ST. LOUIS — Matt Carpenter caught a break. Many would say, “Finally.” Hitting under .100 for all of spring training and the regular season, too, Carpenter had struck out a bunch but many of his batted balls had been hard-hit outs.
And he nearly was headed for another heartbreak when, as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning of Thursday’s game, Carpenter’s long drive to right field—of home run distance, certainly—nestled briefly into the glove of leaping Philadelphia right fielder Roman Quinn, who had gone above the wall to make a play. But, suddenly, the ball escaped Quinn’s clutches as he couldn’t control the catch and the ball bounced into the Cardinals’ bullpen where the relievers were ecstatic.
Carpenter, who had been put on notice a week ago by president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 Cardinals lead as he solved Phillies ace Aaron Nola’s knuckle curve. Carpenter’s second homer of the season, the first of which hit the foul pole, merited his second curtain call of the season.
It took a while for the Cardinals to put this game away. After the Phillies tied it with two runs in the seventh, the game went to the 10th where the Cardinals scored the winning run in a 4-3 victory on a wild pitch by David Hale, allowing Tyler O'Neill to score from third.
O'Neill had started the inning at second and advanced to third on Andrew Knizner's groundout before Justin Williams was walked intentionally. Edmundo Sosa was at bat when Hale spiked a breaking ball past catcher J.T. Realmuto.
Lefthander Kwang Hyun pitched around three singles over the first two innings. He struck out Odubel Herrera to freeze two runners in the first. Kim then fanned Nola as the Phillies stranded a runner in the second.
Andrew McCutchen singled off the glove of leaping shortstop Edmundo Sosa to start the inning, McCutchen was forced by Alec Bohm and, after Rhys Hoskins lined to center, Bohm dashed home on J.T. Realmuto’s double to right center for the game’s first run.
The Phillies had six singles and Realmuto’s double through four innings but just that one run as Kim got Nola to hit into a forceout to end the fourth as the Phillies left two more runners.
Philadelphia had five men left at that point.
Nola, who gave up only two hits in a shutout of the Cardinals on April 18 in Philadelphia, gave up his third of the game in the fifth when Knizner dropped a single in front of diving center fielder Herrera, who lost contact with the ball and Knizner made second with a headfirst slide.
Justin Williams fanned for the second out and then Phils manager Joe Girardi tried to force the hand of Cardinals manager Mike Shildt by walking eighth-place hitter Sosa to get Kim out of the game.
Kim was at 84 pitches and may have had one more inning in him so Shildt sent up Carpenter to pinch hit and Carpenter rocked his fourth hit of the season--with a little help from Quinn.
After righthander Jordan Hicks had a spotless Andrew Miller, lefthander Andrew Miller, pitching a seventh inning that would have belonged to Genesis Cabrera but for his dangerous control issues the night before, allowed doubles to Nick Maton and McCutchen before coming out after facing his three hitters. Giovanny Gallegos allowed the game-tying hit to Bohm.
But Gallegos struck out three of the next four hitters he faced before second baseman Tommy Edman dashed into short right field to flag down Quinn’s popup to end the eighth.
Phils reliever Hector Neris hit Cardinals star Nolan Arenado in the upper back with a pitch with two out in the ninth. Shildt, perhaps wondering--loudly-- why Neris wasn't ejected, was ejected himself. And when O'Neill struck out for the fourth time, the game went to the 10th inning, which meant each team would have a runner on second base with nobody out.
The Phillies had veteran extra man Matt Joyce at second in their half and Joyce was thrown out at third, with Arenado making nifty tag after receiving a strong throw from center fielder Dylan Carlson.
