St. Louis Cardinals make up for disastrous defensive inning in comeback victory

All season long, the St. Louis Cardinals have been the best defensive team in baseball. Entering Saturday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cardinals led the league in Outs Above Average and fielding percentage, and they were in the top five in Defensive Runs Saved.

What has been the best aspect of the team in the first third of the season fell apart late in the game, however. In the top of the eighth inning, right fielder Jordan Walker misplayed a line drive by Josh Naylor to right. The ball scooted past Walker, and Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suarez came around to score on Naylor's triple.

Two batters later, former Cardinal Randal Grichuk hit a pop fly to shallow right field. Victor Scott II, Jordan Walker, and Brendan Donovan all converged on the ball only to see it drop between the three of them. Josh Naylor came around to score and give Arizona the lead.

Before the Cardinals' defense crumbled in the top of the eighth, Jordan Walker became the hero of the game. Walker doubled to left-center field to score Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado and give the Cardinals the 3-1 lead after a pitching duel for the first seven innings of the game. Walker would eventually come around to score and cushion the lead. Evidently, the cushion wasn't enough.

The Cardinals headed into the bottom of the eighth inning down 5-4. The club could have rolled over and given up. Not this bunch.

In the bottom of the eighth, Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson reached base thanks to a walk and a double, respectively. Arenado would sacrifice himself to score Herrera and tie the game at 5-5. It was only serendipitous that Jordan Walker would come to the plate with two outs, a runner on third, and a tie game.

Walker singled to center field to score Burly and give the Cardinals and closer Ryan Helsley a 6-5 lead heading into the ninth inning.

Helsley, just one day after giving up a two-run home run to make Friday night's game even more nerve-racking, didn't make his job very easy. Hels allowed two runners to reach base, and it took him 31 pitches to close out the ninth. Thanks to some nifty defense by Nolan Arenado and a couple of strikeouts, Helsley was able to finish the game and hand the Cardinals their sixth series win in the last seven.

The Cardinals' defense has been stout all year, but it failed them on Saturday afternoon. Fans were given mild whiplash, but the offensive heroics of Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson saved the game for the Redbirds and their fans.

Starter Matthew Liberatore did his best to hold serve against veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly. Libby pitched seven innings of one-run ball to go with four strikeouts and zero walks. The Cardinals supported him with just one run.

Arizona is in town for one more game on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals will look to sweep the D-Backs and inch closer to first place in the National League Central. First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 1:15 P.M.