Cardinals 4 - 2 Rockies
Final
  for this game

Cardinals beat Rockies to avoid sweep

Jun 11, 2015 - 1:28 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Carlos Martinez pitched out of trouble in every inning before giving up a home run on his last pitch and the St. Louis Cardinals hung on to beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Wednesday to avoid being swept in a three-game series.

Martinez (7-2) extended his unbeaten streak to five consecutive starts. He gave up eight hits, including a two-run homer to Ben Paulsen with one out in the seventh inning that finally ended a run of escapes for the right-hander.

Randal Grichuk stroked a solo homer and Matt Carpenter and Mark Reynolds also drove in runs for the MLB-leading Cardinals, who finished off a 4-3 road trip.

"We lost the series here but the road trip on a whole was a good one for us," said Carpenter. "And today was a big win."

Colorado right-hander Chad Bettis (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing three runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. The Rockies had won each of his first five starts after he was called up from the minors last month.

"I felt out of whack the whole day," said Bettis. "It was one of those days where it just didn't seem like anything was right. Those days come and go."

It was just the sixth loss in the last 18 games for the Rockies since they fell a season-worst 10 games under .500 on May 23.

Martinez, who had given up just one run and 13 hits in his last four starts, was knocked around by Colorado before giving up any runs.

The Rockies had at least one hit in each of the first seven innings, but he continually pitched out of trouble.

After he induced inning-ending double plays in the fifth and sixth, he walked Daniel Descalso to start the seventh, putting the leadoff man on base for the fourth consecutive time.

Descalso was retired when Nick Hundley grounded into a fielder's choice, but Paulsen slapped a 2-2 changeup just over the wall in left-center field for his fifth homer of the season, drawing the Rockies within 3-2.

Kevin Siegrist replaced Martinez and got the last two outs and Grichuk hit his third homer of the season on a 99 mph Tommy Kahnle fastball leading off the eighth to make it 4-2.

Siegrist stayed in the game to strike out all three batters in the bottom of the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal fanned the last two in a perfect ninth to collect his 20th save.

Bettis retired the first eight Cardinals batters before Martinez singled to start a two-run rally in the third inning. Kolten Wong and Carpenter also singled to score Martinez and Wong came home on a wild pitch.

The Cardinals pushed their lead to 3-0 in the fifth after Carpenter singled and scored on Reynolds' two-out double.

Game Notes

Colorado's eight hits came from eight players ... Rockies left fielder Brandon Barnes was taken out of the game prior to the seventh inning with an apparent leg injury. Barnes slid hard into second base in the fifth inning, jamming his right foot into the bag ... Bettis had six strikeouts ... The teams will play a four-game series in St. Louis from July 30-Aug. 2 ... The Cardinals start a three-game series against Kansas City on Friday at home ... The Rockies start a four-game series in Miami on Thursday.






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