The bullpen of the St. Louis Cardinals has been lights out for the better part of the 2022 season and has picked up the slack for some of their starting pitchers, who have failed to go deep in games.
But when a bullpen gets taxed, that’s when things start to spiral a little bit.
The Cardinals had a commanding 6-0 lead in the top of the seventh inning over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, but that lead began to evaporate quickly.
By the end of the night, the Dodgers had completely flipped the script and pulled off a stunning comeback, handing the Cards their most painful loss of the season.
One Dodgers insider notes that the Dodgers had a 0.7% chance of winning at one point and details how things began to snowball for St. Louis.
The Dodgers had a 0.7% win probability at one point.
They trailed 6-0 heading into the 7th and scored 7 runs in the final three innings to beat the Cardinals 7-6.
They get their NL leading 26th comeback win of the year.
Best win of the season for LA.pic.twitter.com/tOjOwC6tEq
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) July 14, 2022
Bullpen Collapses, Cards Lose A Tough One
The Busch Stadium crowd was certainly shocked after last night’s game.
One key issue for the Cardinals was that Adam Wainwright only made it 5.1 innings.
It’s also worth noting that All-Star closer Ryan Helsley was unavailable.
The Cards bullpen has been used a lot lately, which is why a starting pitcher at the trade deadline would be a most beneficial addition, to help save the pen a little bit.
On the flip side, the Dodgers pulled off an impressive comeback against one of the best bullpens in all of baseball.
They’ll be riding high heading into the series finale.
As for the Cardinals, they were three outs away from picking up a much-needed series win over the best team in the National League and let it slip.
The Dodgers rally left all of Cardinal Nation shellshocked last night.
In order to rest the pen, they’ll need a strong start out of Dakota Hudson tonight.
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