Diamondbacks suffer heartbreak, swept by Cardinals
By Kyle Jacobs
May 27, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jason Heyward (22) runs the bases after hitting a game tying solo home run off of Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Brad Ziegler (29) during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Diamondbacks 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Diamondbacks traveled to St. Louis looking to continue their hot streak but were halted abruptly by the Cardinals, who ended up sweeping the three game set. Two of the three games were decided in walk-off fashion by the home town Cards.
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Game One:
St. Louis tallied the first run of the series quickly when Matt Adams grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Kolten Wong in the bottom of the first inning.
The Cardinals went right back to work in the fourth inning. A opposite field single from Jason Heyward scored Adams to bring the score to 2-0.
Arizona was struggling to find answers until Mark Trumbo stepped to the plate in the 8th inning. With Ender Inciarte on base, Trumbo blasted his seventh home run of the season to tie the game at 2.
The game would move to extra innings and in the 10th, Jhonny Peralta would prove to be the hero. Peralta cranked a fly ball to left field that just reached the fans sitting in the first row.
Peralta’s walk-off sent the Busch Stadium crowd into a frenzy and the Cardinals would take the series opener by a score of 3-2.
Game Two:
The Diamondback offense got off to a much better start in the second game of the series.
With two outs in the top of the first inning, Yasmany Tomas started the party with a double to left field that would score Trumbo and A.J. Pollock.
The Cards countered with an offensive explosion of their own in the first. Matt Holliday ripped a single up the middle that would allow Wong to score.
Peralta followed with a double in the gap that would score Matt Carpenter and Holliday to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead.
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Peralta would cross home plate thanks to a Yadier Molina groundout to 3rd base before the D-Backs would finally get out of the opening inning.
Arizona’s Nick Ahmed quickly cut the deficit to one after cracking his 3rd home run of the season in the top frame of the second.
However, the Cardinals continued to push back when Randal Grichuk fired away the fifth home run of his career to give St. Louis a 5-3 lead.
Tomas earned his 3rd RBI of the game in the top of the third inning with a double that scored Pollock. Once again, the D-Backs cut the lead back to one run.
The 23 year old Grichuk would deliver again in the 4th scoring Heyward on a single to left to put the score at 6-4 in favor of the Cards.
From there, both bullpens would shut down any chances for more runs.
Arizona was able to load the bases in the 7th and advance runners to 2nd and 3rd base in the 9th but St. Louis got out of both jams without any damage.
The Cardinals would take game two, 6-4.
Game Three:
The first inning fireworks continued in the series finale when Wong zinged a lead-off homer to right field.
The Cardinals would tack on another run in the 2nd when Mark Reynolds singled to center to score Molina.
Trumbo drew first blood for the Arizona offense after blasting a solo shot in the fourth inning making the score 2-1.
In the sixth inning, the D-Backs would rally to grab the lead when David Peralta entered in a pinch-hit situation for the pitcher, Josh Collmenter.
Peralta knocked a base hit to right that scored Cliff Pennington. On Peralta’s hit, Heyward misplayed the ball and after the first bounce, the ball went right past the right fielder. This allowed Nick Ahmed to score and give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead.
Arizona held the lead going into the 9th, Brad Ziegler got the nod to lock up the game and avoid being swept.
Jason Heyward lead off the 9th with a chance to redeem his error from the sixth inning. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Heyward delivered. The southpaw hit a line drive homer down the right field line to tie the game at 3-3.
Following the home run, St. Louis would proceed to load the bases with only one out and Jhonny Peralta at the plate again to provide more heroics.
Peralta would hit a sharp grounder to Tomas at third base. Tomas threw home for the force out but after catcher, Jordan Pacheco recorded the out at home, he turned to throw out Peralta at first. In the process of throwing over to first, Peter Bourjos slid into Pacheco’s leg. Bourjos sliding into Pacheco’s leg resulted in the cather’s throw to first going off-line and ending up in right field.
This enabled Matt Carpenter to turn the corner at third and score the game-winning run to secure the sweep for St. Louis with a 4-3 victory.
The D-Backs will get Thursday off before returning to action in Milwaukee where they will try to rebound against the Brewers.
A few notable performances from some of the D-Back hitters in the series at St. Louis include:
-Yasmany Tomas: 6-14 with 3 RBI’s
-Mark Trumbo: 2 HR’s, 2 RBI’s
-A.J. Pollock: 4-8 (.500)