In the final game of a three game series, the St. Louis Cardinals looked to avoid a sweep against the Colorado Rockies of the National League West. Colorado won in a blowout on Monday 11-3, and on Tuesday, defeated the Cardinals 4-3 in what turned out to be an intense pitchers duel.
But on Wednesday afternoon, the Cardinals had the Rockies’ number.
The Cardinals defeated the Rockies 4-2, preventing a sweep at Coors Field, something that hasn’t happened since 2010.
On the mound for St. Louis was Carlos Martinez, who has been on quite the hot streak as of late. For the Rockies, Chad Bettis was the starting pitcher on the mound.
Neither team scored a run in the first two innings, as both pitchers limited any kind of momentum from their opposition. The top of the third inning began with a strikeout of Jason Heyward and a pop out by Peter Bourjos. With two outs and nobody on, Martinez hit a single to center field, and the Cardinals began to get the ball rolling.
Kolten Wong followed with a single that, mixed with the speed of Martinez, sent the pitcher to third base. Matt Carpenter then stepped up to bat, and singled, scoring Martinez and giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead. A fielding error by Brandon Barnes then sent Carpenter to second base. Wong eventually scored on a wild pitch, making it a 2-0 game. After a walk to Jhonny Peralta, Mark Reynolds grounded out, ending the inning, but not before St. Louis got on the board.
Martinez, aside from allowing a single by Charlie Blackmon, kept the Rockies shut down in the bottom of the third.
The score remained 2-0 Cardinals until the top of the fifth, when they added another run, this time, a double from Reynolds scored Carpenter with two outs, to make it a 3-0 Cardinals lead.
Martinez continued to pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Cardinals still holding a three run lead. Former Cardinal Daniel Descalso led off with a walk, and Nick Hundley grounded into a force out, bringing up Ben Paulsen to the plate with one on and one out.
And with one swing of the bat, Paulsen made it a one run game with a two run home run to left center field, ending the day for Martinez, as Kevin Siegrist took over. Siegrist got two consecutive outs to end the inning, with the Cardinals leading 3-2.
In the top of the eighth inning, Randal Grichuk launched a solo homer run to give the Cardinals the 4-2 lead. It was Grichuk’s third home run of the year.
The Cardinals, with help from relievers Siegrist and closer Trevor Rosenthal, shut down the Rockies the rest of the way en route to a 4-2 victory over Colorado, avoiding the sweep.
With the win, St. Louis improves to 39-21, and the Rockies fall to 27-31. Martinez improves to 7-2, and Rosenthal gets his 20th save of the season.
Jaime Garcia takes the mound for the first place Cardinals on Friday, as they have an off-day on Thursday to head home, as they begin a three game series with their I-70 rivals, the Kansas City Royals.
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
