SAN FRANCISCO — Rather than write Brendan Donovan into the lineup only to have to take him out if his leg was sore or stiff, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol flipped the script Tuesday afternoon and, after consulting with the infielder, decided to have Donovan force his way into the lineup.
Almost three hours before first pitch, Donovan took groundballs to make sure he could comfortably make explosive moves. He went to a backroom in the visitors’ clubhouse to receive treatment, stretch, and prepare to take swings to see if his leg would support the necessary posture to drive the ball. Then he tested his swing in an underground batting cage.
“Feeling pretty good,” he said. “So they put me in there.”
In a few hours flat, Donovan went from out of the lineup to major-league record.
The Cardinals’ leadoff hitter stung four doubles to become the third Cardinal in nearly 130 years to match Major League Baseball’s single-game record. His fourth double came in the ninth inning and completed the Cardinals’ comeback from a five-run deficit. Three outs away from being officially, mathematically, and unceremoniously eliminated from the playoff race, the Cardinals scored twice in the ninth inning to upend the Giants and win, 9-8, late Tuesday night. Donovan had the game-tying double that brought Victor Scott II home from first, and Donovan’s pinch runner scored the winning run on Alec Burleson’s RBI single.
Fitting.
Donovan had to fight to get in the lineup.
The Cardinals fought to stay in their season.
“You’ve got to learn how to win and you have to learn how to fight back and not give in, and that’s exactly what they’re doing,” Marmol said.
“It was nice to see us not give in regardless of the score,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “This team doesn’t need a whole lot of speeches about having to show up and play hard. Everyone just finds their way and does it. We may not be in the best spot, but it’s nice to see guys show up every day and don’t give in.”
Like Donovan’s status for the game, the Cardinals’ status in the standings shifted throughout the afternoon. There were moments Tuesday evening when all three of the teams ahead of the Cardinals and Giants in the wild-card standings were trailing. If both the Mets and Reds lost, the winner of the Cardinals-Giants game would move to within 2 ½ games of the National League’s third wild-card berth with four games remaining. The October math was improbable, but not in cement. By the middle innings, the Cardinals had blown an early 3-0 lead to the Giants and the Mets had defeated the Cubs.
That turned Tuesday night’s game at Oracle Park into an elimination game: the loser would be out, formally. While most of the Cardinals players did not know, Marmol and his coaches did – and began making strategic decisions accordingly.
Marmol hinted at why in his office hours before first pitch, right about the same time that Donovan was making his final push for the lineup.
“It’s been impressive to see this group continue to play good baseball and get after it and win some games,” Marmol said. He then listed the numerous injuries to everyday players that kept him from the Cardinals’ planned lineup for the entire month of August.
“And then you lose those three relievers at the trade deadline,” Marmol added about the veteran, late-inning arms dealt to contending teams as the Cardinals receded from the race. “And you’re still three games out. And then you look across the way at teams that have added that are grinding and you’re right there with them? I’ll take that.”
And he didn’t want to lose it.
Exhibit A: Being open to Donovan pushing his way into the lineup and not calling a year was part of that. Marmol made every effort to allow his All-Star leadoff hitter to start. Donovan responded with a leadoff double that sparked a three-run first inning against Giants starter Logan Webb. Donovan doubled in the second inning and again in the fifth. He joined Matt Carpenter and Joe Medwick as the three Cardinals with a four-double game and Donovan became only the second batter since 1901 to have four doubles in a game against the Giants.
“When he had three doubles, I thought it was nasty,” Scott said. “Hitting a fourth double is incredible for him to have that kind of a day really pole-vaults that win.”
Exhibit B: Marmol was quick to remove right-hander Andre Pallante at the first sign of trouble in his final start of the season. Pallante retired the first six batters he faced, and then he could only get two outs from the eight batters he faced in the third inning. Goosed by a throwing error from Nolan Arenado, the Giants erased the Cardinals’ 3-0 lead with five runs in the third inning that put Pallante in line for his 11th loss since the All-Star break. When he walked a .059 hitter, Marmol went to the bullpen there with 20 outs yet to get.
“You have to take your shot with (only) so many games left,” he said.
Exhibit C: The Cardinals chomped into the Giants’ five-run in the seventh with home runs from Ivan Herrera and Arenado. Herrera’s three-run shot cut the Giants’ lead down to two. The homer was Herrera’s third in as many days and gave him eight homers in September. Arenado’s homer was the Cardinals’ 14th as a team in the month and his first since June 21 – or a span of 118 at-bats and one monthlong stint on the IL. Arenado’s solo homer trimmed the Giant’s lead to 8-7. This was the turning point for Marmol.
He and his staff planned to stay away from Matt Svanson if they trailed and save him for multiple innings Wednesday.
By the seventh, Marmol and his staff knew they faced elimination with a loss, so down by a run they turned to Svanson for the eighth. The right-hander retired all three Giants he faced to freeze the one-run deficit going into the ninth.
“We lose, it’s over,” Marmol said. “So we use Svanson.”
Scott set up Herrera’s homer with a walk in the seventh, and in the ninth he led off with a single against Giants closer Ryan Walker. With his speed, Scott is in scoring position at first base, and Donovan gave him the hit to prove it. Donovan pulled a double toward the right-field corner for his record-tying feat, and Scott’s fleet feat scored the game-tying run.
Donovan was sure his double would tie the game with Scott running.
“Heck, yeah,” Donovan said. “Have you seen him run?”
Third-base coach Ron “Pop” Warner didn’t hesitate to send Scott when he saw how the Giants lined up their relay and weighed that against how well and how fast Scott was cutting the bases. Scott said it felt like the fastest he’s ever run from first to home.
Marmol came out of the dugout to check on Donovan at second, and there they discussed how a swifter runner, one not limited by an injured toe and leg discomfort, would have a better chance of scoring the go-ahead run. Jose Fermin entered as a pinch-runner. He advanced on a groundout and scored on Burleson’s fifth hit of the series in San Francisco. Donovan pushed to get in the lineup, and then he bowed out in the moment when there was a better option to win.
“He’s going to give you everything he’s got that day, whether that’s 100% or 20%,” Burleson said. “Whatever he’s got for the day, he’s going to give it to you. Good hitters are going to hit, so that’s what he did.”
The Cardinals (78-80) leapfrogged the Giants in the standings with the win.
The loss eliminated the Giants (77-81).
With four games remaining, the Cardinals must go 4-0 to secure a winning record, and they need the Mets to go 0-5 to even have a chance to the postseason. The comeback win Tuesday slowed the likely outcome even as it sparked relitigating some of the midseason decisions that definitely led to it. The Cardinals remain with earshot of the playoff race despite shedding from the bullpen, despite going weeks without leading hitters Burleson and Willson Contreras, despite Arenado’s extended absence due to a shoulder injury.
Marmol said before Tuesday’s game he “wished we could have done a better job of winning some games leading in (to the trade deadline). Force the hand.”
Instead, they’ve played the past week on the precipice of elimination.
It may happen before they have a chance to score their next run.
But their resilience delayed it for at least one more day than it could have been.
“I wish we had two more weeks of baseball,” Marmol said. “These guys are taking their best shot. Guys are getting after it. They don’t want to give in.”
A rally started by home runs from Nolan Arenado and Ivan Herrera in the seventh continues with Brendan Donovan’s record-tying double to key 9-8 victory at Oracle Park.
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Derrick Goold | Post-Dispatch
Lead baseball writer
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