Red-hot Cardinals clinch postseason berth
It took a record winning streak longer and unlike any before in club history to get these Cardinals to the place where all Cardinals through history are ultimately measured.
Led as usual by starter Adam Wainwright, the hottest team in baseball coolly claimed their place in the postseason by rallying to defeat Milwaukee, 6-2, on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. The win secured the National League’s second wild-card berth and extended the club record winning streak to 17 consecutive games.
In his 17th season, Wainwright got his 17th win on the night of the 17th consecutive victory because of course he did. It’s been that kind of September.
Bring on October. “There’s no reason to stop now,” Wainwright said.
In the postseason for the third consecutive fall and the 11th time in Wainwright’s tenure with the club, the Cardinals will play either the Dodgers or Giants in a one-game playoff next week in California. The NL West rivals remain engaged in a duel for the division crown, and that peer pressure has pushed both teams beyond 100 wins. The Cardinals’ victory Tuesday eliminated the Cincinnati Reds from the race just six months after the Reds flexed their intent in a season-opening series and three months after the Reds swept the Cardinals at home to accelerate a June spiral. The color of the season changed faster than the leaves.
Their 17th consecutive victory had all the trappings of previous ones: a comeback, a few hits from Paul Goldschmidt, and the exclamation point – a homer from Nolan
Arenado. Harrison Bader caught the final out in center field to set off a celebration at Busch.
The Cardinals snapped a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning when Milwaukee starter Brandon
Woodruff yielded the mound to prepare for the playoffs and an error amplified reliever Jandel Gustave’s early troubles. Goldschmidt greeted Gustave with a double, and he promptly scored to break the tie when Tyler O’neill’s single slipped under the glove of right fielder Avisail Garcia. O’neill dashed for third.
Arenado brought him home with a sacrifice fly for a two-run lead and his 104th RBI of the season. Jose Rondon added a solo homer in the sixth to widen the lead when he pinch-hit for Wainwright, and Arenado punctuated the win with his 34th homer. His laser in the seventh tied the Cardinals’ single-season record for homers by a third baseman.
Add that to the list of records matched or surpassed in this September to remember.
The Cardinals’ winning streak is the longest in the National League in 70 years, and not since 1935 has a team had this long of a winning streak this late in a season.
In what’s likely his last regular-season start of the year at Busch, Wainwright warmed up and walked from the bullpen as gameby-game highlights from the winning streak played on the scoreboard behind him and welcomed fans to Busch.
On a porch out in left field, overlooking the field, Frenchy, visiting from New Orleans, had his canvas set up and swished his paintbrush through a palette that, according to his website, produces “vibrantly colored brushstrokes inspired by rhythms and melodies, giving emotions a shape in real time.”
He was working on a piece featuring Wainwright delivering a pitch.
The righthander had partnered with the Cardinals to offer reduced-priced tickets to the games that would also include a contribution to his charity, Big League Impact.