Greg Garcia hit by pitch, St. Louis Cardinals salvage game with 4-3 win

The St. Louis Cardinals wasted Adam Wainwright‘s start by allowing the Chicago Cubs to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning but salvaged the game with a walk-off win in the 12th inning. With two outs in the ninth inning, all it took was a single to right fielder Joey Butler off the bat of Emilio Bonifacio to drive in Junior Lake and give closer Trevor Rosenthal a blown save.

This is what the Cardinals season is looking like: a struggle to get through game to game each day. Last year, the team was taken for granted. This year, not so much. With Kolten Wong tearing it up in AAA over the past few weeks since being demoted, he’s bound to be recalled by the Cardinals.

In the bottom of the third inning, first baseman Matt Adams took the second pitch he saw and singled to third, driving in left fielder Matt Holliday. This cut the Cubs lead to one run.

With Jon Jay coming in to pinch hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, it meant that Wainwright’s night on the mound was finished. Wainwright finished the night with six innings pitched. He allowed two runs on seven hits. The Georgia native walked one and struck out four. Waino now has a 2.11 ERA on the season.

Matt Carpenter was able to reach base as the result of a throwing error, allowing center fielder Peter Bourjos to score. This tied the game at two runs a piece. Moments later, shortstop Jhonny Peralta singled to left field, driving in Jay. This gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead and put Wainwright in the position to get the win.

Peralta, Adams, and Bourjos all had multi-hit games. Heading into the 11th inning, the Cardinals were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 runners left on base.

Peralta led off the 12th inning with a single–his third hit of the night.

Kevin Siegrist and Carlos Martinez pitched in relief until Rosenthal blew the save. Sam Freeman, promoted from Memphis on Tuesday, was able to get through the top of the tenth inning before being replaced by Pat Neshek in the 11th inning.

Appearing for the fourth consecutive game, Seth Maness pitched the 12th inning and allowed a double with two outs in the inning before walking Anthony Rizzo in order to set up a force out and end the inning.

The Cardinals started out the 12th inning with Peralta reaching on a single, Holliday fouling out, Allen Craig walking, and Molina drawing a walk to load the bases. With one out, Greg Garcia stepped up to bat. Garcia was hit for the third time this season for a walk-off win.

Yadier Molina caught two more victims from behind the plate while Bourjos caught his third base of the season.