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Cardinals rally in eighth to beat Marlins

Aug 22, 2007 - 5:50 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Hanley Ramirez gave the St. Louis Cardinals a second chance and they took advantage.

Ramirez made a costly throwing error in the eighth inning, opening the door for the Cardinals to rally for a 5-2 victory over the Florida Marlins on Tuesday.

With two outs in the eighth, Ramirez made a lazy throw to first that sailed over the head of Jason Wood, allowing Juan Encarnacion to reach base and advance to second.

The error was the 20th of the season for Ramirez who committed 26 miscues last season.

"It was my fault," Ramirez said. "I just tried throwing it and it came out of my hand.

"I'm not going to kill myself. Tomorrow's another day. I'm mad right now because we lost the game. There's nothing I can do about it, it's in the past."

Yadier Molina followed with a single to right to score Encarnacion and tie the game, 2-2.

With Molina on third after a fielding error by Jeremy Hermida, Aaron Miles singled to right-center to score Molina and put the Cardinals on top, 3-2. Ryan Ludwick capped the comeback with a two-run homer to left off Armando Benitez.

"We need W's," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "When you're down 2-1, two outs and nobody on in the eighth and they have Benitez on the mound it doesn't look to good. So to have a rally like that with those clutch performances is special."

"I don't think it was as big as the guys before me," said Ludwick downplaying his homer. "I'm just pretty fired up about that comeback win. It's a game of inches. We got a second life and took advantage of it."

Benitez retired the first two hitters in the eighth and should have been out of the inning but he lost it after Ramirez's error. Benitez (2-8) allowed three hits and four runs - none earned - in two-thirds of an inning.

"It was a bad miscue," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "(Ramirez) makes (that play) 100 times and he'll make it 100 more times. For whatever reason it wasn't made."

"Anything will happen in the game," Benitez said. "I can't complain about anybody. I'm mad at myself because I didn't get the other guys out."

Troy Percival (3-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth to pick up the win. Jason Isringhausen worked around a walk in the ninth for his 24th save.

Miguel Cabrera, who was back in the starting lineup one night after being scratched for showing up late to the ballpark, gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead in the fifth when he hit a 3-1 pitch from Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright deep into the left field bullpen for his 30th homer of the season.

"My stuff was all right," Wainwright said. "I just had control problems with it. I wasn't lights out by any means, but I was trying be effective and keep us in the game."

Florida jumped on top in the third inning as Josh Willingham scored from first base when Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds bobbled Mike Jacobs' two-out hit.

The Cardinals mounted a threat in the third inning as Wainwright singled and rookie Brendan Ryan followed with a double.

After David Eckstein lined out to shallow center, Rick Ankiel walked to bring up Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols.

Marlins starter Daniel Barone got out of the jam as Pujols grounded into a double play. The Cardinals finally got on board in the sixth inning as Pujols connected on a 2-0 pitch from Barone for his 29th homer of the season.

"He can hit it far," Barone said. "There's no doubt about that. It was a missle. I tried to get it away and it ran back over the plate."

Pujols has homered in a team-high four consecutive games.

"I'm helping my team out to win," Pujols said. "That's what it's all about. It doesn't matter how many home runs you hit. You just hit them at the right time and hopefully put your team on the board."

Florida has lost a season-high seven consecutive games and are just 1-8 in their last nine games.

"You play a pretty good ballgame," Gonzalez said. "Then that last out there in the eighth you can't get it done and they score four, it kind of hurts. I'm not going to lie to you it's no fun."

St. Louis was eight games out of first place on August 5, but has won nine of 13 and entered Tuesday just three games behind Chicago (63-60) and Milwaukee (64-61) in the National League Central.

"It's important for us to continue to play good ball," Wainwright said. "There's a sense desperation now in our clubhouse and that's good. You come to the park and there's an air of confidence and everybody else in here can feel it. It's sort of feeling we had last year at the end of the year."