Before Nolan Arenado hit his 13th career goodbye in nine innings, head coach Oliver Marmol threw a question at him in the rest area. "At the end of the nine innings, I asked Arenal if he wanted to finish the fight," Mamore recalled. "He said 'yes' and did it. Amid the uproar of 37,465 spectators at Bush Stadium at home, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 2-1.
Arenadodai's high fly ball from the left field back to José Barrero, was just one of many turning points in the winning series of the Rainbow Cardinals. The Cardinals, who were originally considered a rebuilding period, now tie the season's best win percentage (+8 wins) with 36 wins and 28 losses, and have 19 wins against teams with a win percentage of more than 50%, and have been regular playoff regulars such as the Phillies (twice), Dodgers, Mets, Astros, Brewers, Rattlesnakes, and Twins.
"Keeping up the Spring Training manifesto: We're a strong team, and the doubters will be surprised," said Nolan Gorman, who started the counterattack with a Statcast 111.6 mph second base hit in the ninth inning. "This hit is his strongest muzzle velocity of the season.
Arena's multi-day hit ended the game, but it wasn't the Cardinals' most thrilling moment of the day — they were just one out of the game from keeping two consecutive Dodgers outs. Shortstop Masyn Winn broke the 0-0 tie at eight innings: Dodgers pitcher Ben Casparius blocked an inside field hit and the ball bounced off, and Winn took the opportunity to run back to home plate from second base to score. After gaining wide distance from second base, Win went around third base without slowing down and slid a pass from Freddie Freeman before Freddie Freeman on front of base. Winn scored his 16th game of the season.
The Cardinals beat the Dodgers 5-0 on Friday night, with starter Sonny Gray teaming up with JoJo Romero, Phil Maton and Steven Matz to press the line. The Dodgers scored 13 hits and 1 hit in the opening game of the series, and on Saturday he hit 12 and 0 hits against starters Erick Fedde and Kyle Leahy and Ryan Helsley and Mats. The only Dodgers scored came when Sho Ohtani hit a second base bag with a flat roll, and then ran back to home plate with a Hayley shot.
Feder and Dodgers started Yushin Yamamoto in a pitching battle and did not concede points in 5.1 innings, while his opponent Yushin Yamamoto did not concede points in 6 innings and 9K. Will Smith flew the ball out when he hit the base in three innings; After five innings, he solved the three MVP winners of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman, and froze Hyeseong Kim on third base. After Feder was knocked twice in a row in the sixth inning, he knocked out Andy Pages three times. Mats, who took over, strikes Kiké Hernández and lets former Cardinals Tommy Edman fly out. In the seventh inning, Matz blocked Bates' strong attack with his gloved forearm, and continued to make Freeman double kill to end the half.
"In the face of this line, it has to be tight all the time," Feder said (4 hits and 4 guarantees), "and the Mats cattle shed has been excellent in supporting the crisis at the critical moment. Feder called the campaign a testament to the strength of the Cardinals: "It proves that we are a real team." Fearless of any opponent and a firm believer in their own abilities. "