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Cardinals Hit MLB-Record 15th Pinch-Hit Home Run

The Cardinals set a pinch-hit home run record last night when they were down to their final strike of the game.

The Cardinals trailed the Pirates 6-5 in the ninth inning Tuesday night and were down to their last out when manager Mike Matheny called Matt Carpenter off the bench. Carpenter got a high 0-2 fastball, turned on it, and sent it flying out to right-center. It was St. Louis's 15th pinch-hit homer of the season, an MLB record. It led to two other ninth-inning Cardinal homers that capped a 9-7 win. It was cool as hell. Unless you're the Pirates catcher.

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There's something about a pinch-hit bomb, you know? It's distinctly baseball, with that combination of sound logic and shit odds. Managers bring on pinch-hitters because matchups and situations deem it prudent—a power-hitting lefty against a flamethrowing right-hander, etc.—but watching one walk to the plate, pausing for a few last-minute loosening swings, it never feels like it'll work out. Hitting is hard enough given five chances spread across three hours; to ask someone to do it in a one-off, on demand, seems cruel. And asking that a pinch-hitter go yard, of course, is much too much.

Matheny likely didn't wrestle much with the decision to bring in Carpenter on Tuesday. He'd been given the day off only as a mental break, and he's been the Cardinals' most reliable hitter all year. Bases empty and two outs made for an easy trigger to pull. Still, even when it worked out, it seemed slightly unreal, just the sort of on-the-nose outcome baseball is built to avoid.

As much as any team can, this year's Cardinals have gotten used to the feeling. They have a stable of imperfect but powerful hitters who make for prime pinch-hitting candidates. Matt Adams struggles against lefties but can put a scare in a right-handed reliever; Kolten Wong has seen his playing time cut in a crowded infield but has a lit-dynamite swing; Jeremy Hazelbaker and Tommy Pham were actually grown from strands of Mark McGwire's hair recovered from the old Busch Stadium. All flawed, all capable of getting ahold of one at the right moment.

Matheny predictably credits the St. Louis system for the success: "A lot of work goes into being ready for those pinch-hit at-bats and we take a lot of pride in it." There's surely some truth to that, just as there's some truth to the idea that the Cardinals might be better served with a roster that didn't require so much fiddling, with players who could hit the ball and catch it, or who could face righties and lefties without canyon-esque splits.

Their roster is working well enough, though—they've scored the third-most runs in the National League and are holding on to the second Wild Card spot. If the Cardinals do make it into October and get in some late-night nailbiter, you can bet that the national TV announcers will be talking about their reputation for on-call magic. You can bet, too, that the opposing manager will be thinking about it.