ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals have won 75% of their games at Busch Stadium against the National League Western Division since 2019. They are 36-12 against their far-flung visitors after a 5-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
Never mind that, during the same time, the Cardinals are 14-25 on the road against the NL West. There will be six key games in San Diego and Los Angeles next month, but that’s next month.
For now, the Cardinals are 13 wins over .500 for the first time this season.
The Cardinals’ hitting star was Paul Goldschmidt, who hit his 29th homer and drove in three runs. The pitching stars were starter Jose Quintana, who pitched five hitless innings before the Rockies got four successive singles in the sixth, and Jordan Hicks, who bailed Quiintana out of a bases-loaded, no-out spot, allowing just one run to score.
Colorado's Dinelson Lamet was not the a pitching star. He walked Andrew Knizner and Lars Nootbaar to start the Cardinals' ninth. He threw wide of first after fielding Dylan Carlson's sacrifice bunt attempt and then hit left fielder Tyler O'Neill in the left arm with a pitch to force home the winning run.
Arenado robs Grichuk of double
Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado narrowly missed a third-deck home run in the Cardinals’ first before settling for a single.
Then Arenado then snatched a potential double from former Cardinal Randal Grichuk in the Rockies’ second. Arenado dived to his right for Grickuk's smash and, from one knee, fired to first where his slightly off-line throw was gathered in by fellow Gold Glover Goldschmidt, who applied the tag on Grichuk. Quintana appreciated these efforts and then made a play himself, spearing a hard comebacker by former Cardinals farmhand Elehuris Montero to end the inning.
Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong then contributed a short-hop pickup of Connor Joe’s smash to end the Rockies’ third.
Quintana hitless through five
Quintana, who had given up just 16 hits and three runs over his past 24⅔ innings covering two starts for Pittsburgh and two for the Cardinals, allowed the Rockies no hits and only two walks through five innings Tuesday. In his final two starts with the Pirates, Quintana permitted just eight and no runs over 12⅔ innings.
Tommy Edman, who hadn’t homered since June 14, smacked his eighth of the season 417 feet to left center to provide the game’s first scoring in the St. Louis fourth.
Goldschmidt hits 29th
After O’Neill had singled for the second time, with one out in the fifth, Goldschmidt, the batting average and slugging leader in the National League, belted his 29th homer into the left-field seats and the Cardinals led 3-0.
No-hitter, shutout gone
Rookie Wynton Bernard got the Rockies’ first hit, a solid single off the left foot of Quintana to start the sixth. Bernard, who had made his big-league debut at age 31 last week, dashed to third on Joe’s ground single to right and another ground single, up the middle by Charlie Blackmon, drove in the Rockies first run.
A third consecutive soft single, a blooper by Brendan Rodgers loaded the bases with nobody out.
Hicks rescues
Though Quintana was just at 75 pitches and most of the four consecutive hits weren’t exactly rockets, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol went to right-hander Hicks to face right-handed slugger C.J. Cron with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Hicks fanned Cron on the softer of his two wicked sliders, at 83.7 mph. He got a forceout grounder against Jose Iglesias with Iglesias beating the throw to first as a second run scored.
Hicks then got Grichuk to ground into an inning-ending forceout and the Cardinals still had the lead.
Blackmon erases Cardinals' lead
But Hicks, as has been his custom, was unable to get through a second inning. He was replaced with two out in the seventh after an infield hit, a stolen base and a walk and left-hander Packy Naughton was summoned to face left-handed-hitting Blackmon.
Naughton had allowed just two of 13 inherited runners to score. But he fell behind 2-0 and then Blackmon tomahawked a two-run double to right center and the Rockies had their first edge of the night at 4-3.
Goldschmidt knocks in his third run
Yadier Molina’s single ignited a scoring inning for the Cardinals in their seventh as they tied the score 4-4. After Nootbaar struck out against left-hander Lucas Gilbreath, Carlson singled for his second hit and O’Neill was nicked by a pitch to fill the bases with one out.
Right-hander Carlos Estevez entered and limited the damage although Goldschmidt’s fly ball to left was deep enough to score Corey Dickerson, who was running for Molina. Arenado then popped up.
