Giants starter Matt Cain did just about everything in his power to beat the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon in San Francisco, but the Cards’ offense woke up in time to pull off a 9-8 win in 10 innings.
Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer got off to a brilliant start, pitching a one-hit shutout through 5 innings. But in the 6th, Cain, who was pitching a no-hitter of his own at the time, hit a solo homer to open the floodgates. By then end of the inning, the Giants were up 5-0 and looked to be in control of the game until Albert Pujols’ 7th inning double broke up Cain’s attempt at history. Adam Kennedy and pinch hitter Rico Washington followed with RBI singles to put the Cards on the board 5-2, and in the next inning Chris Duncan blasted a solo homerun and Rick Ankiel added a 2-run shot to tie the game 5-5. Ryan Ludwick looked to be the hero in the 9th with his go-ahead shot, putting St. Louis up 7-5, but Jason Isringhausen had a rough outing en route to blowing his first save of the year. Rich Aurilia cut the lead to one and Fred Lewis tied it up on an RBI double to send the game into extra innings. Chris Duncan came through in the top of the 10th, however, with a 2-out RBI single to put the Cards ahead for good. Anthony Reyes came in to close out the game in the bottom of the frame and the Cardinals snuck away with possibly the most exciting win of the young MLB season.
Despite all of the late offense, Duncan and Pujols were the only Cardinals with multiple hits. Duncan was 3-5 with 2 RBI and Pujols was 2-4 with 2 walks and 4 runs scored, pushing his average to .390 on the year. All 5 of the runs scored off Wellemeyer were earned, putting his at ERA 4.00. The Cardinals will send Joel Piniero to the hill for the first time tomorrow in an attempt to secure win #10 on the year. They will be facing Giants righty Tim Lincecum (1-0, 1.80 ERA) tomorrow at 3:05 (Central time).
