Coverage of today's Cards and D'backs game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 5:40pm.
St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Holliday started the defensive play
that kept the Cardinals tied with the Diamondbacks and ended the game by
scoring on an error in the 12th inning in a 3-2 St. Louis triumph Wednesday
night.
Holliday walked, Matt Adams doubled to left and Yadier Molina was
intentionally walked to fill the bases with nobody out in the 12th. Allen
Craig then hit a grounder to shortstop Chris Owings, whose throw to home was
wide and went behind catcher Miguel Montero.
Adams and Craig each had three hits, as the Cardinals won for the sixth time
in seven games and can sweep this three-game set Thursday.
The sloppy defense in the 12th was a sharp contrast to the play the Cardinals
pulled off in the 10th inning when both teams wasted good chances to score.
Jason Motte, who had missed all of 2013 and 44 games this season recovering
from Tommy John surgery and was activated off the disabled list Tuesday,
entered with one out in the top portion. With two down, Paul Goldschmidt sent
a double to left field, but Holliday picked up the ball and threw to Daniel
Descalso, who delivered a strike on the relay throw to Molina at the plate to
nail Ender Inciarte.
"I believe he's been much more aggressive in the outfield," Cardinals manager
Mike Matheny said of Holliday. "He has a good arm. That's the game, no
question."
The Cardinals then filled the bases with one out in their half of the 10th,
but Evan Marshall fanned Jon Jay, and on a 3-2 pitch Descalso bounced one
weakly back to the mound.
Jay made a diving grab in left-center to rob Gerardo Parra of a potential go-
ahead hit to cap the top of the 12th. Inciarte was on first after a single and
may have scored if the ball caromed off the wall.
Seth Maness (2-2) pitched one inning to get the win, while Trevor Cahill (1-6)
suffered the loss.
Parra hit a two-run homer for Arizona, which lost for the fourth time in six
games.
Diamondbacks starter Brandon McCarthy allowed a run on seven hits over the
first six innings.
"I at least managed to hold them down for a while. I did a decent job in
keeping us in it as much as I could," McCarthy said.
Cardinals starter Michael Wacha was in the dugout when he suffered a contusion
on his right elbow after being hit by a batted ball from Adams leading off the
bottom of the sixth inning.
The Diamondbacks seemingly put a runner in scoring position in the second
inning, but that was erased due to a challenge by the Cardinals. Miguel
Montero walked and stole second with one out, but replays showed Kolten Wong
applied the tag to the right shoulder.
The Cardinals broke through for a run in the fourth when Craig grounded a
single into left field to score Holliday.
More good defense from the Cardinals kept them in front in the fifth. With
runners at the corners, McCarthy bunted weakly toward first. Wacha made a
bare-hand stop and flipped to the plate where Molina applied the tag on Cody
Ross.
Wacha made a spectacular stab of a line drive off the bat of Martin Prado to
start the fifth, but he couldn't avoid getting hit by his own player in the
sixth.
Pat Neshek came in to relieve Wacha to begin the seventh. Wacha gave up just a
pair of hits and was in line for the win until Parra hit a two-run homer in
the eighth off Carlos Martinez to give Arizona a 2-1 lead. Pinch-hitter Eric
Chavez singled prior to Parra's hit to right.
The Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the eighth. Molina doubled, Craig
singled and then Jay, in a pinch-hit role, lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
Game Notes
Molina has a nine-game hitting streak ... The Cardinals left 15 men on base
... St. Louis recalled outfielder Shane Robinson from Triple-A Memphis.
