Cardinals pound Marlins; Suzuki stays at 2,998
MIAMI -- Kolten Wong went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Tommy Pham added two hits and three RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to an 11-6 win over the Miami Marlins on Friday night at Marlins Park.
While Wong fell a home run short of the cycle, Pham hit a two-run homer, his seventh home run of the season, as the Cardinals (56-47) stretched their lead to one game over the Marlins (55-48) in the battle -- as it stands now -- for the second and final wild-card playoff berth in the National League.
Ichiro Suzuki, who started the game two hits short of 3,000, went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Suzuki had his lone highlight in the fourth inning when he caught a fly ball in medium left field while hugging the foul line and threw home on a short hop, nailing Wong at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
St. Louis right-hander Mike Leake (8-8) picked up the win, allowing six runs in five innings.
The game was played just hours after the Marlins made a seven-player trade with the San Diego Padres. Miami announced that both of their new major-league pitchers will start for them this weekend -- Colin Rea (5-5, 4.98 ERA) on Saturday and Andrew Cashner (4-7, 4.76) on Sunday.
Miami now has six starting pitchers, but Jose Urena (1-3) -- who gave up eight hits, four walks and eight runs in 4 1/3 innings on Friday -- could be headed to Triple-A New Orleans. He has a 6.69 ERA.
Urena got hit early, allowing three runs in the second. Jeremy Hazelbaker's eighth homer of the season caused the first dent in the scoreboard. The two-run shot followed a leadoff single by Yadier Molina.
After the homer, Pham was hit by a pitch and scored on a double down the left-field line by Wong.
Miami cut its deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the second on Marcell Ozuna's 18th homer of the season.
St. Louis added six runs in the fifth, getting an RBI double by Molina, run-scoring singles from Pham, Wong and Greg Garcia, a bases-loaded walk by Leake and Aledmys Diaz's sacrifice fly. Eight straight batters reached in the inning as the Cards took a 9-1 lead.
Miami came back with five runs in the bottom of the fifth. All five RBIs came with two outs -- doubles by Miguel Rojas and Chris Johnson and a three-run homer to left by Martin Prado. It was Prado's fifth homer of the season and his second in two games.
NOTES: Miami swung a seven-player deal with the San Diego Padres, acquiring RHPs Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea and minor league RHP Tayron Guerrero, 25. San Diego acquired RHPs Jarred Cosart and Carter Capps and two minor-leaguers, 1B Josh Naylor, 19, and RHP Luis Castillo, 23. ... Perhaps Miami's biggest losses were Naylor, who has power and is the highest-rated hitter in the organization, and Castillo, who has a 100 mph fastball. Capps also throws 100 mph but is out for the year after elbow surgery, and Cosart has been inconsistent and injury prone. ... Cardinals SS Aledmys Diaz and Marlins RHP Jose Fernandez have known each other since childhood in Cuba, but Thursday was the first time they were rivals in a game. Diaz, with a homer, double and three RBIs, won the battle. Diaz, who turns 26 on Monday, has had a breakout rookie year with 14 homers and a .901 OPS entering Friday.