The St Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 9-7 in their NL Division Series matchup, and won the series three games to two.
The Cardinals were down 6-0 after three innings, and it looked like their dreams of repeating as World Champions would be extinguished in six innings. Then, a funny thing happened. The Cardinals didn't quit, they kept scoring runs, and they scored four in the ninth inning to complete the comeback and go to yet another NLCS.
Washington got on the board in the first inning, scoring three runs after three players batted. Jayson Werth led off with a double, Bryce Harper tripled him in, and Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run homer. Bam, 3-0 Nationals before Adam Wainwright even recorded an out. In the third, Washington struck with three more runs after a solo homer by Bryce Harper led the inning off and a two-run homer by Michael Morse followed soon after to make the game 6-0 and end Adam Wainwright's evening after he recorded just seven outs.
After Wainwright left, the bleeding stopped. Washington went down in order in the fourth and fifth, and the Cardinals put three runs on the board over those two innings, with the final two in the fifth coming courtesy of a Gio Gonzalez wild pitch and a bases loaded walk to Allen Craig. After a quiet sixth for both teams, the Cardinals tacked another run on the board in the seventh off of Edwin Jackson to make it 6-4, and a Daniel Descalso homer off Tyler Clippard made it 6-5. But the Nationals finally got back on the board, getting an insurance run in the eighth to make it 7-5.
Then, the ninth inning. Washington closer Drew Storen took the hill. Storen missed half the year, and didn't get fully back in gear until September. That showed on Friday night. His outing started with a Carlos Beltran double, and he moved up to third after Matt Holliday grounded out. Storen struck out Allen Craig for the second out, and then the wheels came off. Storen got Yadier Molina to 2-2, and walked him. He got David Freese to 1-2, and walked him, loading the bases for Descalso. The light hitting second baseman singled up the middle on a ball off of Ian Desmond's glove, bringing in two to tie the game at seven. Storen then got ahead of Cardinals rookie shortstop Pete Kozma 0-2, and allowed a two-run single to right, making it 9-7 and finishing the unreal comeback. Jason Motte threw one ball in the ninth while retiring Werth, Harper, and Zimmerman in order, sending the Cardinals to an improbable, amazing victory, and more importantly, a series victory.
St Louis now advances to the NLCS, where they'll take on the San Francisco Giants. The 2011 and 2010 World Champions meeting to represent the NL in the World Series in 2012…imagine that. Anyway, game one of the NLCS will be on Sunday in San Francisco, and will start at 8:00 PM on Fox. Madison Bumgarner will start game one for the Giants, and the Cardinals still haven't announced their starter, though Lance Lynn is listed on ESPN.com, and it would be Chris Carpenter's turn in the rotation.
