St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds

With the game on the line in the top of the ninth on Thursday afternoon, the Cardinals desperately needed a ball in the air. Pinch-hitter Everson Pereira couldn’t provide it, meaning that JJ Wetherholt simply lofting a routine fly ball thereafter was not supposed to have any tangible impact that would favor the Cardinals, who were down to their final out after Pereira’s strikeout. But the fly ball’s placement into left-center field off Wetherholt’s bat created just the right kind of chaos between Reds left fielder TJ Friedl and center fielder Dane Myers. Myers ranged a considerable distance to call off Friedl, who had just entered as a defensive substitution in the eighth inning. The ball clanged off his leather to stun the afternoon crowd at Great American Ball Park. Wetherholt’s swing plated the tying and go-ahead runs to spark a stunning six-run ninth inning for the visitors as the Cardinals shocked the Reds in a 10-9 win. Swiftly, the proceedings transitioned from a likely one-run loss to a scenario where Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol looked to spare closer Riley O’Brien from a day of work amid a grueling stretch. But there was plenty more chaos yet to play out in Cincinnati.