Make it three in a row as the St. Louis Cardinals swept series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 3-2 victory in 14 innings on Sunday.
“I wasn’t looking to hit a single in that at-bat,” smiled Kolten Wong, who delivered a 421-foot homer into the right field seats for the win. “Anytime you can hit a walk-off home run it’s special, but to do it in the fashion we did–three in a row, it’s definitely something big for us. Especially against a team like the Pirates.”
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Wong said he was anticipating the split-fingered fastball from Radhames Liz and looked to use his Mauna Kea bat to drive the ball.
“It might have been my furthest home run hit too with it, so that’s pretty special.”
The three consecutive extra innings for the Cardinals are the first for the team since July 8, 9, and 13th of 2006 against the Houston Astros and the last time St. Louis had three consecutive walk-off wins came September 1-3 of 2000 against the New York Mets.
“Wow, I think that’s all I’ve got–wow,” described Mike Matheny in his post-game press conference. “Love how they just keep playing. Would have liked to obviously seen more offense but we’re getting tougher, that’s for sure. Just love the fight that we’re seeing.”
Miguel Socolovich, who made his St. Louis debut, pitched a scoreless 14th inning for the victory. Michael Wacha threw 6.2 scoreless innings to start the game and was followed by Randy Choate (0.1), Matt Belisle (0.2), Kevin Siegrist (0.1), Trevor Rosenthal (1.0), Mitch Harris (2.0), Sam Tuivailala (2.0), and Socolovich on the mound.
Rosenthal and Tuivailala allowed solo home runs for the Pittsburgh runs.
Peter Bourjos, who is batting .500 (6-12) in his last five games, singled home the tying run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Matt Carpenter hit his team-leading 4th homer of the season in the 4th inning for the initial run of the game.
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
