Rosenthal pitches out of ninth-inning mess as Cardinals continue their winning ways

Trevor Rosenthal has been through it all before.

The St. Louis Cardinals closer turned groans into golly-gees Thursday night with a ninth-inning high-wire act in a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Busch Stadium.

Rosenthal had already allowed a run and the Royals had runners at second and third with no outs. But he struck out pinch-hitter Dusty Coleman, induced a grounder from Alcides Escobar that nabbed a runner at the plate and retired Mike Moustakas on a roller to second.

The capacity crowd of 46,003 exhaled as Rosenthal celebrated his 30th save and the Cardinals moved to 61-34 overall and 34-12 at home. They have won three straight and are 5-1 since the All-Star break.

“I just knew I had to try to bear down and make some pitches and trust the defense to do what it did,” Rosenthal said. “Carp (third baseman Matt Carpenter) made a good play and (Kolten) Wong made a great play to end it. And Yadi (Molina) made some nice stops behind the plate on some balls in the dirt. Having guys like that ... gives you a lot of confidence to let everything go and do your best.”

Rosenthal became the first Cardinals pitcher to record consecutive seasons of 30 saves since Jason Isringhausen accomplished the feat from 2004-07. Rosenthal is the fifth Cardinal with consecutive 30-save seasons, joining Isringhausen, Dennis Eckersley (1996-97), Lee Smith (1991-93) and Todd Worrell (1986-88).

The Cardinals led 4-2 on two-run homers by Randal Grichuk in the second and Carpenter in the third. Right-hander John Lackey and reliever Seth Maness got the ball to Rosenthal, who allowed a single to Alex Rios and a triple to Omar Infante to make it a one-run game.

But once Rosenthal struck out Coleman, it was downhill for the Royals.

“It’s a situation we’ve been in before,” he said. “Every day is different, so trying to rise up to the challenge and just focusing on one pitch at a time ... (It’s about) not making too much of it. Really, you just hope for the best. There’s not a lot I can control once the ball leaves my hand.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Rosenthal, who has a 1.75 ERA, has improved dramatically at reducing the number of ninth-inning baserunners.

“This year, we’ve seen a lot cleaner innings,” said Matheny, who didn’t even want to pitch Rosenthal. “Today was one of those days where I really wanted to shut him down. I didn’t anticipate him being in there, but he really wanted the ball. He had one of his more efficient outings (Wednesday); he only threw 10 pitches. So we were going to listen to him.

“Once he got going ... His first few pitches probably weren’t what the last few were. He got us to where we needed to be.”

Carpenter was confident Rosenthal could come through.

“The inning definitely could have spiraled out of control for a guy that hasn’t been there before, but Rosey’s pitched some big games before,” Carpenter said. “He’s been in that situation before and pitched out of it before. Tonight, he kept his composure and found a way to get us the win.”

Rosenthal’s resolve to escape the mess he created benefited Lackey (9-5), who threw a season-high 110 pitches and is 7-2 with a 1.97 ERA at Busch Stadium.

“I don’t know,” Lackey said of the reasons for his dominance at Busch. “It’s a great place to pitch, for sure. A great environment. The fans are fun to pitch in front of. It’s a good pitcher’s ballpark. There’s not many of them left in the league. It’s a fun place.”

The last inning of the game had a playoff feel about it, as fans of both teams howled in the cool air as Rosenthal tried to squirm out of the dilemma.

Lackey, however, stopped short of making it anything but a regular-season game.

“I mean, I guess there’s a little rivalry going on,” Lackey said of the competition between the Show-Me State rivals. “I guess the fans kind of get into that sort of thing. But the playoffs are kind of a different animal. I wouldn’t quite go that far.”

Carpenter, meanwhile, has been in a prolonged slump. He was batting .179 in 43 games since June 1, but his third-inning homer against Chris Young proved to be the difference. It was his first homer on an 0-2 count this season.

“I helped us win a ballgame,” Carpenter said. “That’s my goal every day I come to the ballpark – do something to help the Cardinals win. Tonight, I was able to do that. But tonight’s over. Tomorrow is another day. I’ve got to come back and try to do it again.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Rosenthal pitches out of ninth-inning mess as Cardinals continue their winning ways."