Cardinals 3, Rockies 2
ST. LOUIS -- The new guy in town became the St. Louis Cardinals' latest hero.
Pinch hitter Brandon Moss grounded an RBI single to left in the bottom of the ninth Sunday as the St. Louis Cardinals squeaked past the Colorado Rockies 3-2 at sold-out Busch Stadium.
Right fielder Jason Heyward started the winning rally with a one-out double off Scott Oberg (2-2) and reached third when center fielder Randal Grichuk beat out an infield single.
Acquired from Cleveland Thursday, Moss worked the count to 2-1 and then collected his second hit in 11 at-bats as a Cardinal.
Trevor Rosenthal (2-2), St. Louis' fifth pitcher, worked around a two-out double in the ninth by right fielder Carlos Gonzalez to earn the win.
The Cardinals (67-38) maintained a 5 1/2-game lead in the National League Central on Pittsburgh, a 3-0 winner in Cincinnati. Colorado (44-59) finished its seven-game road trip with a 2-5 record.
Grichuk broke a scoreless tie in the fifth with his 12th homer, a two-run blast that cleared the wall in center. It's his fifth homer since the All-Star break.
The Rockies tied it in the sixth. First baseman Ben Paulsen ripped an RBI double to the right field corner off reliever Steve Cishek and third baseman Nolan Arenado scored on a two-out wild pitch.
Neither starter was involved in the decision after working five innings.
Colorado left-hander Yohan Flande gave up four hits and two runs with no walks and three strikeouts. St. Louis lefty Jaime Garcia left after allowing a leadoff single to second baseman DJ LeMahieu in the sixth, yielding two hits, a run and four walks while fanning four.
NOTES: Colorado manager Walt Weiss removed RHP John Axford from the closer's role after his blown save Thursday night. Weiss hasn't named a replacement, although RHP Tommy Kahnle finished up Saturday night's 6-2 win with 1 1/3 perfect innings. ... St. Louis rested C Yadier Molina, giving him what amounts to two days off as the team has an off-day Monday before starting a series in Cincinnati Tuesday night. ... After facing four pitchers with ERAs under 3.00 in St. Louis, the Rockies go home to host Seattle on Monday night in an interleague series but have to go up against RHP Felix Hernandez.