Cards Survive Late Rally by D-backs, win 5-4 in Extras

The Cardinals started a four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night, starting Carlos Martinez across from Jon Duplantier. Duplantier was roughed up a bit in his four and two-thirds innings of work, giving up four earned runs, including two off of a Tyler O’Neill home run that was estimated at 451 feet. Martinez brought a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but the wheels came off as he put three runners on base and the bullpen struggled to salvage the inning until Ryan Helsley got out of a jam with the bases loaded and no outs. The D-backs would eventually tie the game with a couple of hits off Giovanny Gallegos, but Yadier Molina knocked in what ended up being the game-winning run in the top of the tenth inning as the Cards held off Arizona to secure the win.

1st Inning

Tommy Edman struck out swinging on an 0-2 fastball to start the game. Dylan Carlson flew a first-pitch four-seamer to left for the second out. Paul Goldschmidt struck out swinging at a 2-2 curveball, but the pitch got away from Stephen Vogt and his throw to first was wide, allowing Goldshmidt to reach. Nolan Arenado was unable to capitalize, however, as he grounded out to third on a nice play by Eduardo Escobar to rob the hit and end the inning.

Josh Rojas hit a soft grounder to Edman on a 1-1 fastball for the first out. Ketel Marte froze on a 1-2 slider and went down looking. Eduardo Escobar worked a full count and scorched a line drive straight at Edman in the shift for the final out of the first.

2nd Inning

Yadier Molina dropped a 3-1 fastball into center for a leadoff hit. Tyler O’Neill, fresh off the IL, absolutely launched a two-run bomb to dead center to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.

Edmundo Sosa followed the home run with a groundout to third on a 1-0 curveball. Justin Williams topped a 1-1 changeup for a groundout to first for the second out. Martinez kept the inning alive with a single to center on a low 1-1 fastball. Edman continued the inning, taking a 2-2 curveball the other way for another hit. Carlson took a 3-2 fastball low and outside to load the bases. Goldschmidt drew an RBI walk on four pitches, scoring Martinez to extend the lead to 3-0 for the Cardinals. Arenado fell behind in the count 0-2 before flying out to center to leave the bases loaded.

David Peralta led off the bottom of the inning with a strikeout looking at a 1-2 changeup. Pavin Smith also went down on strikes, swinging through a 1-2 cutter. Josh Reddick grounded a 1-2 changeup to second, resulting in two clean innings from Martinez.

3rd Inning

Molina led off again in the third and popped an 0-1 curveball to left for the first out. O’Neill struck out swinging at a curveball and Sosa grounded out to second on a 1-1 fastball to retire the Cards in the third.

Nick Ahmed went down swinging at a changeup for the first out in the bottom of the inning and Vogt and Duplantier both went down swinging at sliders as Martinez struck out the side.

4th Inning

Williams tapped a first-pitch curveball back to Duplantier for the first out in the fourth. Martinez went down swinging at another curveball. Edman then grounded a changeup to first for another quiet inning from St. Louis.

Rojas walked on five pitches to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Marte grounded out softly to second as the only play was to first for the first out. Escobar, with a runner on second and one out, hit a groundball to Arenado who was able to place the tag on Rojas for the second out as he tried to advance to third. Peralta grounded out to Edman, who made a nice sliding stop and threw to second to get the lead runner for the final out of the inning.

5th Inning

Carlson started the fifth with a flyout to left on an 0-1 fastball. Goldschmidt took the eighth pitch in his at-bat down the right field line for a one-out double. Arenado followed with another double, this time to the left field corner to score Goldschmidt and bring the score to 4-0.

Yadi broke his bat but still smoked a 2-0 fastball to short where it ate up Ahmed, allowing Yadi to reach. O’Neill chased a curveball out of the zone for a swinging strikeout and out number two. Sosa got hit by a first-pitch fastball for his eighth hit-by-pitch on the season, prompting a pitching change from the D-backs. Caleb Smith replaced Duplantier and got Williams to wave at a 1-2 slider above the zone to strand the bases loaded.

Pavin Smith grounded out to first on a 1-2 changeup. Reddick followed with another groundout to first, this time on a 1-1 cutter. Ahmed then skied a 1-2 fastball to right to send the game to the sixth.

6th Inning

Martinez struck out looking at a fastball that caught the corner. Edman popped out on a first-pitch fastball for the second out and Carlson flew out to deep right as the Cards went down in order in the sixth.

Vogt lifted a 1-0 cutter to left where it was caught by O’Neill for the first out. Caleb Smith took an 0-1 fastball to the arm for a free base. Rojas lined out sharply to Arenado and Smith was caught off the bag as the Cards turned two to end the inning.

7th Inning

Goldschmidt struck out chasing a slider in the dirt for out number one. Arenado then singled to deep right on a 1-1 changeup. Yadi and O’Neill both went down swinging on a slider and a fastball, respectively, sending the game to the bottom of the seventh.

Marte dropped a line drive into left field on an 0-1 fastball for the Diamondbacks’ first hit on the evening. Escobar lined a 2-1 pitch to right for another hit as Marte moved to third. Peralta, with runners on the corners and no outs, smoked a ball that bounced on the warning track and up to a fan who deflected it, resulting in an RBI double to bring the score to 4-1 and put runners on second and third, still with no outs. Genesis Cabrera then replaced Martinez and was welcomed with a leadoff double by Pavin Smith to close the deficit to 4-3.

Reddick reached with a groundball through the right side for another hit, placing runners at the corners. Ahmed then walked on four pitches to load the bases, still with no outs. Carson Kelly pinch hit for Vogt, prompting Mike Shildt to go to the bullpen again to bring in Ryan Helsley. Kelly went down on three pitches, swinging through a breaking pitch for the first out. Andrew Young pinch hit in the pitcher’s spot and struck out chasing ball four. Rojas jumped on a first-pitch fastball, grounding it to Edman for the final out of the inning as Helsley got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam to successfully preserve the lead for St. Louis.

8th Inning

Taylor Clarke started the eighth for Arizona and retired Sosa on a flyout to right field. Williams chopped a 2-0 fastball to short for the second out. Matt Carpenter pinch hit for Helsley and went down looking, frozen by a fastball.

Giovanny Gallegos got the call to pitch the bottom of the eighth and gave up an infield single to the speedy Marte. Escobar followed and went down swinging at an elevated fastball. Peralta skied a 2-2 fastball to Carlson in center for the second out. Smith got a hold of a high fastball just above the strike zone and ripped it off the wall in left-center, scoring Marte to tie the game at 4-4.

Smith advanced to third on a ball that got away from Yadi during Reddick’s at-bat. Reddick then struck out chasing a high fastball, sending the game to the ninth.

9th Inning

Edman popped out to second on a 1-1 fastball for the first out of the ninth. Carlson got on top of a 1-0 fastball and grounded it to second for out number two. Goldschmidt flew out to the warning track in right for the final out.

Alex Reyes pitched the ninth for the Cardinals and got Ahmed to ground out to third to start the bottom half of the frame. Kelly went down waving at a fastball above the zone for the second out. Domingo Leyba pinch hit for Soria and drew a walk on a 3-2 fastball. Tim Locastro pinch ran for Leyba and stole second on the 1-2 pitch to Rojas, who grounded out to Sosa for the final out to put the game into extra innings.

10th Inning

Stefan Crichton came in to pitch the tenth for the D-backs as Goldschmidt started on second for the Cards. Arenado grounded out to short on a 3-2 sinker, failing to move Goldschmidt over. Yadi doubled into the left field corner to knock Goldschmidt in and put the Cards back on top with a 5-4 lead.

O’Neill grounded out to short as Yadi was off with the pitch and took third base. Sosa grounded out to short as well to end the top of the frame.

Daniel Ponce de Leon looked to secure the save for St. Louis and Rojas started the inning at second for Arizona. Lane Thomas also replaced O’Neill in left on a double switch. Marte flew out to left a deep fly ball that Rojas failed to tag up on. Escobar then lined out softly to Arenado for the second out. Peralta grounded out to Sosa to bring the game to a close with a final score of 5-4 in favor of the Cardinals.

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The Cardinals move up to 28-22 on the season while the Diamondbacks drop to 18-33 with their eleventh straight loss. The series continues on Friday, with Johan Oviedo slated to start against former San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner. Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 8:40 PM CT.

Final Pitching Lines

Cardinals

Martinez: 6 IP / 3 H / 3 R / 3 ER / 1 BB / 6 K / 0 HR

Cabrera: 0 IP / 2 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 1 BB / 0 K / 0 HR

Helsley (H, 3): 1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 2 K / 0 HR

Gallegos (BS, 3): 1 IP / 2 H / 1 R / 1 ER / 0 BB / 2 K / 0 HR

Reyes (W, 3-1): 1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 1 BB / 1 K / 0 HR

Ponce de Leon (S, 1): 1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 0 K / 0 HR

Diamondbacks

Duplantier: 4.2 IP / 7 H / 4 R / 4 ER / 2 BB / 5 K / 1 HR

Smith, C: 2.1 IP / 1 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 5 K / 0 HR

Clarke: 1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 1 K / 0 HR

Soria: 1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 0 K / 0 HR

Chrichton (L, 0-4): 1 IP / 1 H / 1 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 0 K / 0 HR