ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis catcher Andrew Knizner had to take a peak at the scoreboard.
He couldn’t believe his eyes after a catching a 103.1 mile-per hour fastball from reliever Ryan Helsley in the eighth inning of the Cardinals’ 7-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
”Any time you can run up 103, that lights up the entire crowd,” Knizner said.
Harrison Bader and Nolan Arenado homered in the seventh inning to help the Cardinals rally from a 5-3 deficit
St. Louis won for the third time in five games and salvaged a split of the four-game series.
Jordan Luplow hit two homers for Arizona, and Nick Ahmed and Christian Walker also went deep.
Helsley retired all six batters he faced to pick up his first save of the season. He overpowered Ahmed, Cooper Hummel and Daulton Varsho in striking out the side in the final frame. Helsley has 16 strikeouts without a walk in seven appearances this season covering 8 1/3 innings.
St. Louis first-year manager Oliver Marmol called Helsley’s performance, “absolutely electric.”
Knizner couldn’t help but take a quick look at the radar gun reading after Helsley struck out Ketel Marte for the second out in the eighth.
“I didn’t have that much time, that thing came in quick,” Knizner said. “I knew it had a little zip to it. I kind of wanted it down and away, but (he) ripped it up and in. Anything at 103 kind of works.”
It was the fastest pitch in the majors this season. Helsley said his previous fastest pitch was 101.8.
“It’s a big jump,” Helsley said. “I hadn’t thrown in a couple days. I was feeling pretty good.”
Brendan Donovan had a run-scoring grounder, and Bader slammed a two-run shot off reliever Keynan Middleton ((0-1) to put the Cardinals up 6-5.
“You just try and stay cool in…
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