Dirty Dan Descalso doubled to the wall in right field. Ketel Marte advanced to third base while Daniel Descalso ended up at second base. There was no outs in the eighth inning and the Cardinals were in a major jam.
Enter Trevor Rosenthal.
A.J. Pollock didn't stand a chance. He saw four pitches from Trevor.
Fastball - 95 mph on the black
Fastball - 97 mph on the black
Slider (according to Gameday - might be a changeup) - 84 mph
Changeup - 86 mph
It was beautiful and the crucial first out of the inning.
The second out of the inning was a little more complicated. David Peralta grounded the ball weakly to Kolten Wong. Wong threw the ball home just in time to catch Marte before he could score. The play was looked over and there was some question as to whether Yadier Molina provided a lane for Marte to slide, but ultimately the umpires kept the call and the Cardinals kept their one-run lead.
Rosie then made quick work of incredibly good player Paul Goldschmidt.
— Gif Weaver (@SimulacruMusial) July 29, 2017
The threat was over, but Rosenthal's work was not done yet. Rosie came back out to pitch the ninth, getting J.D. Martinez to fly out and getting Chris Owings and Jake Lamb to strike out. The Cardinals held on to win one run to zero. It was perfect usage of Trevor Rosenthal by Mike Matheny.
Cardinals win probably when Rosenthal entered: 41.0%
— Tyler's Opinion (@Tyler_Opinion) July 29, 2017
Three batters later that was up to 87.1% https://t.co/33Gyilw91J
According to Tango Tiger, with no one out and runners on second and third the run expectancy is 1.94. In a one run game, that is the difference between winning and losing.
Sounds like a pretty good time to use the team's best reliever does it not?
The only run of the game was scored in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hustling down the line was the difference maker in this game. Tommy Pham reached on an error and then advanced to second with a stolen base. Paul DeJong moved Pham over to third on a groundout and then Jedd Gyorko singled him home.
The other story of the game was Michael Wacha. Wacha threw six solid innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts, one walk, and three hits. The game mostly cruised by for Wacha, except for some trouble in the sixth. With two outs and runners on second and third, Wacha was able to escape by throwing a filthy curve to strike out David Peralta.
— Gif Weaver (@SimulacruMusial) July 29, 2017
lil scooter's lil player of the game:
This revered award goes to Trevor Rosenthal for all the reasons mentioned above. Also he is magical.
other notes:
Diamondbacks starter Robbie Ray left the game early after being struck on the head by a 108 mph hit from Luke Voit. Ray was alert as he was carted off the field and was admitted into a local hospital
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I just want someone to look at me the way Alex looks at Carlos pic.twitter.com/agV9t8gC5U
— Gif Weaver (@SimulacruMusial) July 29, 2017 - Everyone thinks I am a dingleberry so here is the recap they wrote in case I went full scooter
- The win expectancy graphs do not embed for me anymore. Check it out here.
Tomorrow Mike Leake squares off against Zack Greinke at 6:15 p.m. CST.