St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II. Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Watch: How Cardinals beat the odds in wild rundown sequence

By Kevin Henry | Last updated 9/25/24

The St. Louis Cardinals used heads-up baserunning to fool the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night, turning what looked to be a sure out on the bases into a head-shaking escape that eventually led to an important run during a 7-3 win on Tuesday night.

With one out in the seventh inning and the Rockies holding a 3-2 lead with runners on second and third, Masyn Winn hit a comebacker to Colorado pitcher Victor Vodnik, who decided to go after Lars Nootbaar (the runner at third) in a rundown between third base and home plate. However, during the rundown, the Cardinals noticed a glaring defensive error by the Rockies and took advantage of it.

Below, you may be able to spot the defensive lapse that led to everyone being safe on the play.

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Victor Scott II, who had just entered the game as a pinch runner after Matt Carpenter's pinch-hit double, told reporters after the game he noticed once he reached third that no one was covering second base for the Rockies, giving the Cardinals a way to get out of the jam.

"When he (Nootbaar) gets to third, you normally want to stay at that bag, but no one was at second," Scott explained. "If I can get out of the situation with no outs and bases loaded, that would be the goal. It ended up working out like that today, and that was pretty cool."

Scott admitted he saw the opening at second base early in the developing play but knew he couldn't give away the advantage by letting the Rockies see what he saw.

"You don't want to leave too early, because if he (Nootbaar) stays in that rundown, there's almost no point of leaving," Scott said. "As soon as I turned my head, as soon as I looked, I saw no one was there. I knew I could beat those two guys, their middle infielders, back to the bag."

Scott's awareness paid off for the Cardinals, as everyone was safe on the play. The next batter, Alec Burleson, hit into a groundout that plated Nootbaar to tie the game at 3-3. It would be the first of five consecutive runs scored by St. Louis to finish the game.

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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