Cardinals 4, Rockies 2
DENVER -- Carlos Martinez pitched six shutout innings and had two hits, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Wednesday.
Outfielder Randal Grichuk homered and third baseman Matt Carpenter also had two hits for St. Louis, which avoided a sweep with another strong outing from Martinez.
Outfielder Ben Paulsen homered for the Rockies.
The 23-year-old Martinez (7-2) pitched into the seventh inning for the fifth straight game before faltering. He had allowed just one earned run in his previous four starts before Paulsen hit a two-run homer with one out in the seventh to cut the Cardinals' lead to 3-2.
For the second straight game the Cardinals couldn't get an early hit against Colorado's starter. Martinez broke the drought with a two-out single in the third and went to third on second baseman Kolten Wong's single to right.
Carpenter followed with an RBI single, scoring Martinez and sending Wong to third. Wong scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
St. Louis added another run on first baseman Mark Reynolds' two-out RBI double in the fifth.
That was enough for Martinez, who allowed eight hits, struck out four and walked one in 6 1/3 innings.
Colorado, which scored 15 runs in the first two games of the series, struggled to generate any offense. Left fielder Carlos Gonzalez and second baseman DJ LeMahieu both had doubles and reached third but Martinez stranded them there.
He was cruising until Paulsen's fifth home run barely cleared the fence in left-center field. That was Colorado's last baserunner. Lefty Kevin Siegrist came on and got the final two outs of the inning and then struck out the side in the eighth.
Closer Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth for his NL-leading 20th save.
Grichuk gave the Cardinals a 4-2 lead when he led off the top of the eighth with his third home run of the season.
Rockies starter Chad Bettis (2-1) was sharp early before struggling in the third. He allowed three runs on six hits, struck out six and walked two. He failed to pitch into the sixth inning for the first time in five starts
NOTES: Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn was sent back to St. Louis early to have an MRI done on his sore right forearm. Lynn experienced tightness in the forearm during his start Sunday but still threw 98 pitches. Lynn is still scheduled to start Saturday but the team will reevaluate Friday. ... Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki was given the day off. Manager Walt Weiss said he is sticking to his plan to give his star shortstop rest despite his strong play of late. ... St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said OF Matt Holliday (right quad strain) is feeling better. ... Weiss said "there's a good chance" RHP LaTroy Hawkins (biceps tendinitis) will be on the team's upcoming road trip.