'Electric' Contreras fuels Cards in character win

WASHINGTON -- Longing for these kinds of moments while he was out for six-plus weeks with a fractured left forearm, Cardinals designated hitter Willson Contreras let his emotions pour out of him as his game-tying home run sailed over the wall in center in Friday’s ninth inning.

Contreras had a little something for everyone following the clutch homer to tie a game where the Cardinals once trailed by five runs. Contreras excitedly pumped his fist toward Cardinals first-base coach Stubby Clapp, he screamed and gestured toward the Cardinals dugout to try and fire up his teammates and, finally, he cupped his hand to the earflap of his helmet to egg on the Nats fans booing him.

After the homer, Nolan Gorman singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, but the Nationals tied it up in the bottom of the frame against closer Ryan Helsley. Ultimately, Masyn Winn scored on a passed ball in the 11th inning for the decisive run, and Helsley recorded the win in his first multi-inning outing of the season, as the Cardinals beat the Nationals, 7-6, at Nationals Park.

None of it would have been possible without the Contreras blast off Washington righty Kyle Finnegan, who came into Friday with a 0.53 ERA and an .056 batting average against in 17 home games this season. Admittedly “grinding” to regain the stroke he had before the forearm injury, Contreras drove a four-seam fastball a Statcast-projected 407 feet into the seats beyond the wall in center. That smash triggered a flow of pent-up emotions from Contreras, whose emotion tends to be a catalyst for his more subdued teammates.

“Everybody here is different, but we need that type of emotion, and I’m not going to ever change,” said Contreras, who hit a tying, two-run home run on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. “Energy like that is infectious, and it’s good for this team. I love these guys, and they love me. We’re here to grind and to win or lose together.”

Added Gorman, who came off the bench and finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs: “Willson’s electric, and we love when he gets fired up like that. I think there were more Cardinals fans here than Nationals fans, so he was making sure they were yelling with him. But he’s electric, and we love that energy.”

Contreras’ emotion carried over to Helsley, who had converted a club-record 31 straight save opportunities but saw that streak come to an end in the 10th inning when an unearned run scored to knot the game at 6. After the Cardinals regained the lead in the 11th inning, Helsley told manager Oliver Marmol that he had enough life in his arm to pitch the bottom of the 11th even though he had been limited to just one inning in his previous 39 appearances this season. Even though his streak ended, Helsley picked up the win in one of the Cardinals’ most emotional victories of 2024.

“I kind of laughed about it and said, ‘Well my streak is over, so I need to go out here and fight for the win for our team,’” said Helsley, who blew his first save since March 30 during the season-opening series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. “Our bullpen has been pretty taxed, and I said [to Marmol], ‘I feel good and I’ll take the ball if you’ll give it to me.’ He told me, ‘It’s yours,’ and thankfully it turned out good for us.”

“Good” is not the way Contreras would describe the feel of his swing since he returned from an injury that happened when Mets slugger J.D. Martinez hit the catcher across the forearm with his bat. He came into Friday 7-for-35 with a homer and three RBIs since returning from the injury. The feeling that he’s wanted to experience for weeks came when he hit a ball 101.5 mph for the game-tying homer in the ninth.

“That’s what we play for and that’s what makes baseball so exciting because you never know who is going to win,” Contreras said following his eighth home run of the season. “You never know when the big spot is going to come to you, but when you can hit a homer like that, it’s really exciting. I’m not going to say I was trying to hit a homer. But I was just trying to get on top of that four-seam fastball because he has a good one.”

Contreras thinks wins like the one the Cards experienced on Friday show the character of the squad.

“We’re not giving up until the last out is made, and that’s what we showed again tonight,” he said. “To find a way to win this one, it was awesome for us.”