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Wild 9th Inning Leads to Cards Sweep
By MoonDog | July 20, 2008
Riding a wild roller coaster is nothing new for the St. Louis Cardinals. After Troy Glaus hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to give the Cardinals a 5-3 lead, San Diego came back in their half of the 9th to push across two runs to tie the score.
But St. Louis came right back, loading the bases in the 9th and Aaron Miles standing at the plate. A fly ball would likely win the game and that’s exactly what he did - he hit a fly ball over the right field wall for a walk-off grand slam home run to give the Cards’ a 9-5 victory and a four-game sweep of the Padres.
“That’s a feeling I wasn’t sure I was going to get to experience, that walk-off homer,” Miles said. “I’ve never done it before, not in the minor leagues or on any field. That’s a great feeling.”
Bryan Corey (1-2) took the loss for San Diego. After getting lead-off hitter Jason LaRue, Corey walked Albert Pujols on four pitches. A wild pickoff attempt at first base by catcher Luke Carlin allowed Pujols to advance to third base.
“I saw him get way off the bag, but the pitch is up and I’ve got to hold onto the ball,” Carlin said. “It was just a stupid play by me to throw the ball. I tried to be overaggressive and unfortunately it hurt us.”
Padres manager Bud Black said Carlin’s throwing error was a rookie getting “caught up in the moment.” Carlin was called up from the minors because of injuries to Michael Barrett and Josh Bard.
Pinch-hitter Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker were walked to load the bases before Miles hit his second career slam, and only his third homer of the season, on a 2-1 pitch.
Miles’ grand slam helped the Cardinals recover from another blown save by Jason Isringhausen, his 8th in 19 save opportunities. He was booed by a sellout crowd after allowing three straight one-out hits, including an RBI double by Edgar Gonzalez.
Isringhausen got the call because closer Ryan Franklin, who is 14-for-18 in save opportunities since replacing Isringhausen, was given the day off after a two-inning save on Saturday.
Brad Thompson (2-2) got the win despite giving up the game-tying double by Kevin Kouzmanoff. With the bases still loaded, Thompson recovered and got Carlin on a ground out and Adrian Gonzalez on a soft line drive.
The Cardinals came from behind in all four games of the series, finding themselves down 3-1 after six innings Sunday. The Cardinals erased a five-run lead Saturday to defeat the Padres 6-5.
Padres starter Cha Seung Baek got his first career home run in the fifth inning off of Cards’ starter Jaime Garcia. After Garcia struck out Luis Rodriguez leading off the fifth, the ball got away from LaRue allowing Rodriguez to reach safely.
That set the stage for Baek to give the Padres a 3-1 lead. Garcia pitched five innings, giving up three runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out four in his first career start.
Pujols and Rick Ankiel added an RBI apiece for the Cardinals, who have won five straight and moved a season-best 14 games over .500.
Glaus’ homer in the eighth came off reliever Heath Bell on a 1-1 pitch. Glaus is on a nine-game hitting streak and has 18 homers, 64 RBIs and raised his average to .284.
The Cardinals continue their eight-game homestand when they welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to Busch Stadium Monday night. St. Louis will send Joel Pineiro (3-4, 4.52) to the mound against the Brewers’ Seth McClung (5-5, 4.16).
In Other Cardinals News (From the Associated Press)
Chris Carpenter, out since Opening Day in 2007 because of an elbow injury, will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday with hopes of joining the rotation in August.
Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young winner, will begin his rehab stint with Double-A Springfield. The team is hopeful he won’t need the full month before joining the staff and anticipate him joining the rotation immediately, rather than working out of the bullpen at first.
Carpenter is starting his rehab at Double-A instead of at a lower level because the organization feels hitters at lower classifications are too free-swinging.
“They swing at anything you throw up there, so you can hardly throw a strike,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “At least at Double-A they start playing the game a little bit.
“He might get hammered there, too, but I think it’s a better test.”
While the final stage in Carpenter’s climb back from reconstructive surgery begins, the team is prescribing two weeks of rest for rehabbing left-hander Mark Mulder.
Mulder had his twice surgically-repaired shoulder examined by a handful of doctors during the week. The team said Saturday the situation would be re-evaluated after the rest period.
The former 20-game winner, who hasn’t won a game in nearly 25 months and has had his shoulder surgically-repaired two times, came off the disabled list on June 27 but returned to it on July 10. He strained his shoulder again in his first start since last September on July 9, throwing only 16 pitches in one-third of an inning against the Phillies.
La Russa appeared somewhat hopeful after Friday’s 11-7 victory over the Padres, saying Mulder had relayed the opinion of Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Ala.
“It was interesting what he said,” La Russa said. “So we’ll see. Maybe there’s still hope.”
Right-hander Adam Wainwright, the Opening Day starter in Carpenter’s absence, is expected to begin throwing off a mound in the next week or so. He’s been sidelined by a ruptured tendon in the middle finger of his pitching hand and could rejoin the rotation in August.
Tags: Major League Baseball, Bud Black, 9th Inning Rally, ryan franklin, Jason LaRue, Edgar Gonzalez, Adrian Gonzalez, St. Louis Cardinals News, Chris Carpenter, Brad Thompson, Cardinals Sweep, rick ankiel, adam wainwright, st louis cardinals, Jason Isringhausen, grand slam, Heath Bell, albert pujols, san diego padres, Troy GlausRelated posts
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July 21st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Moon Dog
The game in ofitself was something to behold. But it went back and forth . Just any tight game should. And with the presence of mind being shown by La Russa , his coaching staff and players. I’d dare say that they’re making the Cubs feel somewhat weary as to their play at present ?
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