With the St. Louis Cardinals hanging on for dear life in the playoff race in the NL, every game feels as if they're must win from here on out. On Tuesday night, it seemed as though the Cardinals were going to blunder their way towards defeat, what with center fielder Michael Siani, who butters his bread on the defensive side of the ball, attempting an epic diving catch off of a sharp fly ball from Willy Adames — only for the ball to fall off his glove, allowing the Milwaukee Brewers' tying run to cross the plate in the 11th inning.
Siani, however, quickly went from zero to hero for the Cardinals. With runners on at second and third as he came up to the plate in the top of the 12th inning, the 25-year-old center fielder, who has had his fair share of struggles hitting the ball, redeemed himself. He made contact on a very low sinker from Elvis Peguero and hit a bloop single to left field, driving in two runs with one swing of the bat.
As the famous Ted Lasso said, professional athletes must have the memory of a goldfish. Errors and shortcomings are part of sports, but it's how an individual bounces back that matters. For the Cardinals center fielder and hero in their 7-4 win over the Brewers, he had to quickly block the missed opportunity to end the game in the 11th from his mind, and did so successfully.
“Coaches said, ‘Listen, you're going to go win the game for us with the bat.' I tried as best as I could to get it out of my mind,” Siani told Bally Sports Midwest's Jim Hayes in his postgame presser.
Siani on go-ahead hit in the 12th after just missing game-ending catch: "Coaches said, 'Listen, you're going to go win the game for us with the bat.' I tried as best as I could to get it out of my mind."
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It's not an ideal scenario whatsoever for the Cardinals to have Michael Siani, a light-hitting outfielder who's only in his second game back from injury, in such a scenario. Prior to Tuesday, Siani had an OPS of .617 this season.
But Siani being the hero of the night was simply written in the stars. Not too many would have the guts to try the catch he did in an attempt to seal the game for the Cardinals in the 11th, and the baseball gods certainly rewarded his courage with a heroic moment that he will not forget soon.
Michael Siani redeems himself for the Cardinals
The Cardinals franchise holds Michael Siani in high regard, that much is certain. They have relied upon him to be their everyday center fielder for most of the year, thanks in large part to his top-tier defense at the position.
Siani covers a ton of ground in the outfield, and he is brazen in going for catches that appear impossible to pull off. Regardless, Siani bit off a bit more than he could chew as he almost fumbled the game for the Cardinals on Tuesday.
“Oh, definitely being mad about not making that catch. I obviously want to make that play and the game’s over, and you don’t have to worry about anything. But it was good to come up in that situation and redeem myself and make something happen,” Siani added, via John Denton of MLB.com.
The Cardinals move above .500 with the win, as they now boast a 70-69 record. They still remain within shouting distance of a wild card spot, with the Atlanta Braves having a 5.5-game cushion over them with 23 games remaining in the season.