St. Louis Cardinals Win Series with Nationals
By Steve Ungrey
During the 2013 postseason, St. Louis Cardinals fans were so enthralled by Michael Wacha that they often imitated the noise from the video game “Pac-Man” to show their support.
It seemed like every time he stepped on a pitcher’s mound, fans would yell “wacha wacha wacha” as the pitcher mowed down hitters much the same way Pac-Man ate his dots.
Those days appear to have returned.
Wacha pitched a masterful game Thursday at Nationals Park as the Cardinals scored a 4-1 victory to take the series over the Washington Nationals. Thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals are now 2 1/2 games up on their competition entering a series with the down-on-their-luck Milwaukee Brewers.
Here are some of the highlights from Nationals Park:
*Wacha was dynamite as he fanned six batters over seven innings and dropped his earned run average to 1.33. His only miscue came in the fifth inning, when Nationals outfielder Denard Span‘s RBI single scored the only run of the game for Washington.
*The top of the order dominated for St. Louis. Matt Carpenter and Jason Heyward each came up with two hits; for Heyward, the hits were a welcome sight as they helped raise his average to .213.
*The key was the eighth inning was an RBI double by free-agent acquisition Mark Reynolds that scored Matt Holliday. Reynolds himself came home when the Nationals committed a throwing error.
All told, this was a big series for St. Louis. Many baseball pundits believed Nationals-Cardinals might have been a National League Championship Series preview, let alone a playoff contest.
For the Cardinals to shut down Doug Fister and Max Scherzer in one series is outstanding. The Cards came close to making it a sweep, and if it weren’t for one ill-timed homer by Washington’s Yunel Escobar it may very well have been 3-0 and out.
Not that St. Louis is complaining.
Come back to Redbird Rants this weekend for a preview of the Brewers series and watch for more information at the online one-stop shop for all your St. Louis baseball information.