St. Louis entered the third game of a four game series against Arizona with a three game winning streak in their favor. And with their veteran pitcher on the mound, they looked to increase the winning streak to four on Wednesday evening.
Thanks to just enough offense, and quality pitching, the Cardinals were able to beat the Diamondbacks 3-1. For the evening, the pitching battle featured John Lackey (10-8, 2.99 ERA), as well as Patrick Corbin (3-3, 4.09 ERA) for Arizona.
Right away, the Diamondbacks came off of the gate swinging and scoring, as Paul Goldschmidt hit a solo home run to immediately put them on top 1-0. But for Arizona, that turned out to be the only run of the night they would score, and Lackey was on lockdown the rest of the night.
Corbin, however, had his own lockdown pitching performance throughout the first half of the game. While the Cardinals consistently got on base, Corbin rallied around to prevent any runs from being scored, as Arizona maintained their one run lead.
Although, that all changed in the top of the fifth inning
Mark Reynolds stepped up to the plate, and hit a home run 393 feet out to left field, which tied the game for the Cardinals at 1-1. It was the veteran first baseman’s 11th home run of the season.
They eventually took the lead in the seventh inning. After a Stephen Piscotty single, Kolten Wong hit a double to score him and make it 2-1. As for the third run, Matt Carpenter scored Wong on a single to right field.
Lackey continued to deliver, pitching 1-2-3 5th and 6th innings, respectively. And he did it with efficiency, as, by the time he was taken out of the game, he had only thrown 88 pitches. His final line for the evening was: 7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks. Kevin Siegrist proceeded to take his place, and start right where Lackey left off.
And in the ninth inning, Trevor Rosenthal came in to notch his 40th save of the season, as the Cardinals won 3-1. They improved to 81-45 on the year, and Lackey improves his record to 11-8.
In the series finale Thursday night, Carlos Martinez will get the start.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
