Cards Rally Past Rockies to Take Series

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Cardinals Rally Past Rockies to Take Series
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals needed Sunday afternoon to be more than just a bounce-back game.

They needed the series.

They got it.

The Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies, 7-4, at Busch Stadium, using a three-run eighth inning to break a late tie and take two of three from Colorado.

It was not always clean. It was not always comfortable. The Rockies kept hanging around, and the Cardinals had to answer more than once.

But this time, St. Louis did not let the game get away.

After Colorado tied it in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals came right back in the bottom half with the kind of inning they have failed to produce too many times this season. Masyn Winn singled. Nathan Church followed with another single. José Fermín moved both runners over with a sacrifice bunt.

That brought JJ Wetherholt to the plate with the game tied, two runners in scoring position, and the Cardinals needing a swing.

Wetherholt delivered.

The rookie drove a double to deep center field, scoring Winn and Church to give St. Louis a 6-4 lead. Wetherholt moved to third on a fielding error by Rockies center fielder Cole Carrigg, and Iván Herrera followed with a single to center to bring him home.

Three runs.

One inning.

Game turned.

For a Cardinals club that has spent too many nights watching late opportunities disappear, this one mattered. They had let Saturday night get away in an 8-6 loss. They had already seen Colorado tie Sunday’s game in the eighth. The wrong kind of inning was sitting there waiting if the Cardinals let it happen.

Instead, Wetherholt changed the story.

St. Louis struck first in the bottom of the first after Colorado grabbed an early lead. Jake McCarthy doubled to open the game and scored on Hunter Goodman’s two-out single, putting the Rockies ahead 1-0.

The Cardinals answered right away.

Wetherholt walked to open the bottom half, Herrera singled, and Alec Burleson walked to load the bases. Jordan Walker then came through with a single to right field, scoring Wetherholt and tying the game at 1-1.

It could have been more. Jimmy Crooks grounded into a double play, and Masyn Winn grounded out to end the inning. Still, the Cardinals had responded quickly, and that mattered on a day when they needed to control the series finale.

Michael McGreevy settled in after the first. He worked around traffic, kept the ball in the yard until the sixth, and gave the Cardinals a chance to build a lead.

St. Louis moved in front in the third.

Herrera opened the inning with a single, and Burleson followed with another base hit. Walker then singled to load the bases, putting Colorado starter Michael Lorenzen in trouble again. Crooks lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Herrera and moving Burleson to third.

Winn followed with a double to deep center, bringing home Burleson and giving the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

It was the kind of offensive inning St. Louis needed: contact, traffic, a sacrifice fly, and a run-scoring extra-base hit. Nothing overly complicated. Just productive baseball.

The Cardinals added another run in the fifth when Burleson drove a ball to right-center for his 19th home run of the season. That made it 4-1 and appeared to give McGreevy a little breathing room.

But Colorado did not go away.

The Rockies got back into the game in the sixth when Willi Castro reached and Brett Sullivan hit a two-run homer to right-center, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 4-3. McGreevy’s day ended after 5.2 innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out four.

It was not dominant, but it was enough to keep the Cardinals in position to win.

Justin Bruihl came in and did exactly what the Cardinals needed. He finished the sixth, worked through the seventh, and gave St. Louis 1.1 scoreless innings. That bridge mattered because the game was still sitting on a one-run margin.

Then came the eighth.

George Soriano entered and immediately found trouble. Goodman, who had already driven in a run in the first, hit a solo home run to left field, tying the game at 4-4. The lead was gone, and Busch Stadium had seen this script before.

This time, the Cardinals rewrote the ending.

Winn singled to start the bottom of the eighth. Church singled behind him. Fermín dropped down the sacrifice bunt. Wetherholt drove the ball to deep center, and Herrera finished the rally with his fourth hit of the day.

That gave the Cardinals a 7-4 lead and put the game in Riley O’Brien’s hands.

O’Brien entered in the ninth and closed it down, recording the final two outs and making sure the Cardinals left Busch Stadium with the series win.

Herrera finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Wetherholt went 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs and two RBIs. Walker had two hits and drove in a run. Winn had two hits and an RBI. Church added two hits and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth. Burleson homered, walked and scored twice.

That is what a lineup is supposed to look like when it is working.

The Cardinals finished with 14 hits and seven runs. More importantly, they did not fold when Colorado tied the game late.

That is the bigger takeaway.

There have been too many games this season where St. Louis has played well enough for seven innings, then watched one bad inning turn the night sour. Sunday had the chance to become another one of those games. The Rockies tied it. The Cardinals had every reason to feel the pressure.

Instead, they answered immediately.

That is how a team wins a series.

It was also a necessary win. The Cardinals entered the day one game under .500 and walked off the field even again. That does not solve everything. It does not erase the inconsistency of the past few weeks. It does not suddenly make the postseason path simple.

But it is better than the alternative.

At this point in the season, the Cardinals do not need style points. They need wins. They need series wins. They need young players producing in big moments. They need games where the offense does not disappear late.

Sunday checked those boxes.

Wetherholt delivered the biggest swing.

Herrera kept hitting.

Burleson added power.

Winn and Church set the table.

The bullpen bent but did not break.

And the Cardinals took care of a series they needed to win.

Cardinals 7, Rockies 4.

That’s a winner.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: JJ Wetherholt, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB