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Schumaker, Cardinals rally past Rays

May 18, 2008 - 11:59 PM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Failing to take advantage of runners on base for nearly the entire game, the St. Louis Cardinals finally broke through when they needed it most.

Skip Schumaker hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.

With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, Jason LaRue led off with a walk and moved to second on Cesar Izturis' infield single with one out.

Schumaker then took a 1-0 delivery from Gary Glover (0-2) and lined a ball just over the outstretched glove of Rays left fielder Carl Crawford, giving the Cardinals the win.

"It's a good win for us and good to win the series," Schumaker said. "I think that every guy in this clubhouse wants to be the guy at the plate and be the hero so to speak. A lot of different guys have come through this year. It's just a good feeling."

Tampa Bay pitching was hurt by walking 10 batters, six coming from the bullpen over the final three innings.

"As a bullpen guy you have to come in and throw strikes and I didn't do my part doing that and it cost us the ball game," Glover said. "Obviously we didn't do our part the way we've been doing it. We'll just bounce back and get it tomorrow."

The Cardinals, who left 16 men on base during the course of the game, had trailed by two runs in the eighth before mounting a rally.

St. Louis was trailing, 4-2, in the bottom of the eighth but a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt by Schumaker put runners on second and third with one out. Aaron Miles then came through with a bloop two-run single to left to tie the game at 4-4.

Holding a 2-0 lead, Tampa Bay tacked on another when Ben Zobrist led off the fifth with a double to right. The Rays shortstop then stole third and scored on Cardinals catcher LaRue's throwing error.

After leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning, St. Louis could only get one run after loading the bases again in the sixth.

"I think it's a good sign of our toughness," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "You're going to have tough stretches and what you want to do is salvage some wins. I thought we played a good fundamental game."

Rays starter Edwin Jackson walked a pair and was replaced by J.P. Howell, who walked Izturis and gave up an RBI single to Schumaker. But that was all St. Louis could get, as Howell struck out Aaron Miles and got Albert Pujols to ground into a fielder's choice.

"The effort level was fantastic today, we just had trouble with the walks which has not been any part of our problem," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "They just got us with the walks today and they came back and they beat us."

The Cardinals cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh when Ryan Ludwick led off with a home run to left field, but Crawford gave the Rays a 4-2 advantage by leading off the eighth with a blast to center.

"The effort was good, the intensity of the game was wonderful," Maddon said. "They beat us the last two days. You're not going to be perfect over the course of a season.

"All of these guys are together. The whole group is together and we'll rebound tomorrow. I'm not concerned at all."