The Philadelphia Phillies shocked the St. Louis Cardinals with a ninth-inning comeback in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series Friday afternoon in St. Louis. It was 2-0 Cardinals en route to ninth place but would end in a 6-3 Phillies win.
That’s how it went.
Helsley fails in the Phillies’ furious comeback
The Phillies’ offense was completely strikeless most of the time. Before the ninth inning, Alec Bohm’s double to open the fifth inning was their biggest scoring threat, and he was helpless at third base. It seemed elemental that Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley would end things in the ninth inning because the Phillies really hadn’t given anyone reason to believe they had a rally in them.
And yet what a rally it was.
Rhys Hoskins led the inning with a strikeout, but then the rally began. JT Realmuto singled out followed by walks to Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos.
As those two at-bats progressed, it became clear that Helsley had lost command, especially with his three-digit fastball. He was recently dealing with a middle finger problem on his throwing hand, so it’s possible that was at least part of the problem. He stayed in the game and hit Boehm with a pitch to put a run home. With a 2-1 lead, the Cardinals had no choice but to remove Helsley.
Rookie Andre Pallante came into play and Jean Segura found a way through infield.
Segura had the most regular-season games without a playoff appearance among active players prior to this game. Quite a thrill for his first, huh?
The Phillies would schedule three more runs.
It was a six-run ninth run, though he had zero runs in the first eight innings. Ridiculous and amazing here on day one of the playoffs.
Yepez looked like a hero
Rookie Juan Yepez batted for Corey Dickerson against Phillies left Jose Alvarado at the bottom of seventh place and came through in first place of his playoff career:
The two-run shot was the first go-ahead homer in Cardinals history with a pinch hit. It was also a bit of a “relief” moment for the Cardinals, as missed opportunities had been the issue in the previously scoreless game up to that point.
Nolan Arenado flew to deep left center down in the fourth. It looked like a home run right off the bat and Arenado reacted like he thought it was gone after ending with a 388-foot off. It was very well hit and carried an expected batting average of .840.
Then, at the end of the sixth, Albert Pujols came up with two on and no out and landed in a double play. He’s the career leader in doubles games, but he also has a lot of RBI on the dossier, so it felt like a big moment for the Phillies at the time.
Instead, Yepez came through looking like the hero…until the ninth.
Quintana deals for Cardinals, again
Jose Quintana was traded from the Pirates to the Cardinals before the deadline and he wasn’t exactly the hottest signing, but he was a real eye-catcher. He made 12 starts with the Cardinals and never once conceded more than two runs. He gave up just three heats total in his last six starts, and when he returned to his time with the Pirates, he had a 1.67 ERA in his last 14 starts.
He went 5 1/3 innings on Friday, allowing only two singles and a walk. He hit only three, but he made weak contact all day and kept the ball on the ground, scoring six groundouts. In the immortal words of The Dude, the damn “Quintana, that creep can roll, man.”
Wheeler too
Not to be outdone, Phillies starter Zack Wheeler threw 6 1/3 scoreless frames and also only allowed two singles. He actually gave up some tough contacts but was the beneficiary of a good batted ball fortune. All in all, it was a great, hands-on excursion. He put his team in a position to win the ball game despite lackluster offense and that’s all you can ask of a starter.
The ninth inning on offense will justifiably grab the headlines, but let’s not forget Wheeler’s work. He played a big part in that victory.
The cardinals held a small rally in the ninth
The Cardinals were able to hit a run and then put Yadier Molina on the plate with two runners, meaning he represented the tie run with two outs. Phillies supporter Zach Eflin punched him to end the threat.
Molina went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in the game. He hit .214/.233/.302 during the regular season.
Next: Game 2 Saturday
They will repeat it Saturday night in St. Louis with a local start time of 7:37, which is 8:37 ET and the last game of the day. The scheduled starting pitchers are Aaron Nola (11-13, 3.25) for the Phillies and Miles Mikolas (12-13, 3.29) for the Cardinals.
A Phillies win means they face the Braves in the NLDS, beginning Tuesday in Atlanta. A Cardinals win keeps them alive and provides the entertainment of a Game 3 on Sunday.