The St. Louis Cardinals have won five series in a row, although they benefited from a notable gift in their latest contest.
Aided by a dropped ball with two outs in the ninth inning, the Cardinals rallied past the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. St. Louis will look to continue its winning ways on Friday when it opens a three-game road series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rookie JJ Wetherholt’s ninth-inning fly ball to deep left-center field was misplayed by Cincinnati’s Dane Myers, allowing Jose Fermin and Masyn Winn to score and give St. Louis a 6-5 lead on Thursday afternoon. The Cardinals tacked on four more runs and escaped with a 10-9 victory over the Reds.
St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol was happy with the resiliency displayed by his team as it bounced back from squandering an early four-run lead.
“I’m going to shower. I’m going to have an adult beverage, and I’m going to get on the plane and not think about that one,” Marmol said. “Because there’s … you can’t. There’s so many things that put us in a position to win. There’s so many things that allowed us to almost give it away.”
St. Louis right fielder Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak to six games on Thursday after homering in his second consecutive contest. He is 11-for-25 (.440) with three home runs and 10 RBIs during the streak.
The Cardinals won three of the five games in the series at Cincinnati, improving to 12-6 over their past 18 games. They reside 2 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres in the race for the third and final National League wild-card spot.
Included in the run of five straight series wins for St. Louis was a three-game set against Philadelphia. The Cardinals dropped a 6-5 decision in the opener on Aug. 8 before outscoring the Phillies by a 9-1 margin over the final two games.
Philadelphia has turned it around since that set, winning a season-high six games in a row to move a campaign-best 12 games over .500.
“It was big for us,” outfielder Brandon Marsh said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, after the Phillies’ 4-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. “Just not been the second half that we’ve really wanted, but we’re still in it, and love where we’re at.”
The Phillies sit five games behind the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves. They also hold down the second wild-card spot.
Luis Arraez belted a two-run homer off his former Miami teammate Sandy Alcantara in the third inning on Wednesday. The homer was the sixth of the season for Arraez and his second since being acquired from the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 3.
The homer drove in Bryce Harper, who, one batter earlier, extended his on-base streak to 23 games with a walk.
Philadelphia left-hander Jesus Luzardo (11-5, 3.23 ERA) will get the start on Friday.
Luzardo, who did not pitch against St. Louis in the Aug. 10-12 series, improved to 8-1 in his past 15 starts after shutting down the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. He struck out nine batters in 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, increasing his total to 28 strikeouts over his past three starts (21 2/3 innings).
Luzardo, 28, is 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA in four career appearances (all starts) vs. the Cardinals.
St. Louis did not announce a starting pitcher for the Friday game.
–Field Level Media
