Gray Roughed Up As Rockies Fall To Cardinals In St. Louis
ST. LOUIS (The Sports Xchange) - Matt Carpenter drove in a career-high six runs with two doubles and a three-run homer, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 13-7 win Thursday night over the Colorado Rockies.
Carpenter's second double knocked in two during a six-run fourth inning, the most runs the Cardinals have scored in an inning this season. He capped the big night with his team-leading ninth homer of the year in the eighth.
Carpenter became the first leadoff hitter to drive in six runs for the Cardinals since Shawon Dunston in 2000 and only the second to do it since 1945.
Matt Adams added a pair of two-run singles to help the Cardinals score 10-plus runs for the ninth time in their first 41 games this season. They are the first National League team to do that since the Rockies in 2001.
Stephen Piscotty, moved from second to fourth in a revamped St. Louis batting order, had three hits for the second night in a row and contributed two RBIs.
The win went to reliever Tyler Lyons, who took over after starter Michael Wacha allowed six runs in four innings. Wacha surrendered six runs in consecutive starts for the first time in his career he.
Lyons (1-0) retired the first seven hitters he faced before Trevor Story hit his 12th homer of the year in the seventh, his first since May 5. The lefty wound up allowing just the one hit and one run in three innings.
Colorado starter Jon Gray (1-2) allowed nine runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.
The Cardinals' decision to bump rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz to second in the batting order, putting Piscotty fourth, paid immediate dividends in the first inning.
After Diaz was hit by a pitch, Matt Holliday singled and Piscotty -- with the second-highest average in the NL with runners in scoring position -- drove in the first run with a ground-rule double. Adams' single brought in both Holliday and Piscotty for a 3-0 lead.
The three runs were the most the Cardinals had scored in the first inning since a four-run first on April 15.
Carpenter's two-out RBI double in the second increased the lead to 4-0 before the Rockies cut the margin in half in the third on a two-run double by Story.
Wacha could not hold the lead as the Rockies scored four times in the fourth, two coming on a bases-loaded single by ex-Cardinal Daniel Descalso that tied the game. Gray punched a RBI single through the drawn-in infield to put Colorado ahead 5-4 and Charlie Blackmon's fielder's choice grounder produced the fourth run of the inning.
The Rockies' lead was short-lived, however. A bases-loaded double by Carpenter tied the game and ignited the six-run fourth, which included an RBI single by Diaz, another RBI on Piscotty's second double of the game and a two-run single by Adams.
Cardinals center fielder Randal Grichuk had to leave the game after the third inning because of tightness in his lower back, the team announced.
NOTES: SS Jose Reyes took a physical and began working out at the Rockies' spring training facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Thursday. Reyes is not eligible to play until his suspension by Major League Baseball for violating the domestic abuse policy is completed on May 31. ... Cardinals SS Jhonny Peralta, who underwent surgery for a torn ligament in his left thumb in spring training, will begin a rehab assignment at Class A Peoria, Ill., on Friday. Manager Mike Matheny said Peralta will see time at both shortstop and third base. ... The sentencing hearing for former Cardinals' scouting director Chris Correa, who pleaded guilty to illegally accessing information from the Houston Astros' computer database, was delayed Thursday from June 11 to July 5 in U.S. District Court in Houston.
