ST. LOUIS — After the Atlanta Braves tied the game late, the game swung without them taking one, and the Cardinals did not stop them from walking away with a win.
Atlanta upended the Cardinals’ lead in the eighth inning against their two leading relievers, turning a tidy game into an absolute mess as the Cardinals lost control of more than the game. The Braves scored six times in the eighth inning for an 8-4 victory Thursday and a series sweep at Busch Stadium.
The four runs that made the difference all scored on bases-loaded walks.
That Braves had the best view as they watched themselves win.
The Cardinals, ministers of silly walks all season, sabotaged a solid start from Wade LeBlanc, one worthy of his first win, and lead they conjured from determined at-bats and some fundamental baseball. Instead of being the example of stick-to-itiveness they’ve sought, the game came unglued. The many cracks in their game letting light and the Braves through.
Atlanta, at 55-54, reached a winning record for the first time this season.
The two-run lead the Cardinals created from a passed ball in the sixth and Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single in the seventh inning vaporized in top of the eighth.
The inning began with two outs, no one on base, and two-run lead. It ended with Atlanta walking away with a four-run lead, the bases loaded, and closer Reyes unable to throw a strike in an inning he did not start. A day after he threw 28 pitches in an inning that lost the game, Giovanny Gallegos returned to handle the eighth and things got rocky fast. A couple of strong defensive plays, including a backhand by Goldschmidt, stole outs for Gallegos before Atlanta started taking hits.
A single by Freddie Freeman beget a game-tying home run from Austin Riley and then a double into the right-field corner from Swanson. The go-ahead run was on base and the game tied, 4-4, when All-Star closer Alex Reyes entered.
His first pitch was a strike.
His 19th pitch was a strike.
In between, he threw one strike.
The Braves took one swing on a pitch from Reyes and yet were able to score three runs against the righthander to send the game sideways. He hit a batter, walked four, and put the Cardinals ever closer to setting a dubious record. The four bases-loaded walks in the inning – three by Reyes – give the Cardinals 25 for the season. That is by far the club record with almost two months of baseball left to play.
The most by a team in a single season since 1974, when the stat could be tracked, was 28 bases-loaded by the 1999 Seattle Mariners.
The Cardinals are within reach of freebie history.
Well, make that three strides.
Of the 480 runs the Cardinals have allowed this season, 5.4 percent have come on bases-loaded walks – quite literally runs given away.
What had been a seesaw game centralized the scoring on the third and fourth innings as Atlanta took a lead, the Cardinals countered with two runs, and the Braves answered to tie it all up again.
Both teams missed delicious chances to break open innings against the starter. LeBlanc walked two consecutive batters with one out in the third inning and Freddie Freeman struck for an RBI single. But the inning fizzled from there. A hard liner to left was caught by a crouching Tyler O’Neill, and a popup to first brought an end to the inning with two runners stranded. The Cardinals had a similar opportunity in the fourth inning, right down to the back-to-back walks.
Toussaint walked two batters to lead off the fourth inning, fired a wild pitch to put a runner in scoring position, and then wiggled free with a double play.
The Cardinals followed Freeman’s RBI single in the third with a game-tying, bat-tossing, straight-strutting homer from catcher Andrew Knizner. Scoring one of his rare starts – though they have increased over the past few weeks – Knizner connected on a pitch from Toussaint and dropped his bat dashingly before walking several strides and breaking into a run. The high, soaring homer, Knizner’s first of the year, carried an estimated 396 feet into the stands and put the tying run on the scoreboard.
Four batters later, Nolan Arenado drove home Dylan Carlson to put the Cardinals ahead 2-1. Both of the RBI hits were stung, but the inning didn’t have staying power.
It wilted on a groundout with two runners on base.
The rallies that ran short offered both sides invitations to keep their starters in a little longer. LeBlanc saw some of his hardest hits of the game during his second time through the lineup. After Joc Pederson tagged a two-strike pitch for a game-tying home run, LeBlanc pressed on for a third time through order – and got better. In the fifth inning, the lefty retired the first three batters of the Braves’ lineup on six pitches. All three batters flew out, but did so with such brevity that LeBlanc hit for himself to lead off the fifth inning.
Touissant bobbed and weaved out of trouble in the third and fourth innings, and yet when tasked with that fifth inning retired the Cardinals in order.
Before Thursday’s series finale, manager Mike Shildt was asked how many of the games winless LeBlanc started for the Cardinals that the lefty could have won. The manager said all of them. In fairness, LeBlanc, who joined the Cardinals as a free agent during their visit to Altanta in mid-June, did not pitch enough innings to qualify for a win in three of his six starts for the Cardinals. He has, however, given the Cardinals exactly what they needed in those starts.
Reliable innings.
Not many walks.
Trust in the defense.
Entering Thursday’s game, LeBlanc had 11 walks in 27 2/3 innings and a 2.93 ERA as a starter for the Cardinals.
“Very steady,” Shildt said. “We didn’t know what we were going to get from start to start in some cases. Wade came in and settled it down, and we had a good month with our starters, and he was a big part of that.”
The early innings of his start Thursday illustrated how he did that. The first three outs he got came in the air, but unlike the two veteran lefties who came before him in the series he did not allow a baserunner, did not have to scramble to survive or suppress an inning. He struck out the first batter of the second inning on a 90-mph fastball and spent most of the game testing the limits of the strike zone with fastballs slower than that. When Dansby Swanson doubled in the second and LeBlanc fellow behind righthanded-hitter Adam Duvall, savvy and confidence took over. He intentionally walked Duvall with one out.
He put two runners on base in the second inning with one out.
He did that to get the better matchup with Pederson.
And he promptly got three outs from two groundballs to end the inning, and Swanson did not advance an inch beyond second base.
The Cardinals got the lead immediately before the bullpen took over for LeBlanc and that put the lefty in line for his first win with the team – until the Cardinals lost the lead and so much else in the eighth.
