Cardinals: Watch Albert Pujols pimp his walk-off sacrifice fly

It doesn’t take much to get St. Louis Cardinals fans excited these days. Considering the team is 7-3 in their last 10 games, it’s tough to blame them.

The Cards defeated the Padres on Tuesday night thanks to an incredible bullpen performance and a sac fly from The Machine himself.

Scoring was at a minimum on Tuesday, so it’s not surprising that Pujols greeted a fly ball that went out of the infield like a walk-off home run to win the World Series. In the bottom of the tenth inning, Albert hit a line drive just deep enough to score the winning baserunner, Tommy Edman.

For Pujols, who is hitting just .218 on the year, it was a reminder of why he came back in the first place — quality at-bats and timely hitting.

Notice the first teammate out to great Pujols? Yep, that’s the great Yadier Molina, a fellow longtime Cardinal and potential future Hall of Famer, as well.

Cardinals: Albert Pujols is the hero St. Louis needs

Pujols’ return is only a footnote in what could be a very special season in St. Louis. This is all assuming they make some rotation upgrades when the time comes.

For now, Oliver Marmol is dealing with a patchwork rotation minus the likes of Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz. Adam Wainwright has turned back the clock, while Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Jordan Hicks have been asked to keep the staff afloat for the time being.

Every win looms large with the Milwaukee Brewers in the same division. Pujols provided just that on Tuesday night.