Down to their final strike, the Cardinals looked on in delight as Cincinnati's Dane Myers dropped a fly ball and St. Louis ultimately scored six times in the ninth inning for a 10-9 victory over the Reds. Cards' relievers walked five in the bottom of the ninth, but St. Louis held on for the win.
If the Cardinals somehow rally over the final 33 games of the season and go on to work their way into the playoffs, they might want to consider sending thank-you gifts to the reeling Cincinnati Reds.
Down to their final strike and poised to blow a game they once led by four runs early on, the Cardinals saw JJ Wetherholt pop a ball into left-center where center fielder Dane Myers and TJ Friedl converged. Even though both were battling the sun and calling the ball, Friedl yielded to Myers, who saw the tailing fly deflect off his glove and allow two St. Louis runs to score.
With six runs in the ninth inning, the Cardinals beat the Reds 10-9 in a game they thought they had locked up early on and then thought they had lost before being handed a gift, errr, gaffe by the Reds.
Even after the unthinkable, unlikely six-run ninth, the Cardinals still had to sweat in the bottom half of the inning. George Soriano walked three and surrendered a run and the Cards had to turn to All-Star closer Riley OâBrien, who also had plenty of struggles. Sal Stewart hit the first pitch he saw and drove in two runs and OâBrien walked in two more runs before ultimately getting Matt McLain to line out to the warning track in right field to end the marathon game.
"That game had a lot of ups and downs, but here is the reality to it -- our guys in the back end of our 'pen have taken the ball and done a really nice job," manager Oliver Marmol said to Cardinals TV. "You look at this series we ran through them and some games they didn't even give up a hit. But they're human and today that came out because they're tired.
"But they want the ball because they know we have a chance at (making the playoffs). At the end of the day, we're going to take every shot to spray champagne on each other. They want the ball, but they're tired. We were able to figure out a way to win and get out of here."
JosĂ© FermĂn not only started the ninth inning with a pinch-hit single, but he singled in two more runs in the six-run inning when the Cards batted around. He was the first Cardinals player to have two pinch hits in an inning since Allen Craig in 2012.
"That was a little scary, but we ended up with the win and that's all that matters," Fermin told Cardinals TV after his team's fifth win in the past seven games. "But it was an exciting win, for sure."
The surprising victory allowed the Cardinals to win the five-game series in Cincinnati and extend their streak of series victories to five. A night after blowing a 2-0 lead to the Reds, the Cardinals got off the matt after squandering a four-run bulge on Thursday. A Cards club that lost their first six series after the All-Star break bounced back to whip the Yankees, Rockies, Phillies and Cubs in succession.
The Cards wrap up their three-city, 11-game road trip with three more this weekend in Philadelphia. The Phillies (70-58) have won six straight and they are one of the teams the Cardinals are trying to catch for a Wild Card playoff spot.
The Cards built an early 4-0 lead thanks to an RBI groundout in the first inning and a three-run homer by All-Star and Home Run Derby champion Jordan Walker. Walkerâs 407-foot homer was his career-best 26th long ball â just one shy of the 27 homers that he hit in his first three MLB seasons.
Peter Strzelecki, who blew a lead in the ninth inning on Monday night, picked up his first victory in the big leagues since June 6, 2023, when he pitched for the Brewers. He pitched two more scoreless innings on Thursday to spell an overworked bullpen.
"The tough part of him going out there for three innings with the homer (in Monday's Game 2 loss)," Marmol said. "He did a tremendous job in that (Monday) game, and he gave us a tremendous look (on Thursday). Overall, he's done a really nice job."
Making his 25th start of the season, Michael McGreevy breezed through the first five innings before running into trouble while facing the lineup a third time. Hector Rodriguez and KeâBryan Hayes singled at the bottom of the order, but McGreevy rallied to fan Elly De La Cruz.
When McGreevy walked Stewart â Wednesdayâs hero for Cincinnati when he hit a go-ahead, three-run homer â Cardinalsâ manager Oliver Marmol opted for Ryne Stanek. JJ Bleday singled in a run before Stanek struck out Tyler Stephenson. Despite getting ahead in the count, Stanek left his splitter in the middle of the plate and Matt McLain took it deep for his third career grand slam to give the Reds a 5-4 lead.
As it turns out, there was still plenty of game left to be played as both sides took turns piling up the runs in the ninth inning.
