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지나쌤

Wong homers in ninth as Cards edge Giants

By Korea Herald

Published : Oct. 13, 2014 - 20:14

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ST. LOUIS (AP) ― Kolten Wong and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied again with their latest postseason power show, tying the NL Championship Series at a game apiece.

After the final party at home plate, reality set in: They might be without Yadier Molina the rest of the way.

Wong hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the resilient Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4 Sunday night.

The Cardinals came back after losing Molina to a strained oblique muscle in the sixth. The All-Star catcher was getting further tests and manager Mike Matheny said it “didn’t look real good.”

“We’ll wait and see and right now we’ll just go ahead and keep celebrating a very tough, hard-fought win. I am real proud at how these guys kept coming,” Matheny said.
St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) celebrates his game-winning home run on Sunday. (MCT) St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) celebrates his game-winning home run on Sunday. (MCT)

The best-of-seven series resumes Tuesday night with Game 3 in San Francisco with John Lackey going for St. Louis and Tim Hudson starting for the Giants.

In a back-and-forth game, St. Louis got homers from rookie pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras in the seventh and Matt Adams in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead.

After the Giants tied it on a wild pitch, Wong hit an 0-1 delivery from Sergio Romo for his second big home run this postseason. The rookie’s seventh-inning drive was the decisive blow in Game 3 of the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

St. Louis, last in the NL with 105 home runs during the regular season, has hit 11 homers in six playoff games ― seven in the seventh inning or later. Earlier, Matt Carpenter connected for the fourth time this postseason.

“We just knew we had to keep grinding,” Wong said.

“When you lose someone like Yadi, it’s definitely tough for us, but we told ourselves we’ve been going through this all year. Grinding up and down, not getting any easy pass, so we’re all so confident.”