Cardinals Win In Comeback
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What started out as a night for Adam Wainwright to go for win #199, turned into a come-from-behind victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The irony started when Adam Wainwright was only meant to throw a bullpen session, according to Jesse Borek of MLB.com, however, the St. Louis Cardinals needed innings, so as he has done in the past, Wainwright put the team on his back once again.
The scoring started in the first with a home run from former Diamondback Paul Goldschmidt.
The Diamondbacks gathered a run in the first two innings to tie the sides. It took until the fourth to push two more runs across for the Cardinals, thanks to a Dylan Carlson sacrifice fly and Taylor Motter single. In the following inning, Nolan Arenado followed his teammate Goldschmidt with a solo bomb of his own.
Wainwright gutted five hard innings in the first half of the game, allowing six runners to reach, yet in 76 pitches was able to make it to the required minimum to qualify for the win. Unfortunately, baseball is a fiend to narratives, as the Cardinals bullpen faltered over the course of the next two innings.
Chris Statton allowed two runs, one from a solo shot to Christan Walker and another when JoJo Romero hit Geraldo Perdomo with the bases loaded though charged to Statton. Romero pitched in the bottom of the seventh, allowing two runners on. The Diamondbacks went to veteran Evan Longoria to break the narrative, and Manager Oli Marmol wanted to stop it at all costs, bringing in Giovanny Gallegos. Yet, as he has done in the past Longoria stepped up to help his team.
That is where the score would remain going into the top of the ninth when the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out and Paul Goldschmidt coming to bat.
The score was tied once again, and after Nolan Arenado struck out, Lars Nootbaar walked to drive in the go-ahead run. Then came Tyler O’ Neill, a name consistently brought up in trade rumors came to the plate.
The Cardinals finally broke out and scored five in the top of the ninth, leading 10-6 going into the bottom half of the ninth. The Diamondbacks got two runners on before Jordan Hicks closed the game with a strikeout.
It was a hard-luck win for the Cardinals, as while they gain a win, it was not attributed to Adam Wainwright, still stuck on #198 wins in his career. Wainwright later said it would be a game he would build off of going forward, so potentially we will see some old Wainwright magic in the weeks to come.
For the Cardinals, they are 45-56, 4th in their division and the Diamondbacks are second in the NL West at 54-47. The two teams will battle it out again tonight in the desert.
