Redbirds miss out early/late

Posted: Thursday, April 4, 2013 7:00 pm

By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX (AP) — Time and again, the St. Louis Cardinals were on the verge of putting the Arizona Diamondbacks away once and for all.
Yet, for inning after inning after inning, they couldn’t quite get it done.
Finally, Cliff Pennington’s single in the 16th inning brought home Jason Kubel from second to give the Diamondbacks a 10-9 victory in a game that didn’t end until early Thursday.
At 5 hours and 32 minutes, it was the longest home game in Diamondbacks history as far as time elapsed and tied for the longest at home in terms of innings.
“We got up on them a couple of times and they came back. That was just a really fun game to be a part of,” the Cardinals’ Allen Craig said. “It was really long. I wish it was a little bit shorter and we would have won, but it was fun to be a part of.”
Yadier Molina drove in three runs, including a leadoff home run that put St. Louis up 8-7 in the seventh, but Aaron Hill’s RBI single tied it at 8-8 before both teams scored a run in the 12th.
“We put up nine runs and got a lot of hits,” the Cardinals’ Allen Craig said. “We had some spots where we could have got some more. We just couldn’t get it done.”
Pennington was 0-for-11 to start the season before getting three hits in the extra innings.
The Diamondbacks, who won two of three against the Cardinals, came from behind four times to either take the lead or tie the game.
Fernando Salas (0-1), the last pitcher available in the St. Louis bullpen, took the loss.
“We had some chances to finish it off. They did, too,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.

Published in The Messenger 4.4.13