JUPITER, Fla. — Weather: 79 degrees, overcast
Result: Cardinals 5, Nationals 5 (tie)
As manager Mike Shildt and the Cardinals spend the next week deciding how to fill the final spots on the team’s bench for the start of the season, what happened in the ninth inning on Tuesday has to be taken into consideration.
Almost as if he had drawn it up that way, most of the players competing for those spots came up to bat – as the Cardinals rallied from a 5-2 deficit to tie the game.
With one out, Justin Williams began the rally with a double. After Lane Thomas grounded out, Austin Dean slammed a two-run pinch-hit home run that closed the gap to 5-4. Max Moroff drew a walk to keep the inning alive before John Nogowski also walked. Jose Rondon then lined a single to left to drive in the tying run.
The Cardinals left the potential winning run on third when Edmundo Sosa grounded out.
“A lot of positive things from those guys,” Shildt said. “It was a good day for the guys off the bench. Appreciate the way they fight; that’s the way we like to play.
“We map it out; the game takes its own twists and turns. We have an idea going into the game who we want to see do what. We knew we wanted to get Dean an at-bat off the bench today and he took advantage of it.
“We tried to line it up like we felt we wanted to hit them. It worked out, doesn’t always, but we had a plan.”
Dean’s homer was his first of the spring and raised his spring average to .321.
Here is how Tuesday’s game broke down:
High: Adam Wainwright continued his impressive spring, allowing just one run and two hits (one of which was a Kyle Schwarber home run) over six innings.
Low: Genesis Cabrera retired only two of the seven hitters he faced in the seventh, giving up three runs, only one of which was earned because of a fielding error.
At the plate: Yadier Molina’s sacrifice fly drove in the first Cardinals run and the second scored on a single by Moroff … Thomas had a single in four at-bats and later scored on Moroff’s hit … Matt Carpenter appeared as a pinch-hitter and grounded out, leaving him 1-of-30 for the spring … Tyler O’Neill was 1-of-2 and also walked and stole a base and is now hitting .400 for the spring.
On the mound: In his team-high 19 2/3 innings this spring, Wainwright has allowed nine hit, walked three and recorded 20 strikeouts while posting a 1.83 ERA. He walked one and struck out seven in Tuesday’s game. “Feeling better every single time I go out there,” Wainwright said. “Every year I’ve gotten further removed from feeling like I was retired I’m kind of turning back the clock a little bit.” He added that in 2017 and 2018, “Everything in my body hurt. My elbow felt horrible. My knees felt bad. My back felt bad. Inflammation completely filled up my whole body. I lost all mobility, couldn’t run anymore, just terrible. I was 36 or 37 and felt like I was 47 or 57. Now I’m 39 and feel like I’m 30 honestly, maybe lower. I don’t know if my body has felt this good ever when I’m pitching.”
Worth noting: Dylan Carlson started in center field and Thomas in right field for the first time this spring … Also for the first time, Nogowski found himself in the outfield, playing the last three innings in left field but did not have any fielding chances … Nogowski drew his eighth walk of the spring, the most on the team, in 32 plate appearances to go with a .375 average and a team-leading 10 RBIs … This was the fifth tie in the Cardinals 19 games so far this spring. They have five games to go before breaking camp.
Up next: Carlos Martinez will make his fourth consecutive start against the Mets on Wednesday, although this game will be in Jupiter unlike the first three, which were in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Despite the day off on Sunday, the Cardinals elected to keep Martinez pitching on his fifth day, starting him in place of Daniel Ponce de Leon.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains