SALON

Tuesday, Oct 2, 2012 3:31 AM UTC

Cards top Reds 4-2, clinch tie for 2nd wild card

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Cards top Reds 4-2, clinch tie for 2nd wild cardCincinnati Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo, left, and catcher Ryan Hanigan walk off the field after working the second inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Monday, Oct. 1, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)(Credit: AP)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jaime Garcia homered off Bronson Arroyo and pitched into the seventh inning, helping the St. Louis Cardinals clinch at least a tie for the second NL wild card and spoil Dusty Baker’s return from a mini-stroke with a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

The defending World Series champions have won 11 of 14 and led the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing at home later against San Francisco, by 2½ games. The Cardinals have two games to go, the Dodgers three.

A loss by the Dodgers or another Cardinals win would wrap up a playoff spot for St. Louis and a visit to Atlanta for the wild-card game Friday.

Arroyo (12-10) threw 73 pitches while allowing three runs over five innings in a tuneup for the postseason. He topped 200 innings for the seventh time but is 0-3 in his last four starts.

The Reds are 96-64, tied with the Nationals for the best record in the National League with two games to go, and must finish ahead of Washington to get home-field advantage throughout the postseason after losing the season series.

Before the game, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was wary and noncommittal about whether the team would stick around and watch the end of the Giants-Dodgers game that could ignite a delayed celebration in an empty stadium.

“I’m not going there yet,” Matheny said. “We’ve got to win, and I told you guys this before: It’s not some sort of trickery going on, except with my own mind and with these guys, too.

“It’s true, you have to just kind of play it out and don’t get too far ahead of yourself.”

Baker missed 11 games, including the NL Central clincher and Homer Bailey’s no-hitter, while recovering from a stroke in a Chicago hospital that he had while being treated for an irregular heartbeat.

Garcia (7-7) made it 5 for 5 at the plate against Arroyo when he led off the third with a drive that just cleared the right-field wall for his second career homer, although the perfect run ended when he flied out to right to end the fourth.

Garcia gave up six hits, including three singles in a span of four at-bats in the third, with Brandon Phillips getting an RBI. Scott Rolen doubled, advanced on a passed ball and scored on Ryan Hanigan’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

The lefty has been a major asset at home throughout his career, going 20-11 with a 2.48 ERA at Busch Stadium, the lowest career mark of any pitcher with 10 or more starts, including 4-2 with a 2.82 ERA in nine starts this year. He’s 3-5 with a 5.02 ERA in 11 road starts this year and 14-12 with a 4.47 ERA overall.

Allen Craig and Yadier Molina added an RBI apiece in a three-run third, and Daniel Descalso had an RBI triple in the sixth that made it 4-1. Jason Motte worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 41st save in 48 chances.

NOTES: Arroyo has allowed 26 homers, tied for third-most in the NL with Bailey and fellow Reds pitcher Mike Leake. … Ryan Ludwick returned to the Cincinnati lineup after missing eight games with left groin tightness but was removed in a double switch in the sixth. … Reds pitchers combined for seven strikeouts to set a franchise record with 1,231, breaking the mark of 1,227 in 2008. … Motte has all of the Cardinals’ saves. The franchise has never gone a season with just one pitcher getting all of the saves.

More R.b. Fallstrom.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations