St. Louis Cardinals come through in the Clutch

With two outs in the top of the 8th inning, the St. Louis Cardinals were behind 5-4 to the Milwaukee Brewers. The team soon found themselves up 8-5.
Aug 19, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese hits a double to drive in 2 runs in the 8th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Image Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
The Cardinals got on the board in the 1st inning when right fielder Carlos Beltran smashed his 21st home run of the season to right center.

After the Brewers scored in the 3rd inning, Yadier Molina doubled in Allen Craig to retake the lead.

The Brewers homered in the 5th inning and the Cardinals responded in the 6th inning with a 2-run homer from Jon Jay that scored Molina. Jay has been on a tear this past month. This put the Cardinals ahead with a 4-2 lead but that was not going to last long.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Michael Wacha came in to relieve Seth Maness. Wacha’s fielding error allowed Jean Segura to advance to second base on a bunt. Segura would score on Jonathan Lucroy‘s single. After a coaching visit to the mound, Wacha gave him a home run to Aramis Ramirez but was able to get through the rest of the inning.

In the top of the 8th, the Cards needed to score and retake the lead. Molina started the inning off with a single but was erased when Jay grounded into a double play. With two outs, Kolten Wong singled. Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso singled and advanced Wong to second base. Pinch-hitter Matt Adams singled and drove home Wong to tie the game. Matt Carpenter singled during the next at bat and drove in Descalso to take the lead. Carlos Beltran singled to load the bases.

With bases loaded and a 6-5 lead, David Freese came off the bench to pinch hit for Wacha. Freese lined the first pitch, an 81 m.p.h. slider, to left field and drove home both Adams and Carpenter.

Wong notched his first two career hits and went on to swipe two bases. Meanwhile, Molin had a 4-hit night to take him to .334 on the season. He caught up with Chris Johnson before missing out on getting a 5th straight hit on Monday. The Braves were off last night so Johnson stayed at a .335 batting average.

In 5.1 innings, Shelby Miller allowed 5 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and struck out 8 batters. Maness relieved him to flawlessly finish the 6th inning. It was Wacha who came in and allowed 3 runs to score, giving Miller a no-decision. Wacha was the pitcher of record in the 8th inning and got the win after blowing the save. Kevin Siegrist pitched a perfect 7th inning and Edward Mujica came in for the 9th to get his 32nd save of the season.