, surrendered a game-tying home run to former St. Louis star Nolan Arenado and gave up eight unanswered runs in an 8-7 defeat at the hands of the Dbacks in 10 innings.
“In a lot of areas, we don’t deserve to win that game, to be quite honest with you,” manager Oliver Marmol said on Cardinals TV. “Yeah, we did a nice job of getting ahead, but with the way that one unfolded, there’s a lot of learning opportunities in that one. It stings and it sucks and nobody is (madder) than me.
“But at the end of the day, we gave that one away. There’s no reason to win that one.”
Arenado, who starred in St. Louis from 2021-25, hit a hanging slider from Gordon Graceffo for a game-tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning. Not only was it Arenado’s third key hit of the season against the Cardinals, the home run went for the 1,999th hit of his Hall of Fame-bound career. Arenado successfully challenged a strike call to avoid falling into an 0-2 count and then drilled the next pitch over the wall in left field to bring the Dbacks all the way back after being down 7-0.
Cards uncharacteristically commit avalanche of errors
After dominating the early stages of the game, the Cardinals issued two bases-loaded walks, committed a defensive gaffe in left field, hung a hittable pitch to Arenado, left 13 runners on base and capped off the madness with a critical base-running error in the top of the 10th to ruin a rally.
“We’ve already talked about it, and you’ll see that in about five minutes they will move onto the next thing,” said Marmol, whose Cardinals begin a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim on Monday night. “We’ll dwell on it for the time being, take what we need out of it. They’re already talking about some of the things that we felt like we gave away. Their ability to recap quickly and move onto the next thing is, at this point, part of our identity.”
The victory allowed the Dbacks (51-48) to win the season series against the Cards (51-47) in a showdown of two teams fighting for a Wild Card slot in the NL playoff chase. Arizona took two of three in St. Louis from June 22-24, but the final game of that series was washed out by rain. The two teams make up that game on Thursday at Busch Stadium, but the Dbacks already hold a 4-2 edge in the season series.
The Cardinals also missed out on a chance to pass the Marlins (52-48) in the Wild Card chase after Miami lost its sixth straight game on Sunday.
Blaze Jordan had three hits and three RBI, Alec Burleson added three hits and two more RBI, Ivan Herrera had three hits and Lars Nootbaar walked four times as the Cards beat up on All-Star left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who came into the day with a stellar 2.29 ERA after working for the NL in the MLB All-Star Game. The Cardinals sent 11 men to the plate in a five-run third inning that ended Rodriguez’s day early.
Andre Pallante, the benefactor of some great run support all season, breezed through the game’s first five innings before running into some serious trouble in the sixth inning. In possession of a 7-0 lead, Pallante allowed just two hits through the first five innings before allowing the first four to reach in the sixth inning. He got All-Star Corbin Carroll to popup, but he was pulled from the game after walking in Arizona’s second run.
Ryne Stanek relieved and got a popup on the infield before walking in a second run in the inning. Jordan then made a stellar defensive play by sprawling for a hard-hit ball to rob Arenado of extra bases and at least two RBI.
More shenanigans came in the seventh inning when Stanek allowed a lead-off single and, three batters later, left fielder Jose Fermin aggressively charged a sinking liner and played it into a "Little League homer" for Geraldo Perdomo. Initially, it was ruled a single and a three-base error on Fermin, but later it was changed to an inside-the-park homer for Perdomo.
In the eighth, Graceffo got the first two before yielding a single to Tyler Locklear. Graceffo then hung the slider and Arenado punished to the tune of a 384-foot, game-tying homer.
“We haven’t done that very often and that game hasn’t showed up this year where you have a lead like that and give it up,” Marmol said. “We didn’t deserve to win it.”
Jordan got the Cards going in the third inning when he drilled a Rodriguez sinker into the left-center gap for a triple that scored Nootbaar. After singles by JJ Wetherholt and Herrera, All-Star outfielder Jordan Walker doubled off the wall to plate the leadoff hitter for his MLB-best 76th RBI of the season. Two batters later, Burleson notched his second hit of the day against a left-handed pitcher and plated Herrera and Walker to make it 5-0.
Jordan, who has seen his playing time slashed as he’s struggled at the plate of late, singled the other way in the fifth inning to score two more and make it 7-0.
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