St. Louis Cardinals power their way to a possible post-season spot – MLB News
The St. Louis Cardinals have surprisingly eradicated the once mammoth deficit in the National League Wild Card race and are now just a win away from eliminating Atlanta Braves from contention.
Cardinals came back strongly after giving away a five-run lead to win 13-6 against Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, September 27.
An excellent elevation of form since the initiation of September has helped the challengers wipe-out a 10.5 game deficit. Since August 26, the Cardinals have played a total of 31 games and have faced disappointment in only 9 of them. However, even after
drawing level with the Braves, manager Tony LaRussa is not content. He believes that tying and finishing off are two different things and hopefully a positive result against the Astros on Wednesday, September 28 will see his team through.
What seemed to be unattainable at one stage became inevitable when Allen Craig and Ryan Theriot entered the game.
Craig entered the game in the third inning when left-fielder Matt Holliday experienced increased discomfort in a damaged tendon of his right middle finger. The move proved to be fruitful in the end and Craig ended up scoring three runs in addition to four
RBIs.
Theriot, on the contrary, entered the game as pinch hitter for Skip Schumaker in the seventh inning and was spot-on with his hit; breaking the deadlock at 6-6 and giving the Cardinals a two-run lead with his triple.
Earlier, Schumaker smashed a three-run double in the fourth inning to break his month-long streak of not producing a single RBI. His hit, nonetheless, initiated a spree which then saw the Cardinals add five runs in the fourth inning.
Nick Punto, talking to reporters after the game said, "It's pretty incredible. I remember a team meeting in September where the message was, ‘Let's finish strong, boys. Let's at least give the fans something to come out and watch.' I know it took a lot of
help from Atlanta, but it's pretty special that tomorrow we don't even need to look at the scoreboard."
It will be interesting to see how the Braves react to this performance. With the Braves taking on Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, the Cardinals might be in for what will be remembered as one of the greatest comebacks of all time.
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