Pauly Deez walks it off to put an exclamation point on the best game of the season, Cards beat Nats 7-6 in game-one
The Cardinals had a million hits tonight, no literally, it seemed like they had a million hits and still had to walk it off in dramatic fashion to deliver back-to-back tough losses for the Nats.
The Lizard King continued to do Lizard King things this evening, pitching seven strong innings, not getting tagged hard until the 7th inning.
Mikolas retired the Nats in order to begin the evening, striking out Harper on some high ched to end the inning.
Carp and Yadi got things started vs Tommy Milone this evening with a pair of infield hits. Carp bunted a ball perfectly down the 3B line vs the shift and Yadi continued the trend with a swinging bunt on the left-side. Milone would strikeout CafecÃto next on a changeup in the dirt to bring in the singles machine, Swags. And guess what? He did the thing. The singles thing, driving in Carp to give the Cards the early 1-0 lead. Trap House would be hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Bader would fly out to RF to strand them loaded.
The Nats would get the run back in the 2nd with a Ryan Zimmerman RBI double to bring in Rendon, who led the inning off with a single to RF. Wieters would fly out to Bader for the final out, Miles 16th pitch of the inning.
The Lizard King would make an effort to help himself out in the bottom of the 2nd, hitting a one-out double into the LF corner. Milone then walked Carp to bring in Yadi. The non intentional-intentional walk to Carp paid off, as Yadi would ground into an inning ending, 5-4-3, double-play.
Mikolas delivered a 1-2-3 3rd inning, getting two consecutive fly outs to Haaaaaaaarry in CF. Bader would make a nifty play opening the inning against the opposing pitcher, Milone, sliding to his knees unconventionally for the first out. Mikolas ended the inning on his 13th pitch, getting Turner to ground out to Wong.
CafecÃto got things started in the bottom of the 3rd with a base-hit into RF and Swags and Pauly Deez would move him over with two fly outs to Eaton in RF. Trap House would come to the dish with CafecÃto now at 3B and ground out to Murphy to end the inning.
Bryce Harper opened the 4th inning winning a lengthy battle vs the Liz King, sending the 10th pitch curveball over the wall in RCF for a solo HR to put the Nats on top 2-1. Mikolas then retired the next three, ending the frame with a strikeout of Zimmerman, getting him to whiff at a slider.
The Cardinals got the run back in their half of the 4th, opening the inning with a double from the speedster, Haaaaaaaarry Bader. Bader singled back up the middle and hustled around first to turn the should be single into a double. Wong then deposited a single into CF, Harper dekeing Bader on the play to hold him at 3B, but Wong would take 2B on the throw to bring in Mik. Mik would help his own cause, delivering with a sac-fly to Harper to score Bader to make it 2-2. Wong would be stranded at 3B to end the inning, the 6th Redbird runner stranded on base thru 4 innings.
Mikolas would work two consecutive 1-2-3 innings in the 5th and 6th on 24 pitches, picking up his 3rd k on Milone to end the 5th inning.
The Cardinals would hit into two more double plays in their half of the 5th and 6th innings. The 5th inning one hurt the most.
CafecÃto and Swags started the inning with back-to-back singles to bring in Pauly Deez, who would fly out to Soto. Trap House then knocked a single into RF to load the bases for Bader, drawing the end of the line for Tommy Milone.
Milone exited the game lasting 4.1 IP, giving up 10 hits, yet still keeping his team in striking range.
Wander Suero came in to relieve Milone, inducing a huge, 1-2-3, inning ending double-play off the bat of Bader to keep things knotted up.
Mikolas began his 7th inning of work with a leadoff walk to Rendon, bringing up the NL ROY, Juan Soto. Soto would show off his opposite field strength, guiding a HR into the Nats bullpen in LF to give the Nats a 4-2 lead. The King would buckle down to get the next three batters, striking out Zimmerman on a slider for his fourth and final k.
Lizard King’s final line: (7IP, 4 hits, 4r/4er, 1 bb, 4 k’s, 103 pitches, 52 game score)
Tyler Webb got the 8th inning in a two run game with the Nats on top, getting the biggest double-play ball of the season to end the inning. Difo, who took over at 2B in the 7th, walked to open the inning. Eaton would sac him over with a bunt, 2-3 on the play. Turner lined a single into CF, putting runners on the corners for Harper. Pauly Deez would come through clutch, but it wasn’t the last of Pauly Deez tonight, as he dove up the middle to his left to rob Harper of an RBI base-hit, turning the insane 6-3 double-play to end the inning.
The Trap House was open after hours tonight, as Jedd opened the bottom of the 8th with a solo HR off Miller to cut the Nats lead to 4-3. Miller then struck out Bader to bring in Wong, who would connect for a base-hit into CF, forcing the Nats to go the pen, turning to the left-hander Sammy SolÃs.
The Cardinals announced Greg Garcia as their pinch-hitter when Miller was still in the game, and when SolÃs was summoned, Shildt pulled back Garcia to go with Patrick Wisdom. The move paid off, as the Wiz singled into RF to bring in the Leadoff Guy.
With Carp batting, SolÃs delivered a wild pitch to move both runners up into scoring position.
Instead of intentionally walking the NL MVP, SolÃs pitched to Carp and he made him pay, smacking his 33rd HR of the year to LCF to give the Birds the 6-4 lead. PUMP THIS MOMENT INTO MY VEINS.
#scoopdasalsa, folks!!!! It’s real.
Bud Norris would come in to try and close things out, but the closer would struggle. Rendon singled to RF to leadoff the inning and Soto worked a walk to put two runners on with nobody out. Matt Adams would pinch-hit for Holland, popping up into an infield fly rule to Wong.
Daniel Murphy then hit an RBI single into CF, scoring Rendon to make it 6-5 Cards. After a mound visit with Norris, Maddox and Yadi, Wieters would tie the game with a base-hit through the right-side of the infield to make it 6-6. With runners at the corners, Shildt would turn to Dakota Hudson for the final two outs, and the rookie would come through like he’s done it before on this stage.
With the infield in for Difo, Hudson induced a ground out to DeJong, who would look the runner at 3B back. Hudson then retired Eaton on 3 pitches, getting him looking at a curveball to end the inning, preserving the 6-6 tie.
Koda Glover came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th for the Nats, and like every Nats reliever has in the past, would blow the game. At this point, I kinda feel for Nats fans, but I don’t at the same time. Pete Kozma. Okay back to the action.
On the 5th offering from Glover, Pauly Deez would deliver with a walk-off blow, sending a HR into the Nats pen for the 7-6 Cardinals winner!!!!!!
With the win, the Cardinals (64-55) push their win streak to 6 in-a-row and have closed the second WC spot gap to 2 games. The walk-off winner was the 10th for the Cardinals this season, the most in the MLB.
John Gant (4-4, 3.89) gets the ball in game-two tomorrow night and he will be matched up vs the veteran lefty, Gio Gonzalez (7-8, 3.89).
First pitch 7:15 c/t.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
Game 119 is in the books
by Stew/@StewStilez
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