On Sunday afternoon, one night after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1, ending their scoreless streak on the road at 42 innings, and snapping the Cardinals’ five-game winning streak, St. Louis looked to take the rubber game of a three game series at Busch Stadium.
And on a day where the Cardinals honored Oscar Taveras, who made his debut one year ago on May 31st, 2014, Martinez pitched at a top level, as the Cardinals picked up the 3-1 victory.
For the game, the 32-17 first place Cardinals sent Carlos Martinez to the mound, as the 29-19 second place Dodgers sent Brett Anderson to the mound.
Martinez started off strong in the top of the first inning, as he struck out Joc Pederson and Alberto Callaspo in a row, and Adrian Gonzalez followed with a line-out. In the bottom of the first inning, following a line drive single by Matt Carpenter, shortstop Jhonny Peralta launches a two-run home run to left center field, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
It was Peralta’s eighth home run of the season.
The top of the second inning started with a ground out by Howie Kendrick, followed by a single from Andre Ethier. Two subsequent outs garnered by Martinez ended the threat, stranding Ethier at first. Meanwhile, Anderson pitched a shutout bottom of the second against the Cardinals. Mark Reynolds started with a single, but Jason Heyward grounded into a force out. Heyward, with Pete Kozma at the plate, got picked off trying to steal second.
Peter Bourjos soon grounded out to end the inning with St. Louis still ahead 2-0.
As for Martinez, he stepped back onto the mound to start off the top of the fourth, and swiftly pitched a 1-2-3 inning, with all of the outs being ground-outs. He would do the same thing in the top of the fifth inning, as that 1-2-3 inning included a strike out of Alex Guerrero, while the other two outs were ground outs.
But for every statement Martinez made, Anderson had an answer. After Martinez struck out in the bottom of the fifth, Bourjos singled, but got picked off, and Carpenter struck out as well, ending the inning as St. Louis was hanging onto a 2-0 lead.
The closest chance Los Angeles had to tying the game with Martinez on the mound came during the top of the sixth inning. After a strikeout of Anderson, both Pederson and Callaspo walked to put two on with one out. After a visit to the mound from teammates and pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, Martinez struck out both Gonzalez and Kendrick, and the Cardinals got out of the jam with the 45,000+ crowd at Busch Stadium on their feet as the young pitcher headed to the dugout.
Anderson, however, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, and the teams headed to the seventh inning with the Cardinals still ahead 2-0.
Once again, Martinez pitched a 1-2-3 inning to start the seventh, and out-dueled Anderson, as, in the bottom half of the seventh, Chris Hatcher was brought in to replace him.  Kolten Wong entered the game during the inning to replace Kozma both at the plate and in the field, but he wound up grounding into a double play to end the inning.
Kevin Siegrist entered the game to replace Martinez to start off the top of the eighth. The final line of the evening for Martinez: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. With Siegrist on the mound, Jimmy Rollins got called out on strikes, Enrique Hernandez struck out swinging, but with two outs, Pederson ended the shutout by hitting a solo home run to right center field, to cut the lead to 2-1 St. Louis.
However, with Hatcher still on the mound, the Cardinals bounced back. After walks to Jon Jay and Carpenter, Yimi Garcia entered in relief for Hatcher. Peralta stepped up to bat, and singled, scoring Jay, and giving St. Louis a two run lead once again, this time being 3-1.
And that lead remained for the rest of the game, as Trevor Rosenthal entered in the ninth inning, and, despite allowing two walks with two outs, closed the game for his 14th save of the year, as the St. Louis Cardinals won the series against Los Angeles with a 3-1 victory.
The win is the fifth of the year for Martinez, as the Cardinals improve to 33-17, and the Dodgers lose their 20th game of the season.
As stated before, there were high emotions before the game even began, as a moving tribute to Taveras was shown on the jumbo-tron at Busch Stadium. Martinez, as many know, wears #18 in tribute to his late best friend, and while Taveras is gone, he will never be forgotten.
Once a Cardinal…always a Cardinal….
(AP Photo/Billy Hurst)
