Cardinals come back, hold on in the 9th to take NLDS Game 1
ATLANTA (KMOX/AP) - The St. Louis Cardinals scored four times in the top of the ninth to come back and steal Game 1 of the NLDS from the Atlanta Braves 7-6 Thursday night.
Marcell Ozuna – playing in the first postseason game of his career – and Kolten Wong each hit a two-RBI double to break a 3-3 tie in the ninth.
But Paul Goldschmidt homered in the eighth, sparking a two-run outburst that tied it 3. In the ninth, the Cardinals blew it open against Braves closer Mark Melancon.
Dexter Fowler and Tommy Edman singled before Goldschmidt walked on four pitches to load the bases with one out. Melancon got ahead of Ozuna with two quick strikes, only to give up a liner just inside the third-base line that put St. Louis ahead for the first time.
Wong finished off Melancon with another two-run double, this one down the right-field line.
The Braves didn’t go quietly in their half of the ninth.
It was a familiar scenario for the Braves, who have lost nine straight postseason series and are just one away from tying the Chicago Cubs’ record for postseason futility _ 10 straight playoff losses. Atlanta has not won a postseason series since 2001, and hasn’t even led a series since going up 2-1 on San Francisco in the 2002 NLDS. The Giants won the next two games to advance.
