Philadelphia Phillies scored a wild six runs in an epic 9th inning to put the game out of the hands of their rivals, the Cardinals.
The Cardinals, backed by a star performance from Jose Quintana and an electrifying pinch-hit homer by Juan Yepez, held a 2-0 lead heading into the final inning and had every reason to believe they were headed toward a Game 1 victory.
They were at home, with a sold-out Busch Stadium crowd in spasm, and their lights-out closer, Ryan Helsley was on the mound.
The Cardinals were 93-0 in the postseason record when leading by multiple runs entering the ninth inning. The Phillies, meanwhile, were 0-54 during the regular season in that same situation.
With the Phillies down a run, the bases loaded, one out in the top of the ninth, and the St. Louis Cardinal
scrambling to rebuild their wounded closer, Segura snuck a grounder past a slightly drawn-in infield, plating two runs and hurling the Phillies to an unbelievable 6-3 win in the opening game of their best-of-three wild-card series.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol turned to Helsley with one on and one out in the eighth and saw him make quick work of Marsh and Schwarber.
Shortly after the ninth inning began, though, Marmol said Helsley “started to lose a little bit of feel for his pitches.”
Friday’s top of the ninth marked the only half-inning in baseball this season where a team allowed at least six earned runs on three hits or fewer, with no extra-base hits allowed, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
It also signified the first time the Phillies had scored six or more runs in any postseason inning.
Phillies Realmuto said:
“That was probably the most exciting inning I’ve ever been a part of. And it didn’t even take a big home run. The momentum was there for us and multiple guys stepped up when they needed to.”
