The St. Louis Cardinals nearly spoiled the San Francisco Giants’ home opener, with Ryan Theriot working a 12-pitch single to blow a Brian Wilson save opportunity with two outs in the ninth inning, but a wild set of extra-innings finally titled the home team’s way when Aaron Rowand doubled following a crucial Albert Pujols error.
Pujols’s 12th-inning error extended the game to Rowand, but it wasn’t the first wild play of bonus baseball. The Cardinals had saved the game just earlier when Allen Craig, in ostensibly as the left fielder, came in to play third base in a five-infielder set and made a diving stop to initiate a 7-2-5 rundown with a runner who’d arrived at third base with nobody out.
Ryan Franklin and Wilson each blew saves; Brian Tallet is the hard-luck loser, while Dan Runzler picks up a win for the Giants. Colby Rasmus reached base four times for the Cardinals, who scored four runs for the first time all season but couldn’t quite make it count.
For more St. Louis Cardinals reactions check out Viva El Birdos, where we’re still trying to process the strangest, most inexplicably enjoyable loss of the young season.