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Matt Holiday hit a two run homer off of a tiring Charlie Morton (0 – 1) in the sixth inning of game four of the NLDS to lift the Cardinals to a 2 – 1 victory to force a deciding game five in St. Louis on Wednesday.
The homer came directly after a Morton four-pitch walk to Carlos Beltran to lead off the sixth for the Cardinals. Beltran, who was walked in his previous at-bat, had come into the game batting .333 in the series with two homers and 6 RBI.
Morton than started Holliday off with four straight fastballs and a curve to work the count to 2 – 2. A fifth fastball proved to be the game’s difference as Holliday hit it to deep center and into the Cardinal bullpen to make it 2 – 0.
He would then get two ground outs before walking Jon Jay forcing him out of the game. The Shark Tank trio of Vin Mazzaro, Justin Wilson and Mark Melancon would shut the Cards down over the final 3 1/3 innings to keep the game close.
The major story of game five was the dominant pitching performance of Cardinals starter, Michael Wacha (1 – 0) who was throwing a perfect game through five innings, but lost it on a four-pitch walk to Russell Martin to start the sixth inning. He would keep the no-hitter going until one out in the eighth when Pedro Alvarez hit the only mistake Wacha threw all day over the center field seats to cut the Cardinal lead to 2 – 1 and send the crowd of 40,493 into a frenzy.
The homer and crowd seemed to rattle Wacha a bit as he walked Martin for a second straight time on four pitches to chase him from the game to the delight of the Blackout crowd.
Josh Harrison pinch-ran for Martin and Jose Tabata pinch-hit for the pitchers spot, but it would not work out the way Clint Hurdle wanted as Tabata missed on a 2 – 1 pitch with the hit-and-run on throwing Harrison out to dry as he would be thrown out at second on a slide that appeared was started too early. Tabata struck out on the next pitch to end the inning.
Jordy Mercer and Starling Marte went down quietly against Trevor Rosenthal (SV 1) before Neil Walker walked on four pitches to bring up Andrew McCutchen in the most clutch situation of the season for the Pirates. Cutch got ahead of the count 3 – 0 before Rosenthal bounced back to get him to pop out easily to end the game.
Final Score Cardinals 2, Pirates 1.
Starters Lines
Morton (L, 0 – 1): 5 2/3 IN, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K’s, 1 HR. 92 Pitches (56 Strikes)
Wacha (W, 1 – 0): 7 1/3 IN, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K’s, 1 HR. 96 Pitches (60 Strikes)
A deciding game 5 of the NLDS will be played between these two teams on Wednesday night in St. Louis. Time TBA.
Wednesday’s Starters
(RHP) Gerrit Cole (PIT): 1 – 0, 1.50 ERA
(RHP) Adam Wainwright (STL): 1 – 0, 1 .29 ERA
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
