Carrigg's Error Opens Floodgates as STL Escapes Colorado's Comeback

Hunter Goodman's eighth-inning solo shot tied it at four, and for a moment Colorado looked like it had stolen this one. Then a fielding error by center fielder Carrigg on a JJ Wetherholt double turned a tie game into a 7-4 Cardinals win.

St. Louis grabbed control early and never looked comfortable doing it. Alec Burleson was the engine in the first three innings — scoring in the first when Walker singled to right to tie it at one, then scoring again in the third on a Crooks sacrifice fly, and coming home again when Masyn Winn doubled to center to push it to 3-1. Burleson then went deep himself in the fifth, a 441-foot shot to right center that made it 4-1. Michael McGreevy was doing enough, but his line — 5.2 innings, 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts — tells you he was never dominant. Colorado was hanging around.

And then Colorado actually got back in it. Brett Sullivan hit a two-run shot to right center in the sixth, 384 feet, cutting it to 4-3. Goodman's 394-foot homer to left in the eighth tied the game at four. At that point the Cardinals' win probability sat at 64% — a lead that had evaporated into a coin flip. The story of the night looked like it was shifting toward Colorado's bullpen arms keeping them alive long enough to steal a road win.

Instead, the game turned on a single ugly moment. Wetherholt doubled to center in the bottom of the eighth, and center fielder Carrigg's fielding error allowed Church to score and Winn to score — two runs on one misplay — while Wetherholt ended up safe at third. The win probability swung from 64% to 94% on that play alone. Herrera then singled to center to score Wetherholt and make it 7-4, which is where it ended. Herrera finished the night 4-for-5 with an RBI — the kind of quiet, relentless performance that looks like the backbone of a winning lineup. Wetherholt went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, doing the most damage when it mattered most. For Colorado, Goodman and Sullivan each went 2-for-their-respective-at-bats with a homer and two RBI apiece — a genuine two-man offensive effort that just wasn't enough once the error opened the door for St. Louis to walk through it.