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The series will conclude Wednesday in Atlanta,
with the winner advancing to meet the Los Angeles Dodgers or the
Washington Nationals in the NL Championship Series.
Molina tied the game 4-4 with his eighth-inning RBI single, then
decided it in the 10th by driving home Kolten Wong from third
base with his fly ball to left field.
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said, "This is exactly what Yadier
Molina lives for, this is what he trains for. Clearly he's going
to have a lot of personal accomplishments, rightfully so, I'm
sure they mean something to him. Yadier is about winning and
winning championships, period."
Miles Mikolas (1-0), the eighth Cardinals pitcher, pitched one
scoreless inning for the victory. Julio Teheran (0-1), the
seventh Braves pitcher, took the loss by allowing one run in
two-thirds of an inning.
Marcell Ozuna hit two homers for the Cardinals, and Paul
Goldschmidt hit a homer and two doubles.
Cardinals starting pitcher Dakota Hudson allowed four runs (one
earned) on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out two and
walked two.
Ozzie Albies drove in three runs with a two-run homer and a
sacrifice fly for the Braves. Dansby Swanson reached base three
times (walk, single, double) and scored twice, and Ronald Acuna
Jr. went 4-for-5.
Working on just three days' rest, Braves starter Dallas Keuchel
lasted just 3 1/3 innings and allowed three runs. He yielded
four hits and a walk while fanning four.
Goldschmidt and Ozuna hit back-to-back homers in the first
inning to give the Cardinals a quick 2-0 lead.
Swanson led off the third inning with a single, moved to third
on Acuna's single to right field and scored on Albies' sacrifice
fly to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Ozuna's second long homer, a leadoff shot in the fourth inning,
pushed the Cardinals' lead to 3-1.
The Braves chased Hudson with three runs in the fifth inning.
Swanson started the rally with a one-out double that caromed off
third base.
Swanson moved to third on a passed ball and scored when
Carpenter couldn't field Adam Duvall's hard smash to third.
Albies launched his homer one out later to give the Braves a 4-3
lead.
Goldschmidt hit a one-out double in eighth and scored on
Molina's two-out, game-tying single.
Both teams stranded runners in scoring position in the ninth
inning, so the game extended into extra innings.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said, "This whole postseason thing
is timing. We had the deck stacked pretty good in our favor more
than once today, and we just couldn't get it a hit. All those
guys that carried us this year, (the Cardinals) did a good job
of pitching to them."
Wong greeted Teheran with a ground-rule double to left leading
off the 10th. After Goldschmidt was intentionally walked, Ozuna
hit into a forceout that moved Wong to third and set up Molina's
heroics.
Snitker said, "This guy (Molina) is a Hall of Famer. He hits to
the situations, stays within himself, doesn't try to do too
much, all the cliches, everything, that's him. He plays the game
in front of him about as good as anybody in the game."
--Field Level Media
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