DETROIT _ After being bamboozled by Detroit left-hander Matthew Boyd on Saturday night, the Cardinals similarly were flummoxed by Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer for the first six innings on Sunday. And then a squirrel made an appearance at the start of the Cardinals' seventh.
Spurting across the diamond from third to first, with no one anxious to lay on a hand lest PETA get involved, the squirrel finally made its way down the right-field line and play resumed.
Cardinals veteran Adam Wainwright had seen this movie before. He had been sitting in the Cardinals' dugout some seven years ago when a squirrel ran near home plate with the Cardinals' Skip Schumaker at bat. The Cardinals would rally after the squirrel appeared and pulled out a division series win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
"I said it right after that squirrel came out there. Rally squirrel," Wainwright said.
Revisionist history likely will note that the Cardinals then exploded for five runs Sunday to break open a scoreless tie as the visitors managed to snare one game of this three-game interleague series, 5-2.
Actually, the Cardinals had nothing stronger than a single in the inning. They had five of those in the seventh but only two of them made the outfield and the hardest hit ball was Yairo Munoz's liner to right which should have been caught but was whiffed on by right fielder Niko Goodrum.
"The power of the rally squirrel," Wainwright said. "It's amazing. We need more mascots. The rally squirrel, rally cat, rally salsa ...
"That's crazy," Wainwright said. "People make the biggest deal about them, though."
Kolten Wong had one of the singles to the outfield, driving in a run. Jose Martinez did the same. Marcell Ozuna singled off the third-base bag. Paul DeJong singled when third baseman Jeimer Candelario couldn't get the ball out of his glove. And Carson Kelly had the other infield hit, giving him two hits for the day, which matched his season total for his first 26 at-bats.
Starter John Gant (7-5) did more than his part, blanking the Tigers on two hits for six innings before surrendering three doubles and two runs in the seventh. Dakota Hudson and Jordan Hicks got the Cardinals through the seventh and Carlos Martinez, the new closer, nailed down his second save in a scoreless ninth as erstwhile closer Bud Norris sat.
The Cardinals return home to face the Pittsburgh Pirates for the start of a three-game series Monday night, with Wainwright taking the ball for the first time since he went on the disabled list in mid-May.
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