3. April 17, 2005, Cardinals 3, Brewers 2. Rolen’s Cardinals were at Miller Park trailing the Brewers 2-0 when Rolen’s fourth-inning single scored Albert Pujols. Two innings later, with Pujols at first, Rolen lined a double over the head of center fielder Brady Clark, allowing Pujols to score the tying run on Clark’s throwing error.
The game remained tied into the ninth, by which time Mike Adams had taken over as Milwaukee’s pitcher. After Pujols was retired on a fly ball to the center field track, Rolen took a first pitch ball and then turned on a fastball, sending it into the left field seats.
When Jason isringhausen held Milwaukee scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, St. Louis had a 3-2 victory, Rolen having been responsible for all three runs. Win Probability Added: +0.634.
2. June 16, 2009, Blue Jays 8, Phillies 3. Having come to Toronto in a 2008 trade, Rolen twice delivered against his old team at Citizens Bank Park. The Jays trailed 3-2 entering the ninth inning when Rolen followed Vernon Wells’ base hit with one of his own. That hit led to the tying run on a Lyle Overbay one-out walk, and sent the game into extra innings.
In the 10th, Rolen struck the coup de grace, a line single that scored Wells with the go-ahead run. A double, two more walks and a sacrifice fly later, the Jays had produced a five-run inning to wrap up the 8-3 come-from-behind victory. Win Probability Added: +0.636.
1. May 23, 2003, Cardinals 10, Pirates 8. In his first full season with the Cardinals following his midseason trade one year earlier, Rolen had done nothing through seven innings of a game the Cardinals trailed 7-2. Finally in the eighth, his base hit advanced Albert Pujols, who had previously singled, and Tino Martinez made both hits count with a three-run home run.
But Martinez’s home run only brought the Cardinals within two runs, and with just one inning remaining. There were two out with Pujols and Fernando Vina on base when Rolen came up as his team’s last hope. It was a case of hope fulfilled as he launched a three-run home run into the right field seats for an 8-7 lead. Win Probability Added: +0.647.