Diamondbacks 6, Cardinals 5: #50

That fiftieth win did come at a cost, but we’ll get to that in time. Taijuan Walker started the game for the Diamondbacks and the Cardinals got to him quickly. Matt Carpenter walked to lead off the game and moved to second on a Tony Pham single. Stephen Piscotty moved Carpenter to third on a sac fly to Peralta in foul territory. He scored on a Jedd Gyroko ground out to second. That was the extent of the damage that inning, as Yadier Molina grounded out to end the inning.

In the second, a fan was hit by a line drive foul off the bat of a Cardinal player (I missed who it was). The ball hit him directly in the side of the face, and eventually he walked out of the stadium, presumably to head to the hospital. Without going into detail, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Obviously we all wish him a speedy recovery.

Other than that, both starters were in a groove for the first five innings. Carlos Martinez and Walker both allowed base runners here and there, but they were both able to get out of any of the mild situations they got into. Both offenses broke through in the sixth, however. Walker walked Piscotty and Gyroko to lead off the inning, and then they pulled off a double steal during Molina’s at bat. Molina grounded out softly, allowing Walker to tag him out about half way to first and keeping the runners in place. Paul Dejong hit a sac fly, scoring one run, but, again, Walker would limit the damage there, getting a line out to Goldy to end the inning.

Bottom of the inning marked the fashionably late appearance of the Diamondbacks offense, as usual. Paul Goldschmidt struck out, Lamb walked, Brandon Drury struck out, and Daniel Descalso walked to set the table for Chris Iannetta. He doubled, scoring both runners and tying the game at two.

Then it got ugly. Luke Voit singled to start things off. Carpenter tried to sac bunt him to second, but Iannetta threw it away and the both were safe. Another error allowed Tony Pham to load the bases. This time it was Walker who threw the ball away. Piscotty singled on a ball that ricocheted off Walker, allowing Voit to score. Gyroko hit a sac fly to score Carpenter. Molina hit a single, scoring Pham, with yet another throwing error on the play, this time by Ahmed. That was the end of the line for Walker. He was pulled in favor of Andrew Chafin. Chafin came in, got a strike out and a force out, and ended the inning.

Any other team and any other year, that’s probably the ball game. Lamb singled and went to third on a Drury ground out. Descalso singled him home. Iannetta walked, was replaced by Fuentes as a pinch runner, which brought Nick Ahmed to the plate. He took the count to 1-1, Trevor Rosenthal wound up... and nailed Ahmed in the hand with a 99 MPH fastball. Ahmed was taken from the game, and it was quickly announced that he had a fracture in this throwing hand. No time table was given for his return, but be sure to check out MichaelMcD’s article on our options to replace him on the team.

That did load the bases, after Patrick Corbin replaced him on the basepaths. Chris Hermann pinch hit for Braden Shipley, who had pitched the top of the eighth, and hit what easily could have been a bases clearing double. Instead left fielder Randel Grichuk caught it on a diving catch and turned it into a sac fly, only scoring Descalso. Gregor Blanco struck out, ending the inning.

They moved to the bottom of the ninth. Diamondbacks down by one. David Peralta at the plate, facing their closer, Sueng Hwan Oh. One swing, one trip around the bases. Tie game.

Fernando Rodney pitched a clean top of the tenth, bringing up the bottom of the order. Fuentes got things started with a single. Zack Godley, pinch hitting for Rodney, moved him to second with a sac bunt. That brought Herrmann to the plate. He singled, allowing Fuentes to race home from second, giving the Diamondbacks a thrilling, walk off victory.

A pretty quiet GDT, especially considering the extra inning, with only 444 comments, split between 39 different posters. asteroid lead the way with 68, easily beating Michael by about 20 comments. All present were;

BenSharp, BigSmarty, CardsRepInChile, Cumulus Choir, DORRITO, DbacksSkins, DeadManG, GuruB, Imstillhungry95, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Joey Lewis, Justin27, Keegan Thompson, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, Oldenschoole, Oscar Goldman, PaulGoldsmith, Sean Testerman, Sprankton, TinySarabia, aldma, asteroid, bbtng, cheese1213, coldblueAZ, edbigghead, hotclaws, kilnborn, onedotfive, piratedan7, samath, since_98, smartplays, soco, stlcardsfan4, tommyt_16

Join us again tomorrow for another 6:40 start time, Godly vs. Wainwright. Should be another good one!