The NL Wild Card race just got tighter.
With the Padres off on Thursday after being swept by the Rockies, the Cardinals took advantage of an opportunity to gain ground, rallying to beat the Brewers 8-4 to avoid a series sweep.
The win put them at 3.5 games behind San Diego for the second spot.
They bounced back from a subpar start from Jon Lester, scoring six runs off Cy Young candidate Brandon Woodruff, the most runs he had allowed all season.
And they did it in style, with back-to-back homers from Tyler O’Neill and Lars Nootbaar to put them ahead 6-4, dragging them out of what was once a 4-1 deficit.
“They (the Brewers) threw their best arms at us, and honestly, that’s what we should expect being the Cardinals anyway,” said O’Neill. “We’re in the hunt, we’re obviously looking up on the leaderboard there right now, but it’s just a day-by-day thing, and we’re just going to keep competing, keep taking it one at a time.”
St. Louis wasn’t the only team to take advantage of the idle Padres on Thursday. Their division rivals in Cincinnati made some noise themselves.
A seven-inning, one-run performance by ace Luis Castillo led the Reds to a 6-1 win over the Marlins on Thursday night. Joey Votto also provided some power, with a three-run homer to add to his resurgent season.
“Joey Votto, every night, he does something cool,” said Jonathan India. “At this point it’s like, ‘oh there’s Joey again doing something, hitting a home run, hitting a double or making a nice play.’ It’s so fun to watch. He’s been our leader this whole year for us. When Joey goes, we go. It’s been awesome.”
The Reds dropped two out of three to the Cubs, being held to just one run in both of their losses. But Thursday’s win put them within one game of San Diego.
We now have a three-headed monster in the race for the second NL Wild Card. San Diego, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, all separated by just a few games, with just over a month to go. It should be a fun September.
And each team, no matter who takes the final spot, has multiple arms that are capable of going up against Max Scherzer and the Dodgers in the Wild Card game. It could be Castillo, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Adam Wainwright, Sonny Gray, or Jack Flaherty.
The Reds continue their series with the Marlins tonight, while the Cardinals welcome the Pirates, who they recently just swept. The Padres will play host to the slumping Phillies, who were just swept by Arizona.
Things are about to get interesting, folks.
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