St. Louis Cardinals Greg Garcia is mobbed by teammates after taking a walk, resulting in the winning run crossing the plate against the Colorado Rockies in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 30, 2015. St. Louis won the game 9-8. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Jhonny Peralta’s two-run single off Rockies closer John Axford tied the game at 8-8 and with one out and the bases loaded, recent call-up Greg Garcia’s walk scored Kolten Wong as the Cardinals came up with their seventh walk-off win of the season in a 9-8 victory. A game they really had no business winning. However, as we’ve seen so many times, don’t count this team out, because they never quit.
Matt Carpenter, back in the leadoff spot, hit a pair of home runs and went 4 for 5 with four RBI. It was his first career multi-homer game and he has a career-high 12 home runs this season. The Cardinals ended a 22-inning scoring drought when Wong’s groundout scored Carpenter in the first inning. Later, Carpenter’s 423-foot shot to dead center in the second inning gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead and he added his solo shot in the fifth to tie it at 5-5.
Colorado catcher Nick Hundley’s 442-foot home run to left field in the sixth off Seth Maness tied the game at 6-6. The Rockies scored of throwing errors by Kevin Siegrist to snap that tie with two runs in the eighth. Siegrist threw wide of first base on a sacrifice bunt attempt and then on a pickoff move to second base, had a runner dead in the water and threw the ball past Matt Carpenter at third.
The defense looked terrible. Three errors, missing cutoff men, dropping cutoff throws, a very sloppy game. There was also drama.
Things got heated after starter Carlos Martinez hit DJ LeMahieu with a pitch to load the bases in the fifth. LeMahieu had words for Martinez as he walked to first base. When the inning ended, more words were exchanged.
“It wasn’t an accident,” LeMahieu said. “I hit the ball back at him the at-bat before and I guess he thought I tried to hit it back at him or something. I’m not sure, but he was starring me all the way down so I don’t know.”
Martinez also flipped a bird toward the Rockies dugout and later apologized for his actions.
“I’m not going to take emotion out of these guys, but part of our job is to teach them what kind of emotions we should be displaying that are going to help you move forward and help your team move forward. That’s a learning process,” said manager Mike Matheny.
