After an embarrassing loss at home yesterday, the St. Louis Cardinals went into Busch Stadium with a must-win mentality. The San Francisco Giants took over homefield advantage in convincing 3-0 fashion in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and were looking to put the Cards with their back against the wall tonight.
Matt Carpenter came out swinging for St. Louis, jacking his fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the 3rd, a solo shot to right field. The birds got up 2-0 against the Giants the very next inning, with Randal Grichuk RBI single to left.
The momentum seemed to be on their side.
But the next three innings belonged to San Francisco. They managed to take the 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the 7th, after scoring in the 5th, 6th and 7th inning with runners on base.
The Cardinals responded with rookie pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras, as he sent one out of the park in that inning, tying the game at 3. Then in the 8th, Matt Adams also took one to right field.
Things got even more interesting in the 9th inning when a wild pitch by Trevor Rosenthal blew the 4-3 lead by the Cardinals, allowing Matt Duffy to score and tie up the game, dashing all the way from second base. With two outs and bases loaded, Pablo Sandoval took the plate and didn’t capitalize on the opportunity, grounding out and leaving every runner on base.
Then Kolten Wong stepped up to bat and ended the game with a walk-off to right field, sealing the victory for the Cards and evening up the NLCS series.
Game 3 goes to California and will take place on Tuesday at 4:07 EST.