PHOENIX _ The length and cost of Tuesday's 19-inning loss to Arizona put the Cardinals in a bind for Wednesday's game.
Now they're just in a fix.
Manager Mike Shildt unleashed his "Bench Mafia" and left all but one regular out of the starting lineup. While sparks flickered from rookie Randy Arozarena's game as the Cardinals took a lead the adrenaline, the pitching, and the offense all wore off eventually. Arizona scored seven runs on three hits in the decisive sixth inning to rally for a 9-7 victory and win the series, the Cardinals' final road series of the regular season.
That loss kept the Cardinals with a magic number of three and three games remaining in their regular season. If Milwaukee can win out that forces the Cardinals to sweep the Cubs this weekend at Busch Stadium to be division champions.
That control of their destiny the Cardinals won with four magical days at Wrigley Field has been loosened in about 24 hours in the desert.
The Cardinals' lead over Milwaukee shriveled to two games with three to play. The Brewers had an evening game against Cincinnati.
Before the game, Shildt explained that he turned over his lineup to the reserves because every one of his starters played all 19 innings of Tuesday's loss. An off day Thursday meant a chance to give them two days to recover, and all of them would be available off the bench. In the eighth, with two runners on and Edmundo Sosa at the plate, none of the regulars came up in his place.
Paul Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong, Dexter Fowler, and Marcell Ozuna_all of whom have at least 18 homers this season_remained near the top rail of the dugout near hitting coach Jeff Albert.
In the ninth inning, the Cardinals loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate with one out. They still had Goldschmidt, DeJong, Fowler, and Ozuna on the bench, and only hits from Jose Martinez and Matt Wieters got the bench engaged. Wieters drove home two runs in the ninth to put the tying run on base. Goldschmidt grounded into a double play to end the game.
Shildt did not indicate before the game that they were untouchable, as he did with relievers Ryan Helsley and Daniel Ponce de Leon.
The 12 innings the bullpen had to cover the 3-2 loss early Wednesday limited the arms Shildt had available, but not the ones he had to use anyway. Michael Wacha left the second inning abruptly with soreness in his right shoulder. The extent of the injury was not immediately known. He got five outs for the Cardinals. The other 22 came from relievers, and eventually that caught up with the Cardinals.
In the sixth, the Cardinals turn to two rookies_Genesis Cabrera from the left, Junior Fernandez from the right_and each encountered trouble. Combined they allowed six runs on three hits and got only two outs. A game the Cardinals led 5-2 flipped on them, dramatically. The inning was complicated by two errors, a wild pitch, and a walk. Matt Wieters could not control a throw home for an out on what would have been the tying run. The ball got by him, and that allowed another run to score and leadoff hitter Tim Locastro to reach third base on a groundball that didn't get past the second baseman.
The Cardinals built their early lead on the wings of Arozarena.
The rookie outfielder became the first Cardinal to steal home since September 2012 when he took off on a pickoff throw to first. That was the Cardinals' third run of the game. Jose Martinez had previously tied the game, 2-2, with a two-run double in the third inning. Arozarena's scamper gave them their first lead. He stole two bases on his way around the baes.
In the bottom of the fifth, Arozarena threw a runner out at third base to squelch a potential rally by the Diamondbacks.
In the top of the sixth, he led off the inning with his first major-league homer. That boosted the Cardinals' lead to 5-2.
The bottom of the sixth began with an error, a walk, and a ground-rule double for the Diamondbacks that greased the rally that would give helium to Milwaukee and pull the Cardinals into a corner.
