2012 final series: St. Louis Cardinals snatch 1-0 win over Reds to brace for Wild Card game
With the win in the second game, the Cincinnati Reds tried, and tried hard, to keep the winning momentum intact, entering into the postseason games. However, it was the St. Louis Cardinals that scored 1-0 win in the finale of three-game series.
Shelby Miller threw six scoreless innings, surrendering only a hit, to pave the excellent 1-0 win for the Cardinals. And with Matt Carpenter’s run scoring single in the eighth, the 2-1 series win was all for the Redbirds.
This was Miller’s first ever Major League start, something that he had to undertake carefully and effectively. So he did. With the win, the Cardinals only were in a further strong and solid position to compete the Detroit Tigers in the Wild Card game.
Although Homer Bailey pitched four strong innings for the Reds, it was Jonathan Broxton who allowed the run in the fourth, and the Cardinals bullpen was too strong to be breached in the latter’s victory.
"I was actually glad the first guy got a hit so we could get that whole mess done with," Bailey said. "I just went out there and tried to get my work in and still keep the competitive feel. The most I was going to go was five (innings). It was almost a tune-up,
but you can't think of it as a tune-up until you are done."
And everyone was all praise for Shelby Miller. "He threw the ball great," Cincinnati third baseman Scott Rolen said. "You could tell by the swings guys were taking, guys were not comfortable up there."
Mike Matheny, the Cardinals manager, was equally happy with the young starter’s performance, calling it a ‘terrific’ game for the pitcher.
After Sam Freeman had pitched a perfect seventh inning, Marc Rzepczynski came in the eighth to maintain the Cardinals 1-0 lead while the Reds batters tried to break the former’s stranglehold, quite in vain, though.
Jason Motte, who already had 41 saves to his credit in the season, had 42nd save here, facilitating the team’s 1-0 classic win to once again make it to the wild card game, a year after they had won the World Series championship by beating the
Texas Rangers.
Interesting to note was the 12 out of the last 16 games that the Cardinals won at a time when initially it seemed a herculean task for the Redbirds to go beyond the regular season.
Although the Reds had already qualified for the National League Division Series, the competition in the three-game series was a treat to watch for the fans, having tremendous excitement for all as Cardinals braced for Wild Card game.
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