Cardinals take game 2 on Wong’s walk-off, series tied 1-1

Sunday it was the St. Louis Cardinals’ turn to get lucky in the NLCS. They were lucky that their second baseman Kolten Wong can hit the ball and hit it hard.

Oct 12, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong hits the game-winning solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the 9th inning in game two of the 2014 NLCS playoff baseball game at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Something he proved  he could do with his dramatic walk-off home run to save the game for closer Trevor Rosenthal, who allowed the San Francisco Giants’ to score the tying run in the top of the ninth inning.

Prior to Wong’s ninth inning heroics there was the rest of the baseball game. The Cardinals started off the scoring in the bottom of the third inning with a solo shot to right off the bat of Matt Carpenter.

Cardinals’ starert Lance Lynn cruised through the top of the fourth and in the bottom of the inning the Cardinals added a run to make it 2-0. Randal Grichuk singled on a line drive to center, plating Matt Adams who drawn a walk off of Giants’ starter Jake Peavy to lead off the inning.

The Giants answered back in the top of the fifth, getting their first run of the game on a one out RBI ground out by Joaquin Arias that scored Brandon Belt from third.

San Francisco tied the game at two runs a piece in the sixth on a single by Hunter Pence that scored Pablo Sandoval who had reached base on a ground rule double that bounced over the left field fence.

Even though the Cardinals were victorious they were handed a big blow in the bottom of the sixth when aruguably the leagues’ best catcher, six-time All-Star Yadier Molina was forced to leave the game with an oblique strain. He will definitely be out for the rest of the series.

It makes sense that Molina may have been playing through the pain in the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers because after the series the Orioles added catcher A.J. Pierzynski to their postseason roster and dropped LHP Sam Freeman. They were carrying three catchers and must have known that being without Molina could have been a possibility.

Molina was replaced as catcher by Tony Cruz to start the seventh. The Giants went ahead on a single from Gregor Blanco that scored Brandon Crawford.

The Cards retied the game on a solo homer off of the Giants’ Jeremy Affeldt in the bottom of the seven and the game was stuck at four all.

Tied going into the bottom of the eighth the Cardinals went ahead with a solo-shot by Adams this time off of Giants pitcher Hunters Strickland.

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Of course there was much more drama to be had before the game was over. In the top of the ninth Trevor Rosenthal came in to close the game out for the Cardinals. With two outs Rosenthal gave up back to back singles to Andrew Susac and Juan Perez and a walk to Joe Panik. Rosenthal then threw a wild pitch that allowed pinch-runner Matt Duffy to score a run and tie the game yet again.

Going into the bottom of the ninth everyone (except Kolten Wong) was thinking this could go into extra innings. Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy brought in former closer turned late inning reliever Sergio Romo to face Kolten Wong to lead off the inning. Wong took a strike on an 89 mph sinker from Romo. On Romo’s second pitch, an 84 mph change-up, Wong swung and smashed the ball into the right field stands.

Then the Cardinals took to the field for a well-deserved celebration winning the game by the score of 5-4.

The Postseason action continues Monday with the game three of the American League Division Series at 8:00 pm ET on TBS.