(KMOX) - They say defense wins championships. It certainly was the difference in Tuesday's win for the 3-2 St. Louis Cardinals over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
St. Louis players made multiple game-saving snags that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called "remarkable."
It was capped off by Tyler O'Neill's grab with two runners on in the ninth innings with two outs:
He didn't hide his emotions after making the game-ending catch:
“The play, I was just in ‘go get it’ mode, all or nothing,” O’Neill said after the game. “That’s what we train for, that’s why we take reads every day in BP. That’s what we live for, making those catches late in the game.”
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And there were plenty of great plays before that. One came from Dylan Carlson in the sixth inning – also with two outs and two on:
Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman also got in on the Gold-Glove action earlier in that same inning:
Edmundo Sosa – the man who won the game for the Cardinals at the dish with a RBI single in the ninth – said they "played defense like a World Series champion team today."
Although the Cardinals lead the National League with 37 errors this season, they're eighth in Defensive Runs Saved (12), according to Fielding Bible.
“The last time I checked, that's the most important defensive metric,” manager Mike Shildt said. “So we want to do some things a little cleaner, for sure, but let's appreciate the fact that, at the end of the day, the way we evaluate saving runs is what’s ultimately most importantly, and our group’s done that very well in the last several years and did an exceptionally well tonight.”
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