ST. LOUIS — It took less than an inning for the Cardinals to run through all the various ways they want to head as an offense and reclaim the lead they lost, as sizable as it ever was.
They needed every morsel of it.
A four-run lead squandered in the top of the fifth inning Saturday was regained in the bottom half as the Cardinals laced singles with doubles, sprinkled in a sacrifice fly, and started with a 430-foot homer for good measure. Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run shot at the opening of the fifth inning reclaimed the lead and gave the Cardinals enough of a cushion to weather late leakage. The reeling but relentless Rockies got the tying run to second base during a dicey eighth inning for the Cardinals’ bullpen.
Closer Alex Reyes allowed his first run of the season but steadied to strike out the side in the ninth for his 10th save in a 9-8 victory against Colorado at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals became the first National League team to reach 20 wins.
Goldschmidt’s three hits and three runs to go with Dylan Carlson’s three runs and Paul DeJong’s two steals fueled an offense that kept ahead of an opportunistic Rockies’ lineup. For the second time in three games, the Cardinals’ starter walked at least five batters, and it was two walks from Carlos Martinez in the fifth inning that greased a four-run rally that momentarily tied the game, 5-5.
Carlos began the answer with a single to lead off the fifth. Goldschmidt followed with his fifth homer of the season – this one finding a glove in the concourse beyond the left-field seats. Back-to-back doubles by Nolan Arenado and DeJong led to two more runs and the Cardinals had echoed the Rockies. The rally was enough to carry the Cardinals to their eighth consecutive win against Colorado at Busch Stadium and their 14th win in the Rockies’ past 15 games in St. Louis.
With Yadier Molina back on the active roster and back receiving his pitches, Martinez groped for the same assertiveness and command that had been a hallmark of recent starts. The right-hander allowed five runs on six hits and five walks.
He got enough innings and enough runs and just enough help from the bullpen to win his third consecutive start.
In the eighth, setup man Giovanny Gallegos attempted to cover two innings and bridge the game to Reyes or another reliever, depending on score. Every other hitter to face Gallegos reached base, and that became problematic when a leadoff single was followed two batters later by an RBI double. To face the tying run at the plate and the middle of the Rockies’ order, Reyes entered. He walked the first batter he faced — the 13th batter he’s walked this season. Every other time he was able to pitch around such benevolence, but this time it cost him. Charlie Blackmon’s two-out, line-drive single to center scored two and narrowed the Cardinals’ lead to one.
The Cardinals had a chance to offer Reyes some elasticity to the ninth by loading the bases in the bottom of the eighth, but Mychal Givens got DeJong to popup with the bases loaded to end the inning and keep the Rockies within reach.
With a fresh inning of his own, Reyes overwhelmed the Rockies. He got a strikeout on his 97-mph fastball, a strikeout on a slider in the dirt, and then he faced former Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams as either the tying run at the plate or the final out. Adams struck out on a slider in the dirt to end the game.
This was not the easier, breezier outings that Martinez (3-4) had pitched in his previous two starts. Martinez still featured prominently the cutter that has come back to him with such success this season, but he was often behind or deep in counts and caught sailing a few off-speed pitches. Martinez walked the first batter of the game, got to a three-ball count to the second hitter, and by the time he threw his 12th pitch he had already thrown seven balls and was his way to allowing the Rockies a 1-0 lead.
It took a snazzy snare by Tommy Edman in shallow right on a sharp-hopping groundball to help Martinez shimmy loose from the first inning.
The traffic and the trends leaked into other innings.
Martinez injured his right ankle while celebrating Jack Flaherty's home run Friday night, and as a result he had some tenderness and pain on his push-off foot and that contributed to his lack of command.
Martinez walked the leadoff hitter the second inning, too, allowed two runners with two outs in the third, and then tumbled into trouble again in the fifth inning with another two walks. Martinez went to a three-ball count on seven hitters. And, the two walks in the fifth inning goosed the Rockies’ rally to tie the game, 5-5.
A glance off Tyler O’Neill’s glove in left that was ruled a double got the inning in motion. A walk loaded the bases. Nolan Arenado’s slick play to leap, land and throw a runner out at home gave Martinez an escape route.
He declined to take it.
Martinez walked Connor Joe to reload the bases and put the tying run at first. Rockies’ catcher Dom Nunez, a left-handed batter with a sub-.200 average but five homers this season, turned on a 2-2 pitch to clear the bases with a double and knot the game.
That wasn’t the last of the Rockies’ threats, just the one that got closest to overtaking their hosts.
Molina had three RBIs in his return from a foot injury.
