Carlson smacks homer, doesn't even know it

PITTSBURGH -- "¡Ay, ay! ¿¡Qué está haciendo!? ¡Era un jonrón!"

“Hey, hey! Come on! DC, let’s go!”

Those were the words Edmundo Sosa howled to Dylan Carlson on Saturday night. For an instant, the Cardinals’ rookie sulked his way back to the dugout, seeing his 384-foot shot land in the glove of Pirates left fielder Anthony Alford amid what became a loud and bash-worthy 13-0 win over Pittsburgh at PNC Park.

Both Sosa and the dugout got Carlson to turn around. When he did, he had four bases to touch.

The ball was in Alford’s glove, and then it was in the left-field bleachers.

“I saw the play entirely. … I got kind of worried because I was like, 'You got to run it out there,'” Sosa said through team translator Antonio Mujica. “You don't make it to first, you're going to be out, so let's go. I don't know if he heard me or not, but I was out there definitely yelling at him.”

It worked. Carlson thought he was ready to hang up his batting gloves and helmet in what was a hitless night (albeit with two walks) for him to that point. Instead, he found his 13th homer of the season, one in which he is bound to receive National League Rookie of the Year votes.

“That was going to be a frustrating one if he had robbed that one,” said manager Mike Shildt.

"I saw the reaction of some of the guys in the dugout telling me to turn around and keep going,” Carlson said on the Bally Sports Midwest broadcast after the win. “I heard some people saying, ‘Back!' to the runner, so when he made that jumping effort at it, I thought he brought it in. Luckily, for me, it snuck out.”

Lucky indeed. And it was the second such luck the Cardinals have found this season, after Matt Carpenter's cathartic three-run blast on April 29 that went in and out of the glove of the Phillies' Roman Quinn.