Martinez Backs Subpar Start With Bat, Grichuk Homers, Cards Pull Within One Game of Top Wild Card Spot
On a night where Carlos Martinez did not have his best stuff, he still managed to hold the Rockies to just two runs, even at the hitter friendly Coors Field. He helped his own cause as well, driving in the game winning RBI, on a two run double, in the top half of the fourth. Randal Grichuk also sent a hanging change up high into the Colorado night, with Gyorko on second, for his 23rd home run of 2016.
Randal Grichuk crushed his 23rd home run, in the third inning Monday, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. (Dustin Bradford, Getty Images)
Martinez had a rough first inning, allowing two walks and a hit, which gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead to start the ballgame. After a one-two-three second, Martinez ran into more trouble in the bottom of the third. He started the inning by striking out Charlie Blackmon, but then allowed DJ LaMahieu to reach first, with a one-out single. After a wild pitch that he then fielded from off the backstop, Martinez got Carlos Gonzalez to line out to short, keeping LeMahieu at second. Unfortunately, he would not be there long, as Nolan Arenado brought him home with a two-out single. This was Arenado’s National League leading 124th RBI.
The Cards answered with three runs in the fourth, two coming via the Martinez double. Matt Carpenter then singled into right, scoring Carlos from second. After legging out the double, and then running from second to the plate, the Cardinal starter was clearly feeling the effects of the high altitude. When he reached the dugout, Martinez took some aided breaths through a mask hooked to an oxygen tank, before going out to pitch the bottom half of the inning. When he reached the mound, he did not look quite right, so much so that he warranted a medically related mound visit from Mike Matheny and the Cardinal trainer, in the middle of the inning. Regardless, Martinez worked his way through a stressful fourth, and then finished the fifth inning, without allowing another Rockies’ score. This made him eligible for his team high 15th win, which he would have by the end of the night.
After Carlos left the game in the fifth, it was up to the Redbird bullpen to hold the lead. Matt Bowman threw 2/3 of the sixth, which Zach Duke came in to finish. Duke also threw the seventh inning without allowing a batter to reach base. Dean Kiekhefer and Jonathon Broxton then combined to pitch a scoreless eighth. In the ninth, with Seung Hwan Oh unavailable, Kevin Siegrist was called on to close things down. Siegrist was shaky, giving up a solo home run to pinch hitter Ryan Raburn, and later bringing the winning run to the plate in Nolan Arenado. The Cardinal lefty, however, eventually would get the third out, earning his third save on the year.
With the Mets and Giants both losing on Monday night, the Cards’ win put them in a tie for the second wild card spot, just one game back of the Mets. Adam Wainwright will take the hill for the birds on Tuesday, looking for win number 12. The Cardinals will need a win to keep the pressure on New York and San Francisco. Tuesday’s game will start at 7:40 CT.
