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But they both understood how it sent both
franchises on familiar paths.
The visiting Cardinals became the first team ever to score 10
runs in the opening inning of a postseason game, and they
cruised to a 13-1 win in the decisive NLDS game.
"It felt like we blinked and the next thing you know, it was
10-0," Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter told Fox Sports
Midwest.
St. Louis will host Washington in Game 1 of the NL Championship
Series on Friday night. The Nationals pulled out a 7-3,
10-inning win over the host Los Angeles in Game 5 of the other
NLDS later Wednesday.
There was no waking up from the nightmare for the Braves during
a 26-minute inning in which the Cardinals sent 14 batters to the
plate against starter Mike Foltynewicz and reliever Max Fried.
"I haven't processed it enough," Braves manager Brian Snitker
said. "I don't know. I don't know that I've seen that many guys
hit in the first inning that quick in my entire life. I don't
know. It wasn't how we drew it up, I know that.
"I don't know. That thing just kept rolling, and we couldn't
stop it."
Marcell Ozuna (single), Carpenter (walk), Tommy Edman (two-run
double), pitcher Jack Flaherty (walk), Dexter Fowler (two-run
double) and Kolten Wong (two-run double) all collected RBIs in
the first for the Cardinals, who extended their lead to 10-0
when Wong raced home from third on a wild pitch on strike three
to Ozuna.
The 10 runs tied the record for most runs scored in any
postseason inning.
St. Louis joined the Philadelphia Athletics (seventh inning of
Game 4 of the 1929 World Series), Detroit Tigers (third inning
of Game 6 of the 1968 World Series) and Anaheim Angels (seventh
inning of Game 5 of the 2002 AL Championship Series) in the
select club.
The Cardinals' victory marked the fourth time a team won a
winner-take-all game by 10 or more runs.
Now the Cardinals, who were 44-45 on July 12 but went 47-26 the
rest of the way to win the NL Central by two games, will head
into the NLCS with momentum.
The Cardinals are in the NLCS for the fifth time this decade and
the 14th time in the division-play era (since 1969). St. Louis
is looking to reach the World Series for the first time since
2013 and win it all for the first time since 2011.
"We have what it takes, just the character and stuff in the
clubhouse," said Fowler, who set the tone in the first by
drawing a leadoff walk against Foltynewicz on a 3-2 pitch. "When
our back's against the wall, there's nobody in the trenches I'd
rather have than these guys at this point.
"We've come out and we faced adversity for a lot of the season.
A lot of people have counted us out, and I don't think we're
going to give up soon."
The storyline Wednesday was a familiar one for the NL East
champion Braves, who were four outs away from winning Game 4 and
advancing on Monday before once again failing to reach the NLCS
for the first time since 2001. Only four other teams have not
reached an LCS in that span, as the Nationals ended their
drought Wednesday night.
The loss Wednesday was the Braves' fifth straight in
winner-take-all games since 2002: four defeats in Game 5 of an
NLDS and one loss in the NL wild-card game.
"You put this thing together, your goal is to get in the
playoffs because anything can happen after that," Snitker said.
"I guess we saw that. Anything did happen."
Paul DeJong (RBI double in the second, RBI single in the third)
and Harrison Bader (RBI single in the third) added run-scoring
hits for St. Louis.
Flaherty (1-1) allowed one run on four hits and one walk while
striking out eight over six innings.
Josh Donaldson homered in the fourth for the Braves, who loaded
the bases with two outs in the fifth before Freeman hit into a
forceout.
Foltynewicz (1-1) was charged with seven runs (six earned) on
three hits and three walks while getting just one out.
--Field Level Media
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