The St. Louis Cardinals found themselves down by a score of 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, and utility infielder Daniel Descalso decided that looked like a job for—him. With Colby Rasmus and Yadier Molina on base with two outs the Florida Marlins decided to bring reliever Clay Hensley in to face Descalso, and the end result was the first home run of the rookie Descalso's career, a three-run blast that put the Cardinals ahead for good 7-5.
Kyle McClellan struggled to a no-decision for the Cardinals, allowing four runs in five innings, while Anibal Sanchez was wild for the Marlins—he walked six without reaching five full innings. Fernando Salas takes the win for the Cardinals, allowing a run in two innings, while Eduardo Sanchez struck out a batter while earning his second career save.
Descalso, a third baseman by birth but a second baseman through the Cardinals' minor league system, will find himself with more playing time than he could have imagined in the wake of the David Freese injury; he started at second on Tuesday, moving to third after fellow utility player Allen Craig was replaced for defense by Nick Punto. After a slow start to 2011 he's hitting .237/.288/.407.
The Cardinals and the Marlins will play Wednesday and Thursday at Busch Stadium before a weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers.