After losing two of three to the Kansas City Royals, the St. Louis Cardinals headed back to Busch Stadium to start a three game series against the National League West’s Arizona Diamondbacks, who had a modest record heading into the Memorial Day game.
And in a game that lasted ten innings, it was the Cardinals who emerged victorious on Monday with the help of a walk-off home run.
The pitching match-up on Monday featured Carlos Martinez starting for the Cardinals, and Chase Anderson starting for the Diamondbacks.
Martinez started off the top of the first inning strong, getting the first two batters out, which included a strikeout of star player Mark Trumbo. Paul Goldschmidt singled afterwards, but David Peralta struck out as well, ending the top half of the inning. In the bottom of the first inning, Kolten Wong led off with a double to right field, followed by a Matt Carpenter single. After a fly-out by Matt Holliday, the third Matt in the lineup, Matt Adams, hit into a force out, scoring Wong, putting St. Louis ahead 1-0.
Arizona’s Yasmany Thomas led off the second with a single, but the Diamondbacks were shut down by Martinez for the rest of the inning. Anderson, meanwhile, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half of the second inning, as the Cardinals still led 1-0.
The top of the third inning started with Martinez pitching a 1-2-3 inning as well, getting Nick Ahmed and Anderson to ground out, followed by Ender Inciarte striking out. Martinez continued his hot start into the bottom of the inning, leading off with a single on a hard ground ball. Anderson, however, got Wong, Carpenter, and Holliday to get out to leave Martinez stranded on first.
St. Louis picked up their second run of the game during the bottom of the fourth inning. After Adams and Jhonny Peralta hit back-to-back singles, Yadier Molina grounded into a double play, which sent Adams to third base. Jason Heyward then stepped up, and hit a sharp single to David Peralta in left field, scoring Adams, as St. Louis had themselves a 2-0 lead nearly halfway through.
During the top of the fifth, despite allowing back-to-back singles to start off, Martinez buckled down and struck out three consecutive batters, and, after Anderson held the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom half of the inning, the score remained 2-0 in favor of the Cardinals.
Both pitchers threw a shutout sixth inning, and while Martinez continued to pitch past the sixth, Anderson lasted until the seventh inning. Aaron Hill entered the game during the top of the seventh to pinch hit for Anderson, and subsequently grounded out. Oliver Perez pitched in relief for Arizona in the bottom of the seventh inning, and held the Cardinals scoreless.
Kevin Siegrist entered the game to start the top of the eighth in relief of Martinez, who’s final line for the afternoon/early evening was: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. He tied a season-high in the categories of innings pitched as well as strikeouts in what was one of his best starts of the year (if not his best).
But the Diamondbacks were not out of it yet, as Trumbo with a runner on, hit a home run to tie the game at 2-2, as Martinez’s bid for a win ended.
However, that two run home run would be the only two runs that the Diamondbacks scored during the entire game. After both teams were held scoreless in the ninth, the game headed to extra innings. Relievers Seth Maness and Trevor Rosenthal pitched in relief during the ninth and tenth innings, and both did their job of keeping the game tied for the Cardinals’ offense.
J.C. Ramirez was on the mound for Arizona as Peralta led off the bottom of the tenth with the game still tied at 2-2. And with a 1-2 count, Peralta launched a fly ball over the left field wall, and with the walk-off home run, the Cardinals won the game 3-2.
With the win, Rosenthal won his first game of the season, as Ramirez lost his first. St. Louis improves to 29-16 on the year, while Arizona falls to 21-23 on the season.
Jaime Garcia will get the start on Tuesday for the Cardinals.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
