Marcell Ozuna helps Cardinals reach Game 5 of the NLDS

MLB: NLDS-St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Marcell Ozuna is one of the reasons why the Cardinals have forced game five of the National League Divisional Series on Wednesday. Ozuna, who is batting fourth in the Cardinals lineup, has had a multi-hit game in each of the first four games in their best out of five series with the Atlanta Braves.

However it was Ozuna’s performance on Monday for game four of the series that deserves the highest praise. Both of Ozuna’s hits were home runs as he hit two solo home runs off of Braves starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel. The first home run came in the first inning with two outs and the second home run came in the fourth inning with zero out. The Cardinals defeated the Braves 5-4 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO to tie their best out of five series at two games apiece.

Ozuna’s home runs in game four were his first two home runs of the series. In game one, a 7-6 St. Louis win, Ozuna hit two doubles and had two runs batted in. In game two, Ozuna hit two singles in a 3-0 Atlanta win and in game three, Ozuna hit a single and a double in a 3-1 Braves win.

Over the first four games, Ozuna has a .471 batting average, .500 on base percentage and 1.000 slugging percentage. He has also provided phenomenal protection behind Cardinals slugging first baseman Paul Goldschmidt of Wilmington, DE.

Ozuna and Goldschmidt are not the only Cardinals batters who are entering the fifth game of the series in Atlanta with momentum. Catcher Yadier Molina had the game tying run batted in with a single in the eighth inning and the game winning run batted in with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning.

The Cardinals are looking to win their first playoff series since 2014. That year they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in the National League Divisional Series before losing to the San Francisco Giants in five games in the National League Championship Series.

 

 

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