ST. LOUIS — There have been a few core pieces the Cardinals have been able to count on all season. One is Ryan Helsley—among the sharpest relievers in the game, to say nothing of the hardest-throwing, who finally unlocked his potential this year with career-low walks and career-high strikeouts. Another is the infield defense—an efficient, cohesive unit, responsible for the fewest team errors in baseball. The roster certainly has other assets. But these? They’ve been the most reliable—less like mere strengths, more like obvious truths, seemingly unalienable and irrevocable.
Yet St. Louis’s ninth inning on Friday was a reminder that any baseball truth is only as reliable as the last time it was told. The Cardinals stood two outs away from what could have been a 2–0 victory over the Phillies. Then, in a dizzying meltdown, St. Louis gave up six runs in the space of less than half an hour, watching that lead disappear into a miserable deficit. Helsley lost his command, the infield lost its polish and the Cardinals lost it all, 6–3.
There is little margin for error in these best-of-three wild-card series. Which means this one nightmarish inning in Game 1 put the season on the brink for St. Louis.
