The Cardinals absolutely crumbled in the ninth inning yesterday. There’s no other way to explain how they went from up two with two outs to go for a win, to down four and having to bat in the bottom of the ninth. Closer Ryan Helsley, who was called upon to record a five-out save, suddenly lost his command, and their Gold Glove infielders missed plays they almost always make—the worst of which came when Nolan Arenado, the best defensive third baseman I’ve ever seen, whiffed on a routine bouncing ball that should’ve been an inning-ending double play.
The players, though, are not alone in their culpability for the collapse. Manager Oliver Marmol made several questionable decisions that first set into motion and then exacerbated this series of blunders, which ultimately left his team on the brink of elimination.
First, with one out and nobody on in the sixth inning of a scoreless game, Marmol took out his starting pitcher, lefthander José Quintana, who at the time had allowed two hits and one walk and had thrown only 75 pitches.
