Phillies 3 - 9 Cardinals
Final
  for this game

Cards' Cooney debuts against familiar foe

Apr 30, 2015 - 10:59 AM (SportsNetwork.com) - Tim Cooney attended the Philadelphia Phillies' 2008 World Series parade and was a fan of the ballclub growing up.

Now Cooney gets a chance to pitch against a team he followed when the St. Louis Cardinals close out a four-game series versus the Phillies Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

"It's pretty cool growing up watching the team and now I get to finally go out and pitch against them," Cooney said of his upcoming major league debut. "So, I mean, that's pretty cool."

He said his passion for the Phillies disintegrated over the years and is "definitely all Cardinals right now."

Cooney idolized Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels, who is one of a few players left from that championship run. Cooney's also a lefty and was selected by St. Louis in the third round of the 2012 draft out of Wake Forest. He will be recalled from Triple-A Memphis, where he compiled a 2-1 record and 3.63 earned run average in three starts (17 1/3 IP).

The southpaw is taking the rotation spot of ace Adam Wainwright and has big shoes to fill. Wainwright is done for the season after rupturing his left Achilles tendon Saturday against Milwaukee.

St. Louis dropped the opener of this series with Philadelphia on Monday, but responded with back-to-back victories. After evening the set with an 11-5 pounding of the Phillies on Tuesday, the Cardinals came out last night and recorded a 5-2 triumph.

The Cardinals trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning and rallied for four runs to take the lead for good. Peter Bourjos had an RBI triple and scored on Matt Carpenter's fielder's choice. Matt Adams later stroked a run-scoring double and Jhonny Peralta added an RBI single.

Carlos Martinez benefited from the outburst to improve to 3-0 on the season and gave up two runs in six innings of work. Martinez allowed a home run to Ryan Howard in the fourth inning.

"He gets in trouble a little bit, just missing with some changeups to Howard, but he challenges him," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "That's a guy who can hurt you when you get into those counts. He had a nice changeup today, used his breaking ball, had guys chasing out of the zone and still had all the velocity he needed."

Kevin Siegrist, Jordan Walden and Trevor Rosenthal threw a scoreless inning apiece, with Rosenthal grabbing his eighth save.

St. Louis is 5-0-1 in series play this season and won 11 of the last 14 games. It will also host Pittsburgh and Chicago (Cubs) on this homestand and is 7-2 at Busch Stadium.

The Phillies had won two straight and three of four games until opening a 10- game road trip in the Gateway City. They are 5-12 since April 12.

Aaron Harang struggled in the start for Philadelphia on Wednesday and was touched for all five runs and nine hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked one batter, falling to 2-2 on the season.

"They're a good ballclub," Harang said. "They've kind of got everything over there. When they put it together they can make things happen."

Odubel Herrera had two hits and an RBI in defeat.

The Phillies are only 2-8 on the road and will also visit Miami and Atlanta on the sojourn.

Hoping to pitch the Phils to a series split in St. Louis will be David Buchanan. Buchanan is nearing a possible departure from the rotation with an 0-4 record and a 7.52 earned run average in four starts. The young right- hander allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 5-2 loss to the Braves on Saturday.

Buchanan lost both of his road starts this season and is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in two career appearances against the Cardinals.

Philadelphia was 4-3 against St. Louis last season.






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