Marlins 6 - 5 Cardinals
Final
  for this game

Dobbs helps Marlins edge Cardinals

May 3, 2011 - 5:26 AM

Video

St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Greg Dobbs' eight-inning sacrifice fly proved to be the difference, as the Florida Marlins narrowly edged the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5, in the back-and-forth opener of a four-game series from Busch Stadium.

Gaby Sanchez belted his first career grand slam for the Marlins, who have won three of their last four. Mike Stanton added a solo home run.

Edward Mujica (3-1) earned the win after throwing two scoreless frames in relief.

Lance Berkman went 2-for-3 with four RBI, including a three-run homer, for St. Louis, which has dropped it's past two. Berkman is batting .406 on the season.

"Every night you're going to have a fight and we've had our share of tough losses," said Berkman. "But we've done it to other teams, it happens in this league."

Stanton led off the eight with a sharp line drive to center, which just got past Colby Rasmus, resulting in the right fielder's first triple of the season. Dobbs quickly followed with a sac fly off Mitchell Boggs, who suffered the loss (0-2).

Nunez walked Daniel Descalso to begin the bottom of the ninth, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Theriot kept the game alive with an infield single to place runners on the corners with two outs, but it took just one pitch for Nunez to retire Rasmus.

In the home frame of the ninth, the Cardinals placed runners on the corners with two outs, but Leo Nunez induced Colby Rasmus into a game-ending groundout to second for his 10th save of the season.

St. Louis jumped on the board in the first as Berkman and Yadier Molina ripped consecutive two-out singles to center, scoring Ryan Theriot and Albert Pujols, respectively.

Sanchez put the Marlins up 4-2 with his two-out slam in the third, the first of his career.

"The only emotion I had was that when I hit it, I knew I hit it really well," said Sanchez. "When I was running the path I was just happy I gave our team the lead."

The game swung in the Cardinals' favor in the bottom of the third, as Berkman deposited a 1-1 slider over the right field wall with two men on for a 5-4 advantage.

Another longball, this time of the solo variety off the bat of Mike Stanton, evened the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth.

Game Notes

Berkman and Matt Holliday, who went 1-for-4 with a run scored, are batting .406 and .410, respectively, marking the first time in history that two players on the same team are batting over .400 through the first 29 games of the season...Florida finished with two home runs in the win, a night after five Marlins homered in a game for just the second time in franchise history.






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