Pozo Delivers Walk-Off Winner as Cardinals Take I-70 Opener from Royals

Cardinal Chronicle
Pozo Delivers Walk-Off Winner as Cardinals Take I-70 Opener from Royals
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

ST. LOUIS — The I-70 Series opened Friday night the way rivalry games ought to open — tight, tense, a little messy, and not settled until somebody finally put a clean swing on the baseball.

That somebody was Yohel Pozo.

Pozo delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals at Busch Stadium and giving the Cardinals the first game of the weekend set against their cross-state rivals.

It was not a clean, comfortable win. It was better than that. It was a grinder.

Kansas City struck first against Dustin May in the fourth inning, taking a 2-0 lead when Carter Jensen drove in a run with an RBI double and Isaac Collins followed with a sacrifice fly. The Cardinals answered immediately in the bottom half when Jordan Walker continued his power surge, launching a two-run home run — his 13th of the season — off former Cardinal Michael Wacha to tie the game at 2-2.

Pedro Pagés gave St. Louis its first lead in the fifth, turning on a Wacha pitch and sending it out for a solo homer that put the Cardinals ahead 3-2. The lead did not hold long. Kansas City tied the game in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Collins, setting up a bullpen battle and a late-inning test for both clubs.

From there, the game settled into the kind of baseball that tests patience — missed chances, defensive plays, and one swing waiting to decide it. Kyle Isbel helped keep the Royals alive in the ninth with a diving catch on Iván Herrera, taking away a potential scoring chance and sending the game toward extra innings.

Kansas City pushed ahead in the 10th when Bobby Witt Jr. delivered a go-ahead RBI double off Ryne Stanek, giving the Royals a 4-3 lead. But the Cardinals answered in the bottom half, with Alec Burleson coming through with a game-tying RBI single against Lucas Erceg to make it 4-4.

Then came the 11th.

Gordon Graceffo gave the Cardinals exactly what they needed, escaping trouble in the top half and keeping the Royals off the board. That set the stage for Pozo, who came through in the bottom of the inning with the walk-off single off Steven Cruz, sending the Cardinals spilling out of the dugout and giving Busch Stadium a Friday night finish worth remembering.

For St. Louis, the win was another example of a young club learning how to stay in games long enough to win them. Walker’s power kept the Cardinals from letting the night get away early. Pagés supplied the go-ahead shot. Burleson answered in the 10th when the Cardinals were down to another pressure moment. Graceffo did the quiet work in the 11th, and Pozo finished it.

That is how winning teams are built — not always with one big star carrying the whole wagon, but with different players taking their turn pulling on the rope.

Here is how the game broke down

Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on Jensen’s RBI double and Collins’ sacrifice fly.

Walker tied it in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer, his 13th of the season.

Pagés put the Cardinals in front 3-2 with a solo home run in the fifth.

The Royals tied it 3-3 in the sixth on Collins’ RBI groundout.

Witt put Kansas City back ahead 4-3 in the 10th with an RBI double.

Burleson tied it in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI single.

Graceffo escaped the 11th, and Pozo walked it off in the bottom half with the game-winning single.

Old School Take

The Cardinals did not steal this one. They earned it.

There are games where the box score tells you who had the biggest swing, and then there are games where the clubhouse learns something about itself. This felt like the second kind. St. Louis trailed early, answered with power, lost the lead in extras, answered again, then won it with a professional piece of hitting from a role player who was ready when the moment found him.

That may not make the national shows, but around here, that still counts. Baseball has always had room for the man who stays ready, takes his turn, and gets the job done. Pozo did that Friday night, and the Cardinals walked away with the opener of the I-70 Series.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.