A mad dash. A birthday gift. And a pivotal decision that created both as Cardinals flip Cubs (2024)

At the moment the game tilted toward the Cardinals, there were precisely two people in the packed and buzzing Busch Stadium convinced – for sure, no doubt – the runner was safe at home plate, and one of them was about to start an argument about it with the other.

Alec Burleson, certain he got his hand to the plate ahead of the tag, started furiously waving that left hand toward home-plate umpire Cory Blaser.

“I was looking him in the face and yelling, ‘No no no no,’” Burleson said. “Because I thought he was about to punch me out.”

He wasn’t.

Blaser’s safe call – later confirmed by replay and known all along by the ump and Burleson – meant the Cardinals’ designated hitter had tied the game on Matt Carpenter’s pinch-hit single. Instead of the third out of the inning and a lead, the Cubs had a problem. Brendan Donovan followed with a two-run, two-out single that broke the tie. Lars Nootbaar added a triple that proved later to be the decisive run in a stirring, come-from-behind 7-6 victory for the Cardinals on Saturday night against their archrivals.

But to know how Burleson’s mad dash came to be and what it had to do with the birthday of a young girl in the sellout crowd, we must first retrace his footsteps from home back to third, to second where he started and the spot a pivotal decision was made.

“That was a really tough one there,” manager Oliver Marmol said.

In a seesaw game that saw the Cardinals take a lead and lose it and the Cubs take a lead and lose it only to take it again, the Cardinal trailed by a run entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Burleson led off the inning and four batters later loomed a choice for Marmol, bench coach Daniel Descalso, and the staff. Several innings early, Descalso approached Carpenter about being ready to pinch hit in the eighth or ninth. The bench coach outlined the possible circ*mstances. If the Cardinals got to Michael Siani’s No. 9 spot in the lineup trailing or tied and a right-handed reliever was in the game, Carpenter had that at-bat.

The wild card was whether or not the Cubs would go to the left-handed reliever, Drew Smyly, they had just activated off the injured list a few hours earlier.

Against Cubs right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr., Burleson opened the inning with a single. Nolan Gorman followed with a single to push Burleson, the potential tying run, into scoring position. Leiter retired the next two batters. That only heightened what was already true for the Cardinals – no player was more important to them than Burleson at that moment, and in no spot was speed more important than Burleson’s place at second at that moment.

“Can you pinch-run for him?” Marmol asked rhetorically late Saturday night in his office. “We went back and forth 100 times. If you’re down, but you don’t have a running upgrade and also someone else who can take that at-bat when Smyly comes in. … I felt like Siani’s at-bat was going to be a big at-bat.”

And he wanted two options available.

The only choice to pinch-run for Burleson was Dylan Carlson – a swifter runner and also then the replacement in center field at the cost of the DH. Carpenter was already in the batting cage prepping for his potential at-bat. But if the Cubs went to Smyly, Marmol wanted Carlson, a switch-hitter, to take that pinch-hit at-bat. The call might have been different if the Cardinals knew they could steal third base with a new runner at second. That was the crux of the dilemma. Use Carlson to run. Or, keep Carlson available as the right-handed option to hit.

“You’re sitting there trying to hold that card,” Marmol said.

With two outs and Siani’s spot up, the time came to let the card go.

The Cubs stuck with Leiter.

The Cardinals stuck with Burleson at second.

Since about the fifth inning, Carpenter had started taking swings to ready himself for a late-game at-bat. He reviewed video of Leiter and Hector Nerris, expecting to face Leiter with the game on the line in the eighth or Nerris to lead off the ninth. In the batting cage, Carpenter set the pitching machine to throw him sliders and high-speed fastballs.

“Try to get some swings on some velocity down there to get primed and just go take the at-bat,” Carpenter said. “If Siani comes up and we’re down late and the matchup is good, we’re going to take our shot. There were times this year where it almost happened but it didn’t. … It ended up playing out that way. I was able to come through.”

Carpenter, as is his way, took three balls to get ahead in the count 3-0. Leiter slipped a strike past Carpenter. The next pitch Carpenter lifted a single to right field. Burleson got a strong jump. Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki readied his stronger arm. The game was afoot.

Pitcher Miles Mikolas, who provided a quality start and allowed three runs in the fourth inning, has long maintained that he could best Burleson in a footrace.

“I’m faster than Burly for sure,” Mikolas asserted. “I know. Home to first, yeah. But anything longer than home to first, absolutely.”

The right-hander even subtly underscored his point later Saturday.

He described Burleson’s deft slide, how he got his hand in between the catcher’s mitt and the baseball, and then quietly added one more sentence.

“I’m standing up,” Mikolas said, no slide necessary.

Suzuki’s throw beat Burleson to home plate. Teammate Brendan Donovan was motioning for Burleson to slide, slide low, and slide in this direction. Donovan later explained that he saw a look of “uh oh” on Burleson’s face. (“He was going as hard as he could,” Donovan said.) That expression changed as Burleson got his left hand under the swipe of catcher Miguel Amaya’s mitt and then realized Amaya had not transferred the ball from his barehand. Burleson’s hand threaded that avenue between mitt and baseball to reach home safely.

Blaser agreed and so did replay officials in New York City after the Cubs challenged the call and tried to steal an inning-ending out.

After the win, after the handshakes, Donovan raced to the Cardinals’ video room to look up data on Burleson’s sprint from second base. What Donovan found out, Burleson was sure to mention before he answered any questions from the media.

“I just want to start by saying I was running above league average,” Burleson said. “I’m faster than most of the league. Well, half of the league. I don’t know if that’s accurate. That’s just what (Donovan) told me. So, I feel good.”

It’s accurate.

The average baserunning speed so far this season is 27 feet per second, according to Statcast. Burleson rounded third, reached home, and changed Saturday’s game at a speed of 27.6 feet per second. Swifter than average. Confirmed. Carpenter had his 97th career RBI against the Cubs. The Cardinals were about to have and hold a lead. They would cinch their ninth win in their previous 11 games – and the cheers Burleson heard after his slide only grew from the crowd of 45,071 at Busch.

“The energy through the whole night was electric,” Carpenter said. “It was fun. We’re in the new (City Connect) uniforms. We’ve got this big weekend series against the Cubs. Both teams are playing well. Fans are great. Obviously the way that inning unfolded, the stadium was on their feet throughout the whole thing.”

And there in that crowd was his daughter.

Carpenter has not had much time with his family since returning to the Cardinals on a one-year deal. He’s seen them for a few home games, not many, because school back home in Texas has been the priority. His family arrived Thursday so that they could, on the off day, celebrate his daughter’s birthday. She turned 8 on Friday. And dad delivered.

So did Marmol’s decision.

As he kept Carlson available to face a lefty, readied Carpenter to face the right-hander, and let Burleson run for himself, the manager said even at that point, confident with the strategy and probability, “you’re praying it’s not a close play at the plate.” And then it was.

Said Burleson: “I think he knew I was going to be fast enough to score.”