After Pham and Randal Grichuk gave the Cardinals (46-43) a 6-5 edge in their half of the seventh with long solo homers off reliever David Phelps, Miami equalized in the eighth.
Advertisement
Defense haunted the Cardinals again in the ninth.
Rojas’ hit made a victor of reliever Fernando Rodney (1-2), who worked a clean eighth.
Tommy Pham had two of the Cardinals’ four homers and drove in four runs.
The series beginning on Friday night will take place at Busch Stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals now find themselves owning a home record of 19-26. After sandwiching singles by Adeiny Hechavarria and J.T. Realmuto around a force at second, Garcia was replaced by the Cards’ former closer.
“Both home runs were fastballs down the middle”, Phelps said. Perez was leading the Southern League in stolen bases with 39…. He left with one out in the 7th and a couple of guys on base – final line: 6.1 IP, 2 K, 2 BB, 8 H, 2 R – and gave way to (dun da da dunnnnnn) Trevor Rosenthal, with the Cards up 4-2. But Siegrist came right back to get pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas on a flyout to center. Giancarlo Stanton, Martin Prado, and Marcell Ozuna all had two hits. But the Cardinals failed to pull it off as Matt Holliday was unable to come up with the relay throw from Aledmys Diaz. This game was the first game since the All-Star Break, and it was a seesaw affair. Siegrist pitched an inning, allowing an unearned run…. A few batters later, Tommy Pham homered to left, scoring Yadier Molina and Jedd Gyorko, and St. Louis quickly gained the 4-1 lead.
The Marlins chipped away a bit with another run, but Jaime mostly held firm. Center fielder Randal Grichuk came in and couldn’t retreat in time to harness Marcell Ozuna’s double in the ninth that led to the winning run. The 31-year-old native of Taiwan has answered a hard three-game stretch by turning in two strong performances in his last three – highlighted by a one-run, three-hit effort in seven innings of a 5-2 triumph over the New York Mets.
Stanton, in his first game since his record-setting win in the Home Run Derby in San Diego, extended his hitting streak to eight games. Ozuna’s one-out liner to center looked catchable, but the ball sailed over Grichuk’s head and short-hopped the wall for a double. But Diaz and Holliday struck out swinging to end the threat. St. Louis’s projected starters have a combined lifetime record of 6-2 against the Marlins, while only Koehler has started against the Cardinals among Miami’s trio. St. Louis activated LHP Kevin Siegrist (mononucleosis) from the 15-day DL Friday and optioned RHP Sam Tuivailala to Triple-A Memphis. He struck out five and walked one.
“I don’t know how much of a message it sends”, he said. We’ll just have to hope their high points are sufficient to distract you from the underlying chaos. “I think we’re separating ourselves from a team playing. I have no idea how I got it. I guess it could stay in your system for a month before it shows up with any symptoms”.
The St. Louis Cardinals must play better at home if they are seriously interested in punching their ticket to the postseason party for the sixth straight year. “Someone else can have that”.
Garcia is 2-0 with 1.07 ERA in four career starts against Miami.
This is Chen’s first career appearance against the Cardinals. He had a 3.72 mark in his four seasons with Baltimore.
But the Cardinals used power to gain control in their half of the inning. “I tried to put a good swing on the ball and fortunately, it found a hole”.
Advertisement
Marching Mizzou, the Mizzou cheerleaders, the Golden Girls and Truman the Tiger were also in attendance. “I was pitching out there”. Odom, a righthander, followed with his pitch to compete the pregame festivities.
