Kolten Wong said he just wanted to get on base to lead off the ninth inning of a tied game Sunday. Instead, the St. Louis second baseman touched each base and secured his team a much-needed victory in the National League Championship Series.
Wong hit a line drive home run off Sergio Romo in the ninth, sending the Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants in game two, which evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.
After a travel day, game three will be Tuesday afternoon at AT&T Park.
St. Louis has continued its 2014 postseason power surge, despite finishing 29th out of 30 teams (and last in the NL) in home runs during the regular season. The hosts hit four solo shots Sunday, all four of which either tied or gave the defending league champions the lead, including Wong's blast on an 0-1 pitch from Romo.
"This is amazing," Wong said afterwards. "We're confident."
The visiting Giants had an improbable comeback in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 4-4. Facing Trevor Rosenthal, Andrew Susac had a one-out single and Matt Duffy pinch-ran, then Juan Perez also singled on the first pitch from the St. Louis closer. When Joe Panik walked with two outs, the pitch bounced past catcher Tony Cruz and allowed Duffy to score from second to even things up. It was just the second time in postseason history a wild pitch had tied a playoff game, joining game six of the 1986 World Series in that exclusive club.
Cruz was behind the plate because starter Yadier Molina exited the game after suffering an apparent left oblique strain.
Rosenthal walked Buster Posey to load the bases before winning pitcher Seth Maness got the final out on Pablo Sandoval's come backer. That set up Wong's heroics.
San Francisco went ahead 3-2 on a Gregor Blanco run-scoring single with the infield in against Carlos Martinez in the seventh. The lead didn't last long as Oscar Tavares belted a pinch hit, solo home run off Jean Machi in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Adams, whose three-run home run beat Los Angeles in the deciding game four of the NL Division Series, cracked a solo shot off Hunter Strickland with one out in the eighth that put St. Louis up 4-3.
The Cardinals took the first lead of the night when Matt Carpenter launched a home run off San Francisco starter Jake Peavy in the third. It was 2-0 after Adams drew a lead off walk in the fourth and scored on Randal Grichuk's single four batters later. Peavy lasted just four innings and still has just one win and a 7.07 ERA in seven career postseason starts.
Lance Lynn allowed just two singles through four innings before the Giants scored single runs in the fifth on pinch-hitter Joaquin Arias' RBI-ground out, and sixth when Sandoval hit an opposite field double and Hunter Pence chased Lynn with a tying single.
Tavares' shot, on a 2-1 pitch from Machi, was the seventh game-tying home run in the Cardinals' long postseason history.
"Huge win, (San Francisco is) a good team over there," said Wong. "We told ourselves we've been going through this all year (and) we just knew we had to keep grinding."
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