Cardinals advance on another last-strike rally 7

Reigning World Series champion St. Louis, one strike from defeat, scored four runs in the ninth inning to stun Washington 9-7 on Friday and advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs. The Cardinals will face the San Francisco Giants in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series that begins Sunday. The winner of that series will face either Detroit or the New York Yankees in the World Series. St. Louis was one strike from defeat in last year's World Series before rallying to defeat the Texas Rangers for the title. This time, they faced the same hole but fought back to beat this year's winningest major league club. "We didn't give up. You can't give up. Never give up," said Pete Kozma, whose two-out single drove in the winning runs in the ninth inning. By rallying from a 6-0 deficit, St. Louis made the greatest comeback to win of any team in Major League Baseball history that faced elimination, beating four-run rallies by the 2003 New York Yankees and 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates. "There's a lot of character guys on this ball club," said St. Louis slugger Daniel Descalso. "We know how to come back. We could have rolled over when we were down 6-0. But we have a lot of grinders on this team. "We weren't going to roll over." Trailing 7-5 at the start of the ninth inning, Carlos Beltran hit a leadoff double off relief pitcher Drew Storen and advanced to third on a ground out before Yadier Molina and David Freese, each one strike from making the last out and giving Washington the triumph, walked to load the bases. Descalso, whose home run in the eighth pulled the Cardinals within 6-5, followed with a single off the tip of Washington shortstop Ian Desmond's glove to bring home two runs to pull St. Louis level at 7-7. Descalso stole second base and scored on Kozma's two-run, two-out single to right field that produced the deciding runs. "You don't envision getting behind 6-0," Descalso said. "We just kept chipping away and chipping away and got it done at the end. We have been battling the whole series. We got some hits in some big spots." Descalso's solo homer in the eighth pulled the Cardinals within 6-5 but Washington pulled ahead 7-5 in the eighth when Adam LaRoche singled, advanced on Michael Morse's single, took third base on a fielder's choice and scored on a Kurt Suzuki single. But in the end, a record home crowd went home disappointed and the team that gave Washington baseball fans their first playoff team since 1933 went out much earlier than hoped. "With all the adversity we have had this year and then to give up that many free passes, that's not the way you win ball games," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "It's not fun to watch. "We need to let this be a lesson, learn from it, have more resolve." Washington took a 3-0 lead before St. Louis could record an out, with Jayson Werth doubling and scoring on a Bryce Harper triple and Ryan Zimmerman following with a two-run homer. The Nationals doubled their lead to 6-0 in the third when Harper smashed a leadoff homer over the right-field wall and Michael Morse added a two-run homer to left field later in the same inning. St. Louis began a rally in the fourth when Beltran walked and scored on a double by Matt Holliday. The Cardinals pulled within 6-2 when Descalso scored from third base on a wild pitch from Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez and Allen Craig walked with the bases loaded to trim Washington's lead to 6-3. St. Louis pulled within 6-4 in the seventh inning when Jon Hay walked, took third on a Beltran double and scored on a Holliday ground out.