Molina wins it for Cards
Victory pushes series against Atlanta to a deciding fifth game
They all knew. Every single one of them. Paul Goldschmidt and all the St. Louis Cardinals. Ozzie Albies and the rest of the Atlanta Braves.
Tough to beat Yadier Molina in a big postseason spot.
Molina pushed the Cardinals to a deciding Game 5 of the NL Division Series, poking a tying single in the eighth inning and then lif ting a sacrifice f ly in the 10th to beat the Braves 5- 4 Monday.
“I like those moments,” Molina said.
No kidding.
Molina slung his bat far into the outfield after his winning swing, and the crowd at Busch Stadium roared with the longtime heart of the franchise.
“An elite, special player, that ’s what he is,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said.
Game 5 will be Wednesday back in Atlanta. The Cardinals will have ace Jack Flaherty on the mound, and the Braves will go with Mike Foltynewicz.
“In front of our home fans on Wednesday a Game 5,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “That ’s what it ’s all about so we’ll be ready to go.”
Kolten Wong led off the
St. Louis 10th with a ground- rule double against Julio Teheran. After Goldschmidt was intentionally walked, Wong advanced on Marcell Ozuna’s forceout and easily scampered home on Molina’s f ly to the front of the warning track in left field.
Wong threw his hands in the air as he ran toward the plate. Molina rounded first base with his bat in hand, then f lung it away as the celebration erupted. The 37- year- old catcher discarded his batting helmet as the rest of the Cardinals poured onto the field.
“I lost it right there,” Molina said. “I think I tossed the bat in the bullpen.”
Molina also made it 4- all with a two- out single in the eighth that went just off the top of the glove of a leaping Freeman.
“I thought it was going in there,” the 6- foot- 5 Freeman said. “I just needed to be 6- 7.”
On this day, there was no denying the nine- time All- Star in red.
Albies homered and drove in three runs for Atlanta, and Ronald Acuna Jr. had four hits. But the NL East champions went 0- for- 9 with runners in scoring position, a continuing problem in the postseason over the past two years.