SAN DIEGO – With a chance to change the game, change the week and help haul his teammates out of the quicksand he’s encountered before, Paul DeJong – not a pinch-hitter for Paul DeJong – came to the plate in the seventh inning Wednesday.
Albert Pujols snapped Blake Snell’s no-hit bid with a two-out single in the seventh. Rookie Juan Yepez followed with a single to get Pujols where so few Cardinals have been – into scoring position. The inning, the game, the moment found DeJong with a chance to deliver the Cardinals’ first RBI in nearly 45 innings, their first run of their visit to Petco Park.