Baseball History Today: October 12th

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals pulled off a dramatic, extra innings win in last night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was only a year ago, those Cards pulled off not only a win, but a dramatic comeback.

It’s Game 5 of the NLDS as the Cards visit Nationals Park. They send Adam Wainwright to the hill. The Nationals immediately get to him for three runs in the 1st and three more in the 3rd. During the 3rd, Wainwright is pulled after Mike Morse delivers a two-run homer. Entering the 4th, it’s 6-0 Nats.

The Cardinals began to scratch their way back with a run in the 4th, two in the 5th. and single runs in the 7th and 8th. The Nats find their lead whittled down to one run as they come to the plate in the bottom of the 8th.

Adam LaRoche and Morse being the inning with singles off Cards closer Jason Motte. Yes, he entered the game in the 8th. Ian Desmond beat out the back-end of a double play attempt putting runners at first and third. After a foul out, Kurt Suzuki delivers a two-out single, scoring LaRoche and the Nats lead is now two at 7-5.

Davey Johnson turned to his closer Drew Storen to close out the game as Johnson had used closer Tyler Clippard in the 8th.

A leadoff double by Carlos Beltran (surprised?) begins the inning. After Storen retires the next two batters, he issues a pair of walks to load the bases. Still two outs. Only one more and the Nationals will head to the NLCS.

Back in the 8th inning, the single run the Cards plated was from a Daniel Descalso solo shot off Clippard. Not the same result here, but Descalso delivered a game-tying single. Pete Kozma would follow with a single of his own to put the Cardinals ahead, 9-7.

Motte would retire the side in order in the bottom of the 9th and St. Louis was heading to yet another NLCS.

2003 – In his first complete game, Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Beckett allows only two hits and whiffs 11 Chicago Cubs en route to a 4-0 win. It was Beckett’s 51st start overall.

1976 – The Cincinnati Reds would win Game 3 of the NLCS and sweep the Philadelphia Phillies in the process. The Big Red Machine scored seven runs in the final three frames for the 7-6 win. Trailing 6-4 into the bottom of the 9th, George Foster and Johnny Bench clubbed back-to-back home runs and Ken Griffey drove in the winning run with a single.

1963 – MLB holds the only Hispanic American All-Star Game in its history. Rosters feature future Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, and Juan Marichal. In addition, other Latino stars such as Felipe Alou and Tony Oliva participate. The game was held at the Polo Grounds and the National League defeats the AL, 5-2. A pinch-hit single by Manny Mota helps lead the NL to the win.

Notable Birthdays:

Joe Cronin (1906; d.1984)
Tony Kubek (1935)
Sid Fernandez (1962)
Nolan Reimold (1983)

There’s much more baseball history to be found at Baseball Reference’s Bullpen.