ST. LOUIS -- After the Cardinals walked off with a 5-4 victory over the Giants on Sunday night, Matt Carpenter readily admitted it.
"This was a must-win for us," he said.
No understatement was this. You did not need to see Kolten Wong skip around the bases after his leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth won the game to know how much this latest cardiac comeback meant to the Cardinals.
To lose a game during which they led 2-0 early and 4-3 going into the ninth would have been disappointing under any circumstances.
Factor in that the Cardinals had already lost All-Star catcher Yadier Molina to an oblique injury in the sixth inning and it would have been doubly depressing. After the game, manager Mike Matheny did not sound encouraged that Molina would be ready for Game 3 on Tuesday. "We don't know much about it right now, but didn't look real good," he said.
Now add that a loss would have put the Cardinals in a 2-0 hole in this National League Championship Series with the next three games to be played on the road and you're looking at a downright devastating defeat.
"I'd be lying if I didn't say there were some dull moments in the dugout when those things happened," Carpenter said.
When he said it was a must-win, he meant it.
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"Absolutely," Carpenter said. "You don't want to go into another stadium, especially one like San Francisco with that kind of crowd and what they have over there, down two games. To find a way to tie this series and to do it in the fashion that we did, there certainly can be some momentum on that."
Oh, what a dramatic fashion it was. The team that finished last in the NL in home runs during the regular season powered four -- all by lefty hitters and all with the bases empty -- to account for all but one of their runs.
They got bigger as the game went on:
Carpenter gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the third when he deposited a 2-0 meatball from Jake Peavy into the right-field bullpen for his fourth homer of the postseason. He hit eight the entire regular season.
Then rookie Oscar Taveras, seemingly on the way to being forgotten in October, came up as a pinch-hitter in the seventh after the Giants had gone ahead for the first time, 3-2, in the top of the seventh. Taveras lifted the Cardinals and the crowd by slugging a changeup from Jean Machi into the right-field seats.
In the next inning, with the score tied, Matt Adams blasted a 97-mph fastball from Hunter Strickland over the right-field bullpen to put the Cardinals back in the lead heading into the ninth.
But Trevor Rosenthal did not close the deal, allowing the tying run to score from second on a wild pitch. With the count full and two outs, pinch-runner Matt Duffy was off with the pitch and when the ball went off Tony Cruz's mitt and to the backstop, Duffy did not break stride. He scored well ahead of the tag, silencing Busch Stadium again.
The crowd didn't stay quiet for long, though. Wong sent them home happy when he led off the bottom of the ninth by lining an 0-1 slider from Sergio Romo into the right-field seats.
"I knew I hit the ball hard. How low it came off the bat, I wasn't sure," Wong said. "I made sure to get out of the box quick in case it hit the wall, I would be in scoring position. When it got over, I don't know what happened but I lost it a little bit and got a little excited."
As well he should after producing the heroics that very well might have saved his team's season.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
