Cardinals manager Mike Matheny didn’t just pinch-hit for his cleanup hitter to lead off the eighth inning of a tie game Friday, he pinch-hit with a guy who had three major league plate appearances.
And it worked. Big time.
Aledmys Diaz, pinch-hitting for Matt Adams after the Braves brought in left-hander Eric O'Flaherty, hit a towering home run on O'Flaherty's second pitch to send St. Louis to a 7-4 series-opening win at Turner Field and a major-league record three pinch-hit homers for the Cardinals.
Greg Garcia and Stephen Piscotty added ninth-inning homers off Braves rookie John Gant, and Garcia’s was the third pinch homer of the night for St. Louis.
“I would guess that’s probably the first time that’s happened,” Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said of the three pinch-hit homers. And he was right — no major league team had ever hit more than two pinch homers in a game.
It was the third consecutive loss for the Braves to start the season and first win in four games for the Cardinals. The Braves also might have lost center fielder Ender Inciarte for at least a game or two after he exited in the first inning with left-hamstring tightness.
The Braves are 0-3 for the first time since starting 0-4 in 2012, and they’re 0-3 at home since losing their first three home games in 2003.
Braves starter Matt Wisler was staked to a 4-0 lead in the third inning but couldn't hold it, giving up three runs in the fourth and a game-tying pinch-hit homer by Jeremy Hazelbaker in the seventh. It was the second homer in six major league plate appearances for Hazelbaker, a 28-year-old rookie.
“I’ve never seen what they just pulled off, with the three pinch-hitters and three home runs,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “You go back to the Nationals series and den Dekker pinch-hit (two-run double). Pinch-hitters right now have about six RBIs against us late in the game.”
Wisler was charged with seven hits, four runs and one walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
“But I thought Wisler did fine. First time out there, you try to extend them. You try to pitch them because that’s how you develop young pitchers, you keep running them out there. And he left a ball out over the plate to Hazelbaker. But overall we’ve got to add on. We score four runs and didn’t really sniff anything after that. We’ve got to start swinging the bat.
“I’m really confident that we’re going to win a game. We’ve been playing good baseball, it just seems like it’s one inning or one play that kind of gets us these last three games.”
The Braves wasted a scoring opportunity in the seventh when Adonis Garcia struck out with runners on the corners and one out.
