The St. Louis Cardinals honored Stan Musial in a pre-game ceremony, attaching his name to the street in front of the stadium. Then they made Stan the Man proud on the field.“It sounds corny, but we talked about it,” manager Tony La Russa said after a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. “We wanted to play a game that Stan would enjoy.”
Skip Schumaker’s RBI double with one out in the ninth inning over a drawn-in outfield capped a rally from three runs down, helping the Cardinals take two of three from the Rays, who entered the day leading the AL East by percentage points and have won eight of 11 despite dropping the last two in the final at-bat. Ryan Ludwick’s 10th-inning home run was the difference in a 9-8, 11-inning victory on Saturday.
The Cardinals renamed Eighth Street in front of 3-year-old Busch Stadium “Stan Musial Drive” to honor the 87-year-old Hall of Famer, hobbling yet still game while joking his legs were shot from 3,630 hits during a 22-year career, all with St. Louis.
“It was a good win on Stan’s day, that’s for sure,” Schumaker said. “It was a good win for us, too.”
Aaron Miles tied it with a two-run single in the eighth and Ludwick homered for the third time in two games for the Cardinals, who took two of three from the AL East leaders. Rays pitchers issued 10 walks, eight in the last three innings, while losing only their second series in the last eight.
Walks led to all but one of the Cardinals’ runs.
“They were just missing,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I don’t know that they were trying to be too fine, they were just missing. I can’t say we were getting squeezed at all.”
Rookie Chris Perez (1-0) retired the bottom of the Rays’ order in only five pitches in the ninth. The 22-year-old Perez has not allowed a hit in two appearances in two innings since being called up on Friday, when closer Jason Isringhausen went on the 15-day disabled list with a cut on his pitching hand.
“You can’t let things get into your head,” Perez said. “I just go out there thinking it’s any old game.”
Gary Glover (0-2) walked .132-hitting Jason LaRue to start the bottom of the ninth and Cesar Izturis reached on an infield hit with one out before Schumaker lofted a drive over the head of left fielder Carl Crawford. Glover has allowed four runs on seven hits in 2 2-3 innings in four appearances since coming off the 15-day disabled list from shoulder tendinitis.
“I haven’t felt quite as sharp yet, but that’s no excuse now,” Glover said. “By this time, I’ve got to be ready to roll. I just didn’t make pitches today, that was the bottom line.”
Crawford homered and Edwin Jackson ran a scoreless innings streak to 20 before giving up a run while striking out a season-best seven for the Rays. Tampa Bay doubled seven times, one off the franchise record, but squandered a 3-0 lead after five.
Eric Hinske and B.J. Upton drove in a run apiece and the Rays doubled seven times, one off the franchise record.
It was the second straight walk-off victory for the Cardinals. Schumaker has the deciding hit in four of the last 13 victories, including a game-winning 11th-inning homer against the Cubs on May 2.
Ludwick homered off Dan Wheeler for the second straight game, connecting on both pitches he saw from the reliever. Ludwick, who has 11 homers in 119 at-bats, hit a game-winning shot off a hanging slider on Saturday, and he lined a fastball into the visitor’s bullpen to left leading off the seventh to cut the gap to 3-2.
Crawford hit his fourth homer off Mike Parisi leading off the eighth to briefly restore the Rays’ two-run cushion. Miles’ tying hit came off Trever Miller with one out in the eighth.
The Cardinals left the bases loaded in the fifth, sixth and eighth, scoring one in the sixth and two in the eighth. Troy Glaus struck out to end the fifth and Albert Pujols tapped into a force play in the sixth. Paid attendance of 46,392 was the sixth sellout for the Cardinals, who sold out every game their first two seasons at new Busch Stadium.
St. Louis matched a season high with 16 runners left on bases, their third double-digit figure of the homestand. The Cardinals lead the major leagues by a wide margin in runners stranded.
Jackson totaled 15 scoreless innings in two previous starts, but Troy Percival blew the save each time, and this time the Rays’ bullpen coughed up the lead in the eighth. Jackson walked four of the last nine hitters he faced and left after throwing 97 pitches in 5 1-3 innings.
Kyle Lohse, who had been something of a question mark after skipping his bullpen session due to tightness in the back of his throwing shoulder, worked six solid innings for St. Louis.
Lohse allowed three runs, two earned, in his best start of a shaky May after
Xtra, xtra: Dioner Navarro is 11-for-24 in his last seven games, all singles before he doubled in the second. Miller stranded nine inherited runners this season before being charged with a run in the eighth. The Cardinals are 5-1 overall against the Rays (Associated Press - Sports).
