ST. LOUIS — Jean Segura hit a decisive two-run single in a six-run ninth inning as the visiting Philadelphia Phillies rallied past the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 to open the best-of-three National League wild-card series.
The Phillies trailed 2-0 entering the ninth but launched their comeback when Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley (0-1) had trouble finding the strike zone.
Helsley, who jammed the middle finger on his pitching hand Tuesday, allowed J.T. Realmuto’s one-out single to start his issues. He walked Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos to load the bases before hitting Alec Bohm to force in a run and pull the Phillies within 2-1.
Andrew Pallante replaced Helsley and allowed Segura’s two-run single through the glove of Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman against a drawn-in infield for a 3-2 lead. Bryson Stott had a run-producing fielder’s choice, Brandon Marsh followed with an RBI single and Kyle Schwarber had a sacrifice fly for the sixth run of the inning.
“I thought we played well, we just didn’t hit early,” Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said. “Then in the ninth inning we got a rally going. These guys are so resilient. I’ve been saying that all year long. A bloop hit, a couple of walks, hit by pitch, scratch hit, all of a sudden all of these good things are happening.”
The Cardinals lost for the first time in 94 all-time playoff games when heading into the ninth inning with a lead of two or more runs.
Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits. He struck out four, walked one and hit one batter.
Phillies reliever David Robertson (1-0) earned the victory with a scoreless inning.
Cardinals starting pitcher Jose Quintana shut out the Phillies for 5 1/3 innings on two hits. He struck out three batters and walked one.
Quintana retired the first seven batters he faced before walking Stott and allowing Matt Vierling’s single in the third inning. But Quintana struck out Schwarber and got Rhys Hoskins to ground out.
Bohm led off the fifth inning for the Phillies with a double and took third on a ground out. The Phillies stranded him, though, when Stott grounded out and Vierling flew out.
Wheeler, who threw 14 scoreless innings against the Cardinals during two regular season starts, retired 15 of the first 17 batters before needing to work out of a sixth-inning jam.
Edman hit a leadoff single for the Cardinals in the sixth and Lars Nootbaar walked before Albert Pujols grounded into a double play and Paul Goldschmidt grounded out.
Helsley entered for the Cardinals in the eighth and recorded two outs but started to experience numbness to the middle finger of his right hand in the ninth.
“He was super-reliable all year (and) obviously we were aware of the issue with the finger,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It wasn’t an issue early on.
“Once we went out there, he said he started to lose a little bit of feel for his pitches. He felt good when he came off the first time (eighth inning) and he went back out. No issues early on, but then said he started to lose feel.”
Juan Yepez hit a two-run pinch homer for the Cardinals to break the scoreless tie in the seventh inning and Nolan Gorman had an RBI single in the ninth.
–By Jeff Gordon, Field Level Media
