Grichuk's 9th-Inning Two-Run Shot Stuns STL, CHW Win 6-5
Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer to right in the ninth inning, flipping the win probability from 89% in STL's favor to 21% in a single swing. Chicago walked out of St. Louis with a 6-5 victory that looked completely out of reach just moments before.
STL came out swinging early. Masyn Winn's second-inning double to left scored two, and a Fermín sacrifice fly plated Winn himself — just like that, STL had a 3-0 lead before CHW had recorded an out in the scoring column. The Cardinals looked comfortable, and Kyle Leahy was doing his part on the mound, working 3.0 innings, allowing just 2 hits, walking nobody, and striking out four. The story of the first half of this game appeared to be STL controlling the pace entirely.
CHW chipped away in the fourth and fifth innings in a way that looks, in hindsight, like the turning point nobody noticed in real time. A walk scored Murakami in the fourth to make it 3-1, but Church answered immediately with a double to right that pushed STL back to a three-run cushion at 4-1. Then the fifth inning got chaotic. A walk scored Antonacci, a Grichuk groundout — into a double play, no less — somehow scored Teel, and then Peters singled to center to score Vargas before getting thrown out trying to stretch it. Three runs on a walk, a double play, and a single. CHW had tied it at 4-4 without ever really looking like they had their footing. That's a messy, grinding kind of baseball that appears to reflect a team just refusing to go away.
Bernal's 421-foot blast to right center in the eighth looked like the dagger. STL 5, CHW 4, three outs to go — and with a home win probability sitting at 89% entering the ninth, the math was firmly on STL's side. Then Grichuk happened. His 358-foot homer to right scored Doyle ahead of him, and just like that the probability cratered from 89% to 21%. Two runs, one swing, game over. Grichuk finished 1-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Murakami went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Antonacci was 2-for-4 with a run. Nathan Church had a strong night for STL going 3-for-4 with an RBI, but it didn't matter. The story of the night was a White Sox team that absorbed a 3-0 hole, clawed back, absorbed another gut-punch in the eighth, and then ended it in the most direct way possible.