When I trained to become a lifeguard, one of the first lessons we learned was that a drowning swimmer is very dangerous. In their desperate flailing, they can accidentally take potential rescuers or nearby swimmers down with them.
That might explain what happened in St. Louis Wednesday afternoon, when the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 10 innings, putting the Cards on the brink of being eliminated from the playoffs. Just like the Giants.
Drew Gilbert delivered a two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning and the Giants held on for a 6-5 win, taking a road series for the first time in three months.
The Cardinals were already on the fringes of the wild-card race before losing to the Giants in five of their six games this month. They’ve fallen to 75-78 and their tragic number is down to two.
Gilbert spoiled a nice comeback by the Cardinals, who rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 9th off Dylan Smith. Leo Bernal delivered a game-tying single with his team down to their last strike, but at that point, the Cardinals had been sucked into the Giants’ whirlpool, like a lifeboat that stayed too close to the Titanic.
Anthony Molina bounced back from his worst outing of the season with his best, going 5.2 shutout innings and striking out two. He gave up only two hits, both of them to center fielder Nathan Church, who may now be his archnemesis. He left with a 1-0 lead which stretched to 3-0 in the 7th, when a Jonah Cox RBI single and a Jordan Walker era got the Giants two runs.
Cox went 3-for-4 and moved to second base from center in the bottom of the 10th, which only featured fly balls to the outfield. He individually manufactured the Giants’s first run of the game by singling and stealing two bases before scoring on a weird double play where Cox raced home and beat the tag on Bryce Eldridge at second base.
Andrew Knizner went 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch — clearly the Cardinals are afraid of him. Shay Whitcomb went 2-for-5 and scored a run, bringing his average ever so close to the Mendoza line.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Giants game in 2026 without some very silly, costly baseball. The Cards got back in the game thanks to two rough defensive plays. Carson Seymour would have been out of the 7th unscathed if he’d managed to catch a simple toss from Eldridge as he covered first. Then Christian Koss kept the inning alive by air mailing the throw to first on a routine ground ball. To top it all off, Trent Harris relieved Seymour and let in another run when his first pitch was a wild one.
The managers each threw a bone to box score enthusiasts in the 10th, when a pinch-runner and a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 9th led to four defensive changes for the Cardinals in the top of the 10th, including the DH coming in to catch. Not to be outdone, Tony Vitello made five separate defensive changes in the bottom of the inning, a true treat to anyone inexplicably scoring at home.
The Giants are still sinking, but they’ve lifted their heads closer to the surface thanks to climbing over the Cards. The dream of 70 wins is still alive. Watch out, Dodgers.
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