Pozo came up prepared in 11th inning

After the Cardinals repeatedly stumbled all night in big spots – they were just 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position with 12 men left on base – Pozo rescued his teammates once again. The journeyman catcher, who clawed his way to the big leagues by being able to hit even after several days in a row of inactivity, slapped the first pitch he saw into right field to plate Nathan Church and win the game. Pozo, who had the second-most pinch-hit RBI (seven) in MLB in 2025, was ready after for Steven Cruz’s 100.1 mph four-seam fastball because of the work he did preparing himself in the batting cages just off the Cards dugout.

“I had been hitting since the sixth inning,” said Pozo, whose voice was hoarse after celebrating Thursday’s road win against the Athletics and again on Friday night. “When we went to extra-innings, I started facing all the pitchers we could face on the (simulation pitching machine). I had a lot of swings and I was ready.”

Pozo, who started Thursday’s game-winning rally with a ninth-inning single, was so overjoyed by Friday’s winning hit that he had to be reminded by first base coach Stubby Clapp to touch the bag. Afterward, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Pozo admitted that he was tempted to take off his jersey and celebrate with the bare-chested, shirt-waving fans that clustered in the right field seats and tripled in size as the game continued.

“We saw them jumping in the last three innings and more people were coming and more people were coming, and that was amazing,” Pozo said. “I’ve never seen that before since I’ve been here last year and this year, and it was really cool.

“I was about to take my jersey off and start doing it, but I controlled myself.”

Lars Nootbaar homers in his first AB, rehab game after double heel surgery

Nolan Gorman, who had two hits and a big single in a 10th inning rally, agreed with Walker that the Cardinals truly have something cooking a little more than a fourth of the way into the season.

“I think this group just plays together all nine innings or more if we need to and we’re having a lot of fun,” Gorman said. “In past years, we might have said, ‘Oh well, another one’ and dropped those games, But, we’ve got guys who are willing to put it all out on the line. You can have a special team when you do that, and we’ve got that now.”

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