Yelich continues raking vs Cards, walks it off in 9th for 5-4 win
The Brewers got things cracking in the bottom of the 1st in the same fashion as last night, courtesy of a solo blast from none other than Christian Yelich. Yelich greeted Wacha, ripping a high fastball to the upper deck in RF to make it 1-0 Brewers. All this happening after Carp led off the game with a double into RF, getting stranded after Burnes (making first career start) struck out the side, getting the next three in order (Goldy, Cafecíto, Swags). His slider was moving and grooving, and he was super fun to watch.
Both Wacha and Burnes really settled in until the 4th inning, when Burnes let things snowball a bit. After striking out the side the first three innings, Swags reached first on a slow rolling single to Shaw over at 3B. Pauly Deez took Burnes deep the first offering the next at bat, sending a fastball to deep LF to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Wacha settled in nicely himself, grabbing an inning ending double-play in the bottom of the 2nd, getting Piña to ground out 6-4-3 on the play. Wacha really flashed his changeup in the 3rd inning, striking out Braun and Shaw to end the inning. This was one of the best I’ve ever seen Wacha’s change, it was lethal today.
After snagging his 10th strikeout to end the top of the 4th, Burnes picked up where he left off, getting Wacha to strikeout beginning the 5th.
That’s when we started feeling those good vibes.
Carp and Goldy would deliver for back-to-back HRs, both getting sent to the LCF area. Absolute rockets.
Wacha would pitch two more solid innings in the 5th and 6th, walking one, while striking out three. The one walk? To Yelich. How many times did they walk him? Three times. Once intentionally. Wacha flocka would pick up his 6th and 7th k in the 6th, getting Aguilar on a cutter and Pérez on a heater.
Alex Reyes & Andrew Miller would team up for the 7th inning. Reyes would walk Piña upon entering, before striking out Thames (pinch-hitting) on a great fastball at the knees. Reyes would get his final man, getting Cain to fly out to Cafecíto. Shildt turned to his lone lefty, Miller, to face Yelich for the final out. Miller would walk Yelich to bring in Braun, who singled to LF to make it 4-2. It kept piling on. Shaw then miraculously dropped in a bloop single to LF, beating the shift to drive in Yelich to cut it to a 4-3 Cardinals lead. Miller escaped the inning with the lead intact, striking out Aguilar on a fastball.
Miller and Hicks tag-teamed the 8th, Miller getting the first two and Hicks getting the final out, trying to work a four-out save. Miller got Mouse and Pérez to begin the inning, on a fly out and ground out respectively.
Hicks would come in relief, drawing a pinch-hitter, Grandal, who would ground into the shift, rolling one to the right side to KoWo for the final out, Cardinals still leading 4-3.
The only Cardinals hit since the 5th inning came in the 9th, an infield single from KoWo, go figure. KoWo would even swipe a bag while he was at it. Getting drilled in the face from the throw from Grandal, but it wasn’t enough to take him out of the game. Wong would be stranded at second, as Bader and Fowler (pinch-hitting) would each line out.
The ending we all feared happening, happened. Ben Gamel would pinch-hit for Williams in the bottom of the 9th, slicing a double into the LF corner to turn things over to the top of the order and LoCain. Cain proceeded to single on a ball back to Hicks, off his glove, putting runners on the corners for Yelich with nobody out.
What Yelich is doing right now simply is not fair. Yelich slapped a ball into the LF gap, rolling to the warning track before being cut off by a sliding Harrison Bader. Bader would throw in to the cut and the relay home wasn’t enough to get the chugging LoCain, who crossed the plate for the winning run, giving the Crew a 5-4 win and a 3-1 series win to start 2019.
Top 3 Plays:
3.) Wacha’s outing (he deserves better) (6IP, 4 hits, 1r/1er, 4 bb, 7 k)
2.) Carp and Goldy go back-to-back in the 5th to make it 4-1 Cards
1.) Yelich being Yelich, dammit
The Cardinals will travel to Pittsburgh next, the Pirates home opener, for a quick two-game set, getting things kicked off tomorrow afternoon at 12:05pm c/t.
Adam Wainwright will make his 2019 debut vs Chris Archer, a tough task to say the least.
Cheers, Stew
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