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Cardinals' offense wakes up in win over Rockies

May 9, 2007 - 5:26 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- All it took for the St. Louis Cardinals to break out of their offensive funk was a crack at the Colorado Rockies' bullpen.

The Cardinals scored four runs in the seventh inning en route to a 4-1 victory over the Rockies Tuesday night.

St. Louis entered the game ranked last in the majors with 92 runs and had scored three or fewer runs in their last nine games - going 2-7 in those contests.

"This team just keeps battling," Cardinals second baseman Adam Kennedy said. "Things can turn around, it hasn't been ideal, not what you want to chalk up, but it was a win and at this point we'll take any we can get."

Colorado starter Taylor Buchholz continued the trend through six innings, allowing no runs and just four hits before yielding to the bullpen.

"I slowed the game down pretty much," said Buchholz, who had his longest outing of the season. "I wasn't trying to do too much with my stuff. I was trying to work ahead and throw my curveball off of that."

Denny Bautista (2-1) was the first man out of the bullpen and struck out Scott Rolen swinging for a quick first out before giving up a single to Jim Edmonds. Yadier Molina followed with a single before Bautista hit David Eckstein with a pitch to load the bases.

"I tried to do too much," Bautista said. "That's when I started to throw my fastball over the plate."

Alberto Arias relieved Bautista and surrendered a two-run double to pinch hitter Scott Spiezio on the first pitch.

"I didn't plan on going up there and hitting the first pitch," Spiezio said. "I just looked for a pitch in a zone and I got it. We didn't have all that many hits today but we had some big hits in key situations."

Kennedy's single plated two more runs and gave the Cardinals their largest total since tallying seven runs in a win over Cincinnati April 26.

Buchholz had struggled in only two starts since joining the rotation to replace the injured Rodrigo Lopez.

The 25-year-old righthander got knocked around in his last start at San Francisco on May 1, surrendering six runs and eight hits in just 3 1/3 innings, but appeared to have no trouble at all with struggling St. Louis.

"(Buchholz) had an outstanding performance," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "That's as good as we've seen him, I'm sure that's as well as he's pitched in a while, very efficient, just what we needed."

Matt Holliday had given the Rockies the lead with a solo blast in the third off St. Louis starter Brad Thompson. Holliday entered the game with a .407 (24-for-59) career average against Cardinals' pitching and added three hits on Tuesday.

Thompson, who was making his first start of the season, allowed one run and six hits in five innings.

"I'm nervous every time I take the mound, but this was a little different," said Thompson, who threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 20 batters he faced. "I felt like I got a better feel for stuff as I went on. The ball stayed, my sinker was working, although I hung a few breaking balls."

"(Thompson) threw the ball well," Colorado first baseman Todd Helton said. "He was all around the plate all night, he had pretty good stuff."

Former All-Star Edmonds, who entered the game 0-for-19 in his last five games, had three hits and scored a run.

"His stroke looked nice," La Russa said. "He's very close to getting over the hump."

Three relievers bridged the gap to closer Jason Isringhausen, who pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save of the season.

Kelvin Jimenez (1-0) got the final out of the sixth and worked the seventh for his first major league win.