Prince Sex sends Cards home with 11th walk off victory of 2018, Waino fans 6, Cards take game-two 5-4, eye sweep tomorrow
Bueno Waino:
We are gonna start this recap off a little differently, I’m gonna dive right into Waino’s afternoon because what he’s been able to do over the course of his last 2 starts (12.1IP, 15 k’s) is incredible.
Waino was pounding the zone early today, working thru the first two frames on 23 pitches, while striking out two (Longoria and Hanson), I bet you can’t guess what pitch was used for the punch outs? I will give you a hint, Uncle Charlie.
Waino would give up a two-out run in the top of the 3rd, which, was kind of frustrating because Chad Fairchild wasn’t helping him calling balls and strikes, but mainly balls that are strikes. If that makes sense. García opened the inning with a leadoff double into LF as Waino bounced back to get Rodríguez and Blanco, who was Waino’s third strikeout victim of the afternoon. Waino looked to have back-to-back punch outs to end the inning facing Panik, but Fairchild wouldn’t give Waino the outside corner on a perfectly placed sinker. Panik made that no call hurt, blooping an RBI singe into CF to make it 1-1.
After retiring Longoria to end the inning, Waino had some words he wanted to say to Fairchild, obviously still upset about the non-call on Panik.
Waino worked his first 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, tossing 14 pitches, while striking out two more, bringing his total to 5. Pence and Shaw would go down back-to-back, Shaw falling at the hands of the Uncle Charlie.
And Uncle Charlie picked up right where he left off in the 5th inning, striking out his third batter in-a-row, getting Hanson to whiff at the classic hook. Waino had a quick inning up his sleeve, stranding García (infield single) after 12 pitches.
Waino had his second 1-2-3 inning in him for his 6th inning, getting the middle of the order. Panik would ground out to Carp, and Longoria and Crawford would both fly out.
Waino’s final inning would come during the 7th, lasting only 6.1, as defense and timely hits ran him from his epic performance, something none of us saw coming, seriously.
Pence singled to RF to open the inning. After Shaw flew out, Hanson would single into LF, taking 2B on a throwing error from Swags, putting runners in scoring position with one away. García then dropped a single into CF, the ball getting past Bader for a fielding error, allowing both runners to come in and score to take the lead 3-2. Rodríguez ended Waino’s afternoon with a singe into LF to bring in the top of the order.
Waino’s final line: (6.1IP, 8 hits, 4r/4er, 0 bb, 6 k’s, 104 pitches)
Dakota Hudson came in relief and worked the next 1.2 innings for the bullpen. Blanco would ground into an RBI fielder’s choice to plate García to make it 4-2 Giants. Hudson stranded two on the bases, ending the inning getting Longoria to pop out to Muñoz.
Before we go any further, let’s now touch up on how the Cards scored their runs.
Cardinals Runs:
The Cardinals would do most their damage on Dereck Rodríguez thru the first 3 innings. The Cardinals would string together 6 hits and plate 2 early runs thru those innings. Get this, Waino not only was masterful on the mound, but he was the reason the Cardinals got on the scoreboard first in this one, ripping a two-out single to LF in the 2nd, scoring Trap House (infield single). Bader would be caught up between 2B and 3B for the final out.
Leadoff Guy led off the 3rd inning, beating the shift with a hit into RF. Cafecíto moved him into scoring position with a grounder to the right side of the infield, bringing in Deez (2-4). Deez planted an RBI single into RF to score Carp to regain the lead at 2-1. Dereck Rodríguez went into straight shutdown mode on the mound his next 3 innings, retiring the side in order all 3 innings on 29 pitches.
But things got interesting again in the bottom of the 7th, with the Cards now down 4-2. Trap House opened the inning drawing huge, and I mean huge, leadoff walk. Yadi then showed off the clutch gene he often flexes in big moments, tying the game up with one swing of the bat, blasting a hanging curve over the LF wall to tie the game at 4-4. I’m sure Pudge was somewhere laughing about this low-key.
Yadi’s blast was the final Cards hit until the bottom of the 10th, as the Giants pen (Dyson, Watson*, and Black) worked perfect innings.
Tsunami, Extra Innings, & Prince Sex for the win:
Carlos Martínez would throw the 9th and 10th inning out of the bullpen, making things real interesting by stranding 5 base runners. García opened the 9th with a single, getting sacrificed over to 2B from Tomlinson. Muñoz then took away a base-hit from Blanco, bringing in Panik, who would get put on 1B freely with the intentional pass. Longoria flew out to deep CF for the final out.
Carlos would strikeout the side in the 10th inning, but not before loading the bases full of Giants. Crawford would go down on a slider to start the inning, Pence reached on an infield single off Carlos, Hernández reached on a two error play from Carp at 1B (fielding error, then throwing error) allowing runners to now be on 2B and 3B with only one away. Carlos dug deep into his bag and got Hanson to whiff at a great changeup. With Hundley at the plate and the pitcher’s spot due up next, the Cards would put Hundley on with an intentional pass to bring is Slater (pinch-hitting). Slater went down looking at a lethal slider to take us to the bottom of the inning.
Melancon came in from the Giants pen, working two quick outs, getting Bader and Muñoz to both fly out to bring in Prince Sex O’Neill. On a 2-2 offering, O’Neill would get a hanging curve, sending it 414 feet to LF for a walk-off bomb. The Cardinals 11th walk off victory of 2018.
Prince pointed his bat directly to the dugout after sending the baseball into orbit, reaching home to get his jersey and undershirt completely ripped off from the Cards mob at the plate. This is something we all wanted to see, and so many amazing jokes can be made from this moment. I get the assumption that he was finally happy to flex in front of the home crowd with no shirt on, something he’s been waiting to do and he worked it into the perfect moment.
The Lizard King (16-4, 3.01) heads to the mound tomorrow afternoon looking to complete the sweep, taking on the left-handed Andrew Suárez* (7-11, 4.24). First pitch 1:15 c/t.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
Game 155 is in the books
Stew/@StewStilez
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