The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night to salvage a split in a double-header. But to win the game, the Cardinals had to overcome a monumental baserunning gaffe from Edmundo Sosa in the ninth inning.
With the game tied at 3-3 in the top of the ninth, St. Louis rookie Nolan Gorman came to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. He hit a single and it seemed as though Sosa would score from second base with little to no problem. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, there was one big problem — he didn’t touch third base. So, rather than score the run to put St. Louis up 4-3, Sosa retreated back to third base.
WOW!!!
Edmundo Sosa would have scored to give the Cardinals the lead in the 9th, but he missed third base!!! pic.twitter.com/HnUinYMMZW
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 5, 2022
Baseball fans had a wide variety of responses to Sosa’s mistake on the basepaths.
https://twitter.com/BigLoneIy/status/1533279300987887618
Bro I Feel for The Kid! As An Athlete My Self & Someone Who Plays Adult League Ball. We've All Been There in Life. Shake it off and playball kid @Cardinals https://t.co/X1nFN8HOG0
— Baseball Junkie – Cubs (7-5) (@baseballjunkieW) June 5, 2022
The Cardinal Way™️ https://t.co/HNZ3nzHqst
— A.J. Manuzzi (@AJManuzzi) June 5, 2022
Really Edmundo Sosa….. Really?
— MIZZOU 2023 (@NEWZOU2024) June 5, 2022
https://twitter.com/PackHawk26/status/1533277744670199809
You have to touch the base in order to advance. T ball stuff https://t.co/PXUp8PTBox
— Bryan Hosler (@Bryanhosler) June 5, 2022
Sosa was fortunate to realize the mistake. If he had continued home and crossed the plate, the Cubs could have appealed the play and he would have been called out. Going back to third at least gave the Cardinals a chance to go ahead with MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt coming up. Unfortunately for St. Louis, Goldschmidt hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
The Cubs got two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but St. Louis pitcher Giovanny Gallegos worked his way through the jam to send the game into extra innings. From there, the Cardinals offense took over, scoring 4 runs in the 10th inning. Chicago could only score once in the home half of the 10th and St. Louis came away with a 7-4 victory, preserving a double-header split after the Cubs won an equally noteworthy first game earlier in the day.
And we’re guessing that nobody was happier to see the Cardinals overcome Sosa’s mistake than Sosa himself.
