ST. LOUIS -- Nolan Arenado had his share of moments over the last two days in his return to St. Louis before he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning. It was altogether fitting that one more would find him.
Arenado ripped a double into the left-field corner with which he became so familiar over five seasons in St. Louis, breaking a scoreless tie and lifting the Diamondbacks to a 4-3 victory that evened this four-game set at a game apiece, following a dramatic ninth inning.
“It’s a really tough arm. It’s heavy sink with a sweeper. It’s not an easy at-bat for a righty,” he said of the seven-pitch battle with ex-teammate Matt Svanson. “To be honest, that was probably one of my best at-bats I’ve had all year.”
The four-spot put up by Arizona in the top of the ninth would ordinarily have been determinative, but the Cardinals managed to rally against Paul Sewald in a wild bottom of the inning that was capped by Brandyn Garcia striking out JJ Wetherholt to record his first career save, stranding the tying run on first base.
“Tough scenario in the bottom, but we got the win,” Garcia said. “That’s the most important thing. That’s my job coming in there, Paul’s job going in there as well. We combined it for the win.”
Monday’s emotional return to St. Louis saw Arenado lift his helmet and tap his heart to a grateful crowd -- and his own call and response in the roll call conducted by the “tarps off” section in right field -- but was capped only by an RBI groundout in a loss. Those acknowledgements were repeated Tuesday, and Arenado thanked – or perhaps tormented – the fans with a vintage, game-breaking performance.
“It’s not really a revenge game for me,” said a smiling Arenado, nonetheless enjoying the moment. “I have a lot of respect for this place. I didn’t leave on that note, right? It was a different note, different feelings, but I didn’t leave on that note. It could be a hit off my mom. If we’re taking the lead, I’m freaking stoked, you know?”
Eduardo Rodriguez continued his stellar season as the tentpole starter in the Arizona rotation, breezing through 6 2/3 innings and allowing three hits and three walks. All three of the hits were singles, and the first of them did not come until Jordan Walker poked a base hit to right with one out in the fourth inning. Rodriguez struck out five, and he did not allow a runner to reach third base until Iván Herrera was forced there in the sixth following a walk to Lars Nootbaar.
“Today was really good,” Rodriguez assessed. “I could’ve slipped up right there with bases loaded, one out. One pitch, fly ball and get a double play like that, that was something that I really loved for them to do.”
That jam, with the bases loaded and one out, was diffused following an unusual double play that originated in short left field. After Nelson Velázquez skied a popup, Geraldo Perdomo settled underneath the ball and made the catch even as Tommy Troy, sprinting in from center, collided hard with his teammate and tumbled to the turf.
Herrera then started to break from third, stopped, and resumed his trek. Perdomo’s strong throw to the plate was just in time to complete the double play and keep the game scoreless.
“We went over our checklist, and we’re going to coach it,” manager Torey Lovullo said, chalking up the near-disaster to Troy’s desire to make an aggressive play in center, where he’d played only 1 2/3 innings in the Majors prior to Tuesday’s start in that spot.
A lack of offense defined a great deal of Arizona’s recent few days, as the Diamondbacks went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the series opener after turning in a 1-for-8 performance in the series finale against Minnesota. They finished Tuesday’s game just 2-for-13 in those situations, but the two came at the right time, and the goal is for that feeling of success to spill over into the remainder of the series and beyond.
“I don’t want to sound weird about it, but I know momentum is a real thing in this game,” Lovullo said. “We try and stop it when we’re out on the field, and we’re trying to create it inside of our dugout, so that was a big win.”