Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cards strike early, deck Padres
SAN DIEGO — Given a chance to catch their breath after a crazy month and a half, the St. Louis Cardinals settled into the playoffs with yet another win against the San Diego Padres.
Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run during a four-run first inning, St. Louis’ bullpen held strong after starter Kwang Hyun Kim stumbled in his playoff debut, and the Cardinals ruined the Padres’ long-awaited return to the playoffs with a 7-4 victory Wednesday in the opener of their National League wild-card series.
The Cardinals got a welcome two days off before this series began. The rest came after a season-closing grind that saw them play 53 games in 44 days, including 11 doubleheaders, with only two days off. The team had its season suspended for 14 games from late July to mid-August after 10 players and eight staff members tested positive for covid-19 and had to scramble to fit in the makeups.
“It was nice. We needed them,” Goldschmidt said. “The whole last whatever, 45 days, we were playing every day, guys were playing as hard as they could but can’t operate at 100% for that long. It was nice to kind of recharge and be 100%, or close to it, and just be ready to go.”
The Cardinals need one more win to eliminate the Padres from the postseason for the fourth time since 1996. They swept the Padres in the NL division series in 1996 and 2005, and won 3-1 in 2006, which was the last time San Diego made the postseason. Game 2 is today.
Right-hander Chris Paddack (0-1) failed to give the Padres the boost they desperately needed after Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet were left off the wildcard roster due to injuries suffered in their final regular-season starts.
Paddack lasted only 21/3 innings and gave up six runs.
After retiring leadoff batter Kolten Wong, Paddack allowed the next five batters to reach. San Diego native Tommy Edman singled and Goldschmidt homered to left. Dylan Carlson doubled, 38-year-old Yadier Molina hit an RBI single and Paul DeJong doubled before Matt Carpenter hit a sacrifice fly.
“We didn’t come out and say we needed to be aggressive, I just think guys were ready to hit,” Goldschmidt said. “He threw what, 10 strikes to start the game, so it wasn’t like we were swinging at stuff out of the zone. It just happened that we got hits.”
MARLINS 5, CUBS 1
CHICAGO — When Kyle Hendricks finally stumbled, Miami pounced.
Corey Dickerson hit a three-run home run off a fading Hendricks in the seventh inning, and Miami beat Chicago in Game 1 of their wild-card series.
Jesus Aguilar also homered and Sandy Alcantara pitched three-hit ball into the seventh as Miami conjured up memories of past playoff magic in the franchise’s first postseason game since it won the World Series in 2003. The
Marlins, who rallied past the Cubs in a memorable NLCS that year, have never lost a playoff series.
This year’s Marlins weren’t supposed to make the playoffs, not after losing 105 games in 2019 and dealing with a coronavirus outbreak early this season. Dickerson said all the adversity helped turn them into a better team.
“We don’t care about who’s the hero,” he said. “We want to pass the bat to the next guy. … We don’t care. We want to cheer for one another, play for one another. That’s what makes this game fun.”
The Marlins could be without center fielder Starling Marte after he was hit on the left hand by a fastball in the ninth inning. X-rays revealed a fractured hand, and his status is unclear for the rest of the series. Marte got the start after he was hit on the front of his helmet by a fastball during Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Yankees.
Miami was 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position before Dickerson drove Hendricks’ 106th pitch just over the wall in left-center for his first career playoff home run, erasing the Cubs’ 1-0 lead.
BRAVES 1, REDS 0 (13)
ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman singled home the winning run in the 13th inning, finally ending the longest scoreless duel in postseason history as
Atlanta defeated Cincinnati in the opener of their wild-card series.
The East champion Braves won the first game of a postseason series for the first time since the 2001 NL division series and can wrap up the best-of-three series today.
What began as a pitching showdown between between Cy Young contenders Trevor Bauer of the Reds and Atlanta’s Max Fried devolved into a strikeout contest.
The teams combined for a postseason-record 37 Ks — 21 by the Braves. After a couple of hits in the 13th against Archie Bradley, Freeman drove one into center field off Amir Garrett against a five-man infield with one out to end a game that dragged on for more than 41/2 hours.
A four-time All-Star, Freeman produced another big year in a pandemic-shortened season after a battle with covid-19 in July so severe that he said he prayed: “Please don’t take me.”
In the 13th, he was in a situation he relishes.
A.J. Minter escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the 13th for the win — the third consecutive inning the Reds pushed a runner to third but couldn’t get him another 90 feet.
“That was a very stressful 41/2 hours,” Freeman said.