2012 MLB: St. Louis Cardinals make another bid for NLCS – Part 6
As the Washington Nationals made their way back into the National League Division Series with the 2-1 win in Game 4, the St. Louis Cardinals were faced with uncertainty now. They, after all, seemed all set to have a three-game winning streak to clinch the NLDS title.
Cardinals, being the 2011 World Series champion, could not afford elimination. Theirs was an aim to outdo the rivals in Game 5 – no matter what it took. Thus they fought and fought hard to finally secure a resounding 9-7 victory.
Going down initially as the Nationals had six-run lead, it was two-out, two-run single from Daniel Descalso and go-ahead single by none other than Pete Kozma in the ninth inning that won them this round of the playoff.
In any post-season game, this was the largest comeback ever by any team. Six runs were indeed not an ordinary lead. But to reverse that was what the Cardinals had in their mind if they had to defend the World Series championship.
"We knew we had a lot of game left after they scored six. Nobody went up there trying to hit a six-run homer," said Descalso, whose much-needed – and probably highly unanticipated solo shot in the eighth made it 6-5. "We needed to scratch and claw and get ourselves back in the game."
Although the Nationals' Bryce Harper was only the second player to hit a triple and a home-run in a winner-take-all-game, there was nothing that could save the Nationals from this unanticipated defeat and a big one at that.
It was Adam Wainwright two innings that proved to be an easy prey to the Nationals’ batters. He gave up seven hits and surrendered six runs in those two innings as Cardinals were down with 6-0. But they would not easily give up.
"Would have been easy for us to go down 6-0 and sort of roll over and let the crowd take us out of it," Descalso said, "and just let them have the game."
Nonetheless, the Washington Nationals' manager Davey Johnson did not yield to pessimism. His was a note of encouragement for the team that had really fought hard to make it to the post-season games.
"We've had a great year overcoming a lot of hardship," Nationals' manager Davey Johnson said, "and to not go after them at the end was not fun to watch."
The four-run ninth inning reversed the tide for the Cardinals. They had secured a big win here against a tough rival, the Nationals. With the win, they were all set to take on the San Francisco Giants now. A National League Championship Series which did not prove as auspicious as it did in 2011 Major League Baseball.
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