Phillies stun Cardinals with wild 9th-inning rally to open wild card

ST. LOUIS — Jean Segura's career spanned 11 seasons and 1,328 games before he finally reached the postseason, the longest active streak in the major leagues. On the morning of his first playoff game, the Philadelphia Phillies' second baseman barely slept. He awoke at 7 a.m. «with adrenaline in my body.» Friday wore on, and that edge never left.

«I was mentally focused on every play, every pitch,» Segura said. «I came prepared today to play a game, and to be able to be here — I just thank God that everything was on my side.»

With the Phillies down a run, the bases loaded, one out in the top of the ninth and the St. Louis Cardinals scrambling to replace their wounded closer, Segura snuck a grounder past a slightly drawn-in infield, plating two runs and propelling the Phillies to an improbable 6-3 win in the opening game of their best-of-three wild-card series, putting them on the cusp of advancing into the National League Division Series.

The Cardinals, backed by a stellar performance from Jose Quintana and an electrifying pinch-hit homer by Juan Yepez, held a 2-0 lead heading into the final inning and had every reason to believe they were headed toward a Game 1 victory. They were at home, with a sold-out Busch Stadium crowd in a frenzy, and their lights-out closer, Ryan Helsley, was on the mound.

What followed strained credulity.

The Cardinals were 93-0 in postseason history when leading by multiple runs entering the ninth inning. The Phillies, meanwhile, were 0-54 during the regular season in that same situation. They wound up scoring six times — the most by a team trailing entering the ninth in postseason history. None of their runs came on hard contact. Alec Bohm was plunked with the bases loaded, Brandon Marsh hit a