ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals lost Game 1 of the best-of-three National League Wild Card Series matchup versus the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Cardinals starting pitcher, José Quintana, threw 5.1 innings and shut out the Phillies only allowing two hits.
Quintana, who arrived in a deadline trade from Pittsburgh, was masterful for the Cardinals, allowing only a single to Matt Vierling and a double to Bohm while pitching into the sixth. His day was done after fanning Schwarber for the second time on his 75th pitch, handing the game over to a relief corps that had been downright dominant this season.
Phillies' starting pitcher, Zack Wheeler, pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits as well.
Wheeler departed after retiring Arenado to start the seventh. He struck out four and walked one on 96 pitches, his most since Aug. 20, shortly before the right-hander landed on the injured list with forearm tendinitis.
A ninth-inning comeback by the Phillies was all they needed to beat the Cardinals' relief pitchers.
The Cardinals, who were 74-3 on the season when leading after eight innings, were poised to put away another close game after Juan Yepez connected for the first go-ahead pinch-hit homer in franchise history with two outs in the seventh inning.
But after struggling all afternoon against José Quintana and the St. Louis bullpen, the Phillies finally got their powerful offense going against Ryan Helsley. JT Realmuto began the ninth-inning rally with a single, and walks for Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos loaded the bases before the All-Star closer plunked Alec Bohm to score a run.
The Cardinals training staff came out to check on Helsley, who had jammed the middle finger on his pitching hand earlier in the week in Pittsburgh. He tried to throw another warmup pitch but was pulled for Andre Pallante, who gave up Segura's hit through the right side of the infield that put Philadelphia in front.
Edmundo Sosa added a run when he brazenly scored on Bryson Stott's grounder to first base, and Brandon Marsh drove in another run when a tough hop got past Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong.
By the time Kyle Schwarber added a sacrifice fly, Phillies reliever Zach Eflin had plenty of wiggle room in the ninth.
The Cardinals couldn't get a comeback of their own started in the bottom of the ninth, losing 6-3.
UP NEXT
The Phillies will try for the wild-card sweep on Saturday night when they send right-hander Aaron Nola (11-13, 3.25 ERA) to the mound. He was stellar his last time out against Houston in clinching Philadelphia's wild-card playoff spot.
The Cardinals will turn to right-hander Miles Mikolas (12-13, 3.29 ERA) to force a decisive Game 3. Mikolas struggled in a tune-up out of the bullpen in Pittsburgh but allowed one earned run over his last two starts.
Game 2 will take place at Busch Stadium at 7:37 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2.
