ST. LOUIS -- Yohel Pozo did so much hooting and hollering while running the bases during his three-hit game in West Sacramento on Thursday, that by the time he delivered a walk-off hit at Busch Stadium on Friday night, he hardly had enough voice left to celebrate audibly.
Pozo had even less than that left in the tank vocally when it came time to talk to reporters about his latest pinch-hit heroics.
Standing in front of his locker inside the Cardinals' clubhouse, Pozo apologized for his lack of volume when answering questions after his two-out hit through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the 11th sent the Cardinals home with a thrilling 5-4 walk-off win over the Royals to open this weekend’s I-70 Series.
Fortunately, his teammates were more than happy to loudly sing Pozo’s praises.
“I mean, he's the best pinch-hitter I've ever seen,” Jordan Walker said.
In a marathon game that saw ample late-inning drama, the Cardinals finally broke through on Pozo’s game-winning swing after Royals manager Matt Quatraro walked JJ Wetherholt intentionally in the 11th.
Unlike a recent game in which the Brewers walked Wetherholt to get to Iván Herrera -- to an unfortunate end for Milwaukee -- Herrera was no longer positioned behind Wetherholt in the order as of Friday’s 11th inning.
Herrera was previously lifted for a pinch-runner, which meant Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol would turn to his bench to counter the Wetherholt walk.
Enter Pozo, who came through in a pinch to cap the night as a hero, giving a noticeably exuberant crowd one final exclamation point.
As the gridlocked game played out deep into extra innings, the Busch Stadium atmosphere was boosted by a rowdy group of fans in the upper reaches of the right-field corner whose congregation grew to span at least four sections wide.
The shirts were off for the majority of the fans that had gathered, eventually catching the attention of the stadium videoboard, the organist -- and yes, the Cardinals' dugout.
“Whoever started that in right field, I'll do whatever I need to do to make sure they come to every game,” Marmol said to open his postgame comments at the podium before taking his first question. “Because that was awesome. Not only them, but everybody that showed up today. That was a fun environment.”
Marmol was emphatic that what the crowd did on Friday night had a real impact on the game.
“It creates an environment where, it’s not only filling this place up, it’s making it a tough place for other teams to come in and play,” Marmol said. “That was pretty damn cool. I’ll sign up for that, any day.”
Friday also produced another sign of the sustainability of Walker's breakout season. He didn’t need a favorable hitter’s count to do damage against Royals starter Michael Wacha in the bottom of the fourth inning.
After falling behind in an 0-2 count, Walker stayed in the fight to recognize and pummel a Wacha changeup to straightaway center field, landing his 13th home run of the season onto the berm.
And it wasn’t necessarily that Wacha had missed location with the 79 mph delivery. Sure, the pitch didn’t drop off the table to elicit a chase below the zone, but landing just off the inside corner to the right-handed-hitting Walker, the changeup certainly wasn’t center-cut, either.
“It was a good swing, for sure,” Wacha said. “Was trying to go down and in. I mean, looking back, maybe a little bit more for chase, but credit to him. Definitely put a good swing on it.”
Contrasting to how Walker might have held up to a moment like this one in seasons past, the slugger calmly kept his hands back and confidently clubbed the baseball with an exit velocity of 104.5 mph off the bat, per Statcast, tying the game at 2-2.
“I tip my cap to him from a preparation standpoint,” Marmol said. “Because he knew exactly what he was hunting based on the count, got it where he wanted, and didn’t miss it. So, heck of an at-bat right there.”
Cardinals catcher Pedro Pagés borrowed a page from Walker’s book in the following inning, launching a ball of his own onto the grassy knoll of Freese’s Lawn.
His fourth home run of the season put the Cardinals ahead, 3-2, and provided the team’s final run prior to the raucous bottom of the 11th -- by which point, every Cardinal in the dugout felt the tangible energy emanating from out in right field.
“To be honest with you, that was one of the coolest things I've seen on a baseball field,” Pagés said.