Since I am not a St. Louis Cardinals coach, I can’t say for sure that I know what the plan was for Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers, but I’m fairly certain walking 4 batters in the first 2 innings wasn’t it. Brycen Mautz had a less-than-ideal start for the Cardinals while Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dealing for the Dodgers. That was not the recipe for a St. Louis Cardinals victory. Fortunately, baseball games have 9 innings and Wednesday night they’d play even more and it would end spectacularly
for St. Louis.
The bottom of the 1st inning will take awhile to explain. It started with Shohei Ohtani walking on 4 straight pitches followed by 2 more balls thrown to Tommy Edman before Brycen Mautz registered a strike. Then he hit Edman with the next pitch to give the Dodgers runners at first and second with no outs. Brycen was able to get Betts to pop out to second for the first out, but more trouble was on the way. After throwing another ball out of the strike zone to Freddie Freeman, Mautz unfortunately threw the next one right down the middle of the plate which Freddie torched 416 feet into the left-centerfield stands for a 3-run homer and an immediate Dodgers 3-0 lead.
Remarkably, that’s all the runs the Dodgers would get in the bottom of the 1st because Rojas followed Freeman’s homer with a bloop double to right and then slumping Kyle Tucker was walked. It took a great catch by Bryan Torres in left on a screaming line drive from Hernandez and then another excellent play by Alec Burleson who made a diving grab on a ball headed toward right field from Fedducia. Alec threw him out from a seated position for the final out of the inning. It easily could have been worse than a 3-run inning by the Dodgers.
The Cardinals had planned a bullpen game, but pretty sure they wanted Mautz to pitch deeper into the game than the just one inning as he was pulled without recording an out in the bottom of the 2nd inning for Ryan Fernandez. He would handle that task without allowing the Dodgers any more runs before he handed the ball to Gordon Graceffo in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Gordon also held LA scoreless in the 3rd and 4th innings before the Dodgers mounted a threat in the bottom of the 5th. In that inning, Kyle Tucker led off with a single and stole second because, yes, Iván Herrera was catching so of course he did. Graceffo was able to nurse a hard groundout to short by Hernandez for the first out without allowing Tucker to advance. Gordon then struck out Muncy and Fedducia to keep LA from adding to their lead.
While the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen merry-go-round was spinning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was mystifying the Cardinals lineup not allowing a hit through the first 5 innings. José Fermín ended the no-hitter in the top of the 6th with a no-doubt single into right field. Two batters later, Thomas Saggese ended the shutout as he connected with a 94 mph sinker and launched it 396 feet into the centerfield stands cutting the Dodgers lead to 3-2. When did Thomas Saggese suddenly start channeling his inner Mark McGwire?
George Soriano entered the game in the bottom of the 6th inning to face the top of the Dodgers lineup and keep the game close for the Cardinals offense which finally woke up. That unfortunately did not work out. After Tommy Edman lined a one-out single to left, Mookie Betts caught one of Soriano’s 85 mph sweepers hanging and crushed it 392 feet into the left-field seats for a 2-run blast and a 5-2 Dodgers lead.
The St. Louis Cardinals were not done fighting. In the top of the 7th inning, Jordan Walker smacked a double off of the left field wall followed by Leo Bernal crushing his first major league home run deep into the right field stands cutting the Dodgers lead back down to just 1 at 5-4. Hope you packed all of your belongings when you left Memphis, Leo, because you aren’t going back!
Ryne Stanek jumped into the fray in the bottom of the 7th inning with the prime directive of keeping this a 1-run affair so the Cardinals could claw and scratch out a couple of runs for another victory over the billionaires Dodgers. Ryne allowed a bit of drama by giving up a couple of two-strike hits, but no runs became of it, so no worries.
The Cardinals finally got into the Dodgers bullpen when Yamamoto exited the game after 7 innings. Tanner Scott was brought in to face Joshua Baez who turned on an 88 mph slider and ripped it into the left-field corner for a leadoff double. Herrera hit a sharp ball to first which resulted in an out, but it went to the right side of the infield which advanced Baez to third with just one out. Fundamental baseball at its finest. Alec Burleson proved that true when he battled through a bunch of Scott sliders before he got a ball he could lift into deep left for a game-tying sacrifice fly giving us a new ballgame at 5-5.
Luis Gastélum was the Cardinals answer for the bottom of the 8th inning. He kept the Dodgers from scoring and was aided by an inning-ending double play.
The Cardinals came close to taking the lead in the top of the 9th when Leo Bernal ALMOST hit his second home run of the night flying out to deep right field on a ball that was only 9 feet from giving St. Louis a 6-5 lead. It’s too bad that “almost” only counts in horseshoes and not baseball. After the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the 9th, it was up to Justin Bruihl to shut down the Dodgers in the bottom of the 9th. It started spectacularly when José Fermín made a great diving play on a ground ball from Kyle Tucker deep into the right-field hole throwing him out from the ground. Teoscar Hernandez was not so kind as the next Dodger up as he crushed a ground-rule double over the left field wall to give LA the potential winning run in scoring position. However, Bruihl struck out pinch-hitter Enrique Hernandez for the second out. Bruihl made life more difficult on himself when he threw a wild pitch advancing Hernandez to third. It was up to Will Smith to decide if the game would go to extras. We all held our breath as Smith hit a fly ball to deep right field that Nathan Church caught up against the wall. This game would not be decided in 9 innings.
Jose Fermin was the Cardinals “free runner” starting the inning at second base and he immediately was moved up to third as Nathan Church hit the first pitch he saw for a single up the middle giving St. Louis runners at first and third with no out in the 10th. Thomas Saggese, who’s having a career road trip so far, tapped a ball into the hole between second and first and beat the throw knocking in Fermin and giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead and they were just getting started. Joshua Baez would sink the Dodgers hopes as he ripped his second double of the night into the left field corner scoring both Church and Saggese upping the Cardinals lead to 8-5.
It would be up to Riley O’Brien to lock down the game and the series for the Cardinals. He would have to face the top of the Dodgers lineup starting with Ohtani. With two strikes, Herrera would let a ball get away which would allow Dodgers free runner Will Smith to advance to third. Riley would shake that off and strike out Ohtani after 8 pitches for the first out. Tommy Edman would score Smith from third, but his groundout registered the second out. Mookie Betts lineout to center ended an epic come-from-behind Cardinals victory and a series and season series victory over LA.
The St. Louis Cardinals will enter the gauntlet again Thursday night as it’ll be game 3 against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Quinn Mathews will start for the Cardinals going up against the formidable Tarik Skubal for the Dodgers. First pitch scheduled for 9:10pm central time at Dodger Stadium and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
