A Cardinals offense that, at best, had been erratic this year, put up four runs in the first inning, two of them on a homer by Paul Goldschmidt, and two more in the third at San Diego on Wednesday. Then, the offense stalled and the Cardinals bullpen and defense took over to preserve a 7-4 win over the Padres in Game 1 of the best-of-three National League wild-card series.
Adam Wainwright will start on Thursday at Petco Park as the Cardinals try to wrap up the series and then play either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Milwaukee Brewers in the division series next week in Arlington, Texas.
Yadier Molina had three hits for the Cardinals, giving him 98 for 99 postseason games, and scored two runs. But the Cardinals’ best offensive player may have been rookie Dylan Carlson, who became the first player to have two hits, score two runs, walk twice and have a double in his first postseason game.
Carlson, 21, also made a diving catch in left field and Goldschmidt made two alert plays from first base, catching Padres rookie infielder Jake Cronenworth twice making overaggressive base running plays in the late innings.
Alex Reyes, hitting 100 miles an hour with his first pitch, retired Fernando Tatis Jr., on a groundout with the tying runs in scoring position in the eighth and then closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
Starter Kwang Hyun Kim lasted just 3 2/3 innings but gained relief from Ryan Helsley, Genesis Cabrera, Andrew Miller and Reyes. The Cardinals gave Reyes a little space when Dexter Fowler singled home a run in the ninth off former Cardinal Trevor Rosenthal, who had walked two hitters.
In certainly a non-highlight, Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader fanned five times in five at-bats as the No. 9 hitter. But Bader leaped against the center-field wall to snare Wil Myers’ drive for the final out of the game.
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