Arenado's blast caps Cardinals' 'will to win'

ST. LOUIS -- Nolan Arenado left Busch Stadium on Friday night wholly critical of his performance, displeased with his production and baffled by his approach.

He left Saturday night with a curtain call -- and a Cardinals win.

Arenado’s two-run blast in the eighth inning propelled St. Louis to a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over the Reds -- a quick, loud and emotional pick-me-up from the night prior, when the Cardinals’ third baseman said he was missing too many balls, not “onto them” as much as he was in the first half of the year.

He didn’t miss Luis Castillo’s changeup in the sixth that went for a rally-inciting triple. Nor did Arenado miss Lucas Sims’ 1-0 slider high and on the outer portion of the plate that went 373 feet over the left-field fence.

With the win, St. Louis moved to two games back of the second National League Wild Card spot after the Padres lost to the Dodgers.

"We were all joking about it the other day. He's probably going to finish with 30 homers and 100 RBIs, and he hates it,” said Miles Mikolas, who took a tepid step forward with five rather efficient frames outside a pair of two-run homers in the third. “I think it's incredible. It just speaks to his standard of excellence and it's something that is inspiring in a way."

It’s been inspiring to Arenado’s teammates, who, both youthful and experienced, say he has moved their competitive needle this season. It was inspiring in the moment, with Arenado impassioned as he reached first base, impassioned as he approached home plate and impassioned when the fans in attendance lured him for a curtain call.

And it was no more important than for the postseason race, handing the Cardinals a crucial win after rattling off six unanswered runs against a Cincinnati squad they are chasing. The victory was the Cards’ first this season in which they surmounted at least a four-run deficit at any point.

"That was just the will to win,” said manager Mike Shildt. “We fought, scratched, clawed and found a way to win a baseball game. It was a team win with a lot of contributions from everybody."

There were shades of Arenado’s first Cardinal home run at Busch Stadium -- a two-run home run in the eighth inning of the home opener on April 8 -- and shades of his performance to date, even if he hasn’t felt it’s been up to par.

Arenado’s go-ahead blast was his 35th such home run since 2019, tied with Matt Olson of the A's for the most in that span. He has 16 go-ahead homers in '21 alone, tied with American League MVP Award favorite Shohei Ohtani for the most in the Majors.

Traditionally, Arenado has turned it on as the temperature cools, with his career numbers in August and September starkly better when contrasted against his historically poor Julys. But this go-around has been a grind, with a .212/.267/.445 slash line since Aug. 1 entering Saturday.

Instead, Arenado morphed his language Friday into actions Saturday, with his 65 extra-base hits now second most in the NL. What’s more, Arenado became the fourth Cardinals third baseman with a 30-homer season, and the first since Scott Rolen in 2004, the last historically great third baseman to roll through St. Louis via a trade.

“I'm here to drive runs in. I'm here to help the team win,” Arenado said. “I know I said it yesterday, and I feel like I haven't done a great job of that, but it felt good today to do it.”

It was a form of Arenado that he has longed to provide, even if his teammates haven’t felt it missing.

Mikolas was plopped behind Adam Wainwright and Jack Flaherty in the dugout and he knew it was a home run when it hit the atmosphere. Paul DeJong lost his voice yelling. The Cardinals can sense a wave creeping -- one they know they have to finally, and fully, capitalize on.

“That was huge for us,” Arenado said. “It was awesome to come back in the dugout and see everyone all fired up. They all got me fired up.”

“The energy from us tonight was something that we got to build off of,” DeJong said, after apologizing for his hoarse voice.

How about a 24-hour vibe check?

“A lot better vibe [than last night],” Arenado laughed. “Winning ballgames is a lot better than losing, that’s for sure.”