Martinez, Cardinals hold off Rockies
DENVER -- St. Louis starter Carlos Martinez, bothered more by the altitude than the Colorado batters, fought his way through five innings Monday night and contributed a key hit in the Cardinals' 5-3 win over the Rockies.
Martinez gave up two runs and five hits and three walks with six strikeouts. However, needed 102 pitches to last long enough to qualify for the win.
In the fourth, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny and a trainer went to the mound to check on Martinez (15-8), and a batboy then came out and gave the pitcher a cup of water.
Martinez's two-run double broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth when the Cardinals took advantage of third baseman Nolan Arenado's throwing error and scored three unearned runs with two outs.
Four relievers followed Martinez to the mound and extended the bullpen's scoreless streak to 12 innings. The streak ended when pinch hitter Ryan Raburn homered with one out in the ninth against Kevin Siegrist. It was Raburn's fourth pinch-hit homer this season and the eighth of his career.
Charlie Blackmon followed with an opposite-field, broken-bat single to left. Siegrist, who came on in the ninth because closer Seung Hwan Oh worked the previous two days, struck out DJ LeMahieu on a 72 mph curveball in the dirt but walked Carlos Gonzalez. Siegrist got Arenado to line to left to earn his third save.
The Cardinals crept within a half-game of the Giants in the battle for the second National League wild card, pending the result of San Francisco's late game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The New York Mets were a half-game ahead of San Francisco in the top wild-card position.
Rockies starter Tyler Anderson (5-6) gave up five runs, two earned, on eight hits in seven innings. He issued no walks, struck out seven and whittled his ERA in 12 starts at Coors Field to 3.00. Anderson has pitched at least six innings in 13 of his 19 career starts.
He gave up a two-run homer to Randal Grichuk in the third and three fateful runs in the fourth, which began with a single by Jedd Gyroko and Arenado's error on Grichuk's grounder.
After Martinez's two-run double, Matt Carpenter hit an RBI single.
The win was the Cardinals' third straight, and it ended Colorado's three-game winning streak.
Grichuk's 23rd homer, a two-run shot following Gyorko's leadoff double, gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the third. Anderson then hit Martinez with a pitch and gave up a shattered-bat bloop single to Carpenter but retired the next three batters on popups.
Arenado's two-out single in the third tied the score at 2 and broke his 0-for-7 drought. The hit scored DJ LeMahieu, who singled with one out and moved up on Martinez's wild pitch. LeMahieu extended his career-high on-base streak to 35 games.
The Rockies scored a run in the first when Martinez issued consecutive one-out walks and David Dahl singled home a run with two outs.
NOTES: LHP Jorge De La Rosa on Tuesday will make his final start of the season -- and most likely the last of his Rockies career. Colorado then will go back to a five-man rotation in order to give RHP German Marquez his first three major league starts, beginning Wednesday. RHP Adam Wainwright will start Tuesday for the Cardinals. ... Rockies 1B Mark Reynolds was re-examined, and he will not need surgery on his fractured left hand. He sustained the season-ending injury Sunday when he was hit by a pitch. ... RHP Jairo Diaz, who underwent Tommy John surgery in March, will leave Tuesday for the Rockies' complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., and continue his rehab there. He will begin throwing bullpen sessions. ... Cardinals LF Matt Holliday (right thumb fracture) took batting practice after a two-day layoff and will try to do so again Tuesday. ... The St. Louis bullpen threw 11 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the previous four games.