Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado speaks with the media on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, after a game vs. the Padres at Busch Stadium. (Video by Ethan Erickson, Post-Dispatch)
For the second time in less than 10 days, Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado delivered a walk-off hit to keep his club’s fading postseason hopes alive as the final month of the season approaches.
Arenado swatted a single back up the middle against San Diego Padres reliever Robert Suarez with two outs in the ninth inning and drove in Masyn Winn for the winning run in a 4-3 Cardinals win in front of an announced crowd of 30,999 on Wednesday night in the third game of a four-game series at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals (66-67) can salvage a series split with a win in Thursday afternoon’s finale.
The Cardinals hit three consecutive two-out singles in the ninth inning to scratch out the win. Winn’s single started it. Then Victor Scott II, who came off the bench as a pinch runner in the seventh inning, singled to bring Arenado to the plate. The Padres had been 50-2 in the 52 games in which Suarez appeared in this season.
Arenado hit a 10th-inning walk-off grand slam to beat the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 21.
The Padres threatened to take the lead against Cardinals All-Star closer Ryan Helsley in the ninth inning with the score tied.
Padres leadoff hitter and former two-time batting champion Luis Arraez started the ninth inning with a double on a slider well below the zone, with an awkward swing and a ball that came within inches of going foul up the left field line.
Instead, Arraez placed the ball perfectly on the chalk for a double to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with no outs. A sacrifice bunt moved pinch runner Tyler Wade, running for Arraez, to third base with just one out.
However, Helsley struck out Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado to strand the runner on third and keep the score tied.
Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 3 for 4 with an RBI, while Luken Baker (1 for 4, double) also drove in a run, as did Brendan Donovan.
Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante allowed two runs on eight hits and two walks in 5â…” innings. He struck out three batters, and he gave up both of his runs in the first inning. Pallante has now pitched five innings or more in 10 of his past 11 starts.
Padres push 2 across early against Pallante
The Padres entered the day with the lowest swing-and-miss rate in the majors (19.9%). Meanwhile, Pallante entered the day with a ground-ball rate of 62.4%. So Pallante’s ability or inability to manipulate and manage the type of contact Padres hitters made figured to be the overarching storyline of the game.
Three of the first four Padres batters of the game singled on well-placed ground balls that made it through the infield. Arraez, Cronenworth and Machado all peppered the turf with singles, and that prompted a mound visit from Cardinals pitching coach Duty Blake after the fourth batter of the day.
Machado’ s single drove in Arraez and gave the Padres a one-run lead.
With runners on first and third after Machado’s single, the Padres executed a double steal that allowed Cronenworth to score from third as Machado drew a throw at second base. Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages’ throw sailed high into center field, leaving both runners safe and the Padres with a two-run lead. Pallante struck out Xander Bogaerts for the second out of the inning, and Jackson Merrill lined out to third baseman Arenado to end the frame.
Cardinals get to Musgrove 2nd time around
Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove turned in three stellar outings since he returned from the injured list on Aug. 12. He allowed just one run on six hits and three walks in those three starts (15â…” innings). He also struck out 16 batters in that stretch. Opponents batted just .118 against Musgrove in those three starts, while he posted a 0.57 ERA.
Winn singled to start the day against Musgrove, but a double play helped Musgrove blitz through the first inning on just four pitches.
The Cardinals didn’t have another hit against Musgrove until Alec Burleson’s fourth-inning single. Musgrove faced the minimum number of batters through the first three innings.
Burleson’s single up the middle was the first of three back-to-back-to-back hits for the Cardinals. Arenado followed Burleson’s single with a grounder into right field. Then Baker whacked an RBI double into left-center field.
Baker gave the Cardinals their fourth hit of the game and their first run. Donovan grounded out and allowed Arenado to score the tying run from third base. Then Goldschmidt lined a go-ahead RBI single up the middle and made it a 3-2 Cardinals advantage.
The Cardinals tallied five hits in the three-run fourth inning.
Musgrove allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk in six innings. He struck out three.
Pallante gets into 6th, can’t finish it
Pallante took the mound having already thrown 90 pitches at the start of the sixth inning, and the Cardinals were clinging to a one-run lead.
The right-hander retired the first two batters of the frame, David Peralta and Kyle Higashioka, on ground balls. Arenado made a diving stop on the first one. Initially, the umpire’s call ruled that Peralta had narrowly beat out Arenado’s throw. Replay review overturned that call.
With two outs, Pallante walked No. 9 hitter Mason McCoy on a 3-2 pitch, and Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol turned to left-hander Matthew Liberatore out of the bullpen to face Arraez.
Liberatore got Arraez to roll an inning-ending grounder to second base, and the Cardinals maintained their one-run edge.
The one-run lead remained intact until Padres catcher Higashioka hit a game-tying solo home run against Cardinals reliever JoJo Romero with two outs in the eighth inning.
Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado speaks with the media on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, after a game vs. the Padres at Busch Stadium. (Video …
Teammates swarm Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado, celebrating his walk-off single in the ninth inning to lift the Cardinals to a 4-3 win over the Padres on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, at Busch Stadium. It was Arenado’s second walk-off hit a week.
Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Helsley celebrates after striking out Padres third baseman Manny Machado to end the top of the ninth inning and preserve the tie on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals would go on to win on a walk-off single by Nolan Arenado in the bottom of the ninth.
Teammates congratulate Cardinals designated hitter Luken Baker, who scored on an RBI single by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead over the Padres on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, at Busch Stadium.