Wait Til Next Year
THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Wait Til Next Year
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
PHILADELPHIA — The St. Louis Cardinals were three outs away from avoiding a sweep, taking a road win from one of the National League’s better teams and leaving Philadelphia with something to carry home.
Instead, the ninth inning turned into one of the toughest losses of the season.
The Phillies scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth, erasing a four-run deficit and beating the Cardinals, 6-4, Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. Kyle Schwarber delivered the final blow, completing Philadelphia’s comeback after the Cardinals had carried a 4-0 lead into the last half-inning.
For St. Louis, it was more than another loss. It was the kind of game that changes the tone around a season.
The Cardinals had the game where they wanted it. Kyle Leahy and the bullpen had kept Philadelphia off the board for eight innings, the offense had scratched out runs against Cristopher Sánchez, and St. Louis had a chance to stop the bleeding after dropping the first two games of the series.
Then it all came undone.
Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals an early lead in the first inning, singling to center field to score JJ Wetherholt. Burleson came through again in the fourth, this time singling to right to bring home Jordan Walker and make it 2-0.
José Fermín added to the lead in the fifth with a solo home run to left-center, his sixth of the season, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 advantage. Wetherholt then made it 4-0 in the seventh with a single to right that scored Ramón Urías and moved Pedro Pagés to second.
That should have been enough.
The Cardinals had 10 hits, put together steady traffic and made Sánchez work. The Phillies left-hander lasted 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits while striking out seven. It was not a loud offensive day for St. Louis, but it was effective enough to build a four-run lead.
Leahy gave the Cardinals a strong start and continued his recent run of dependable work. He kept Philadelphia off the board and gave St. Louis the kind of outing it needed after Friday’s extra-inning loss and Saturday’s blowout defeat.
For eight innings, the Cardinals played the kind of game that could have salvaged the series finale.
The ninth erased it.
Philadelphia had done very little all afternoon, but the Phillies did not go quietly. The inning snowballed, the Cardinals could not find the final out soon enough, and the lead disappeared before Schwarber came to the plate with the game tied.
O’Brien, who has been one of the best stories of the Cardinals’ season and entered the week leading the National League in saves, could not stop the rally this time. The Phillies tied the game, kept the inning alive, and Schwarber ended it.
That is a brutal way to lose a game.
It is also a brutal way to leave Philadelphia.
The Cardinals were swept in the three-game series and lost all three games in very different ways. Friday was a gutsy 7-6 loss in 10 innings after St. Louis went ahead in extras. Saturday was a 12-3 rout that got away early. Sunday was the one that should have been theirs, a 4-0 lead handed to the bullpen with three outs to go.
Those are the ones that stay with a team.
The standings will say one loss. The clubhouse will know better.
Burleson drove in two runs, Fermín homered, Wetherholt had two hits and an RBI, and Walker helped set up one of the Cardinals’ early scoring chances. The offense did enough to win. The pitching did enough for eight innings to win.
The finish did not hold.
That has been the difference too often this season. The Cardinals have shown enough talent to stay interesting and enough fight to keep fans from completely walking away. They have also shown why it is so hard to trust them with the season on the line.
There are still games left. Mathematically, there is still a schedule to play. But after a weekend like this in Philadelphia, especially after a blown four-run lead in the ninth inning, the conversation changes.
The Cardinals came into the series needing to show they could stand with a playoff-caliber club.
They left with three losses.
They left with a sweep.
They left with one of the ugliest ninth innings of the season.
Phillies 6, Cardinals 4.
Wait til next year.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies | MLB