Coverage of today's Cards and Phillies game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 2:35pm
St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - A.J. Burnett battled the elements and
limited the St. Louis Cardinals to just a run over nine strong innings as the
Philadelphia Phillies continued their winning ways with a 5-1 decision on
Friday.
Despite a 50-minute rain delay at the start of the game and a swarm of moths
that covered nearly the entire field, Burnett (5-6) kept his focus and allowed
seven hits and a walk en route to his first complete game of the season.
Burnett's last complete game came in a 5-1 win over the Rockies on August
4 of last season while pitching for the Pirates. It was his only nine-inning
start in 2013.
Marlon Byrd homered for the Phillies, winners in a season-high five straight
games. John Mayberry had a pair of hits and scored twice, and Jimmy Rollins
drove in two.
Rollins went 1-for-4, giving him exactly one hit in 14 straight games. His 14-
game hit streak matches his longest since 2007.
Jaime Garcia (3-1) was charged with four runs on seven hits in five-plus
innings, absorbing his first loss of the season.
The top of the Cardinals order manufactured the game's first run in the bottom
of the third inning. After Burnett plunked Matt Carpenter with a pitch, Jon
Jay singled to put runners on the corners and Matt Holliday plated Carpenter
with a poke to center.
Holliday and Yadier Molina each had two of the seven Cardinals hits.
Philadelphia claimed the lead for good two innings later, with three doubles
in four batters making it 2-1 in favor of the visitors. Mayberry led off the
frame with a two-bagger and moved to third on Cody Asche's groundout to first.
Burnett then helped himself, crushing a double off the wall in center to tie
the score. Jimmy Rollins' sharp grounder down the third base line was touched
by a fan for a ground-rule double and a 2-1 Phillies lead.
Byrd padded the cushion an inning later, leading off with a solo homer to
left. Domonic Brown followed with a double, chasing Garcia from the contest,
but reliever Seth Maness did not fare much better. Mayberry greeted him with
an RBI single to center, and Rollins' sacrifice fly three batters later made
it 5-1.
Burnett didn't strike out a batter until the seventh inning, when he fanned
Kolten Wong and Daniel Descalso back-to-back. He finished with three
punchouts, the last of which came on Jhonny Peralta with one away in the ninth
inning.
Game Notes
Burnett pitched the 24th complete game of his career ... The Phillies have won
nine of 11 ... Philadelphia is on its first five-game road winning streak
since a six-gamer in May, 2012 ... Asche was activated off the disabled list
earlier in the day. He hadn't played since May 22 with a strained hamstring
... St. Louis has dropped three in a row.