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Holliday drove in the winning run with two outs in the ninth
inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied from a four-run deficit
to beat Los Angeles 5-4 and finish a four-game sweep.
“I’ve had a chance to face him quite a bit without too much
success,” said Holliday, who is 4 for 17 against Broxton, many of
those at-bats coming with the Colorado Rockies. “He’s one of the
best closers in the game for a reason.”
Allen Craig filled in for Albert Pujols and performed just like the
Cardinals’ All-Star first baseman, driving in three runs in the
final two innings on his 26th birthday.
Pujols got a day off from the starting lineup for only the second
time this season.
“It’s awesome,” Craig said. “It’s the best birthday present I ever
had.”
Craig put the Cardinals on the board with a two-run double off
reliever Justin Miller in the eighth that made it 4-2, and he
singled to center off Broxton (3-1) with two outs in the ninth to
knot the game. Holliday followed with an RBI single over Andre
Ethier’s head in right field, bringing home Jon Jay with the winning
run.
Ryan Franklin (4-1) pitched the ninth for the victory as the
Cardinals completed their first four-game sweep of Los Angeles since
taking consecutive doubleheaders July 7-8, 1987.
The win also edged the Cardinals (51-41) ahead of the Cincinnati
Reds in the NL Central, although it was a different number that
caught the eye of manager Tony La Russa.
“The most significant thing is that we’re 10 games over .500,” he
said.
Broxton entered the game with one out in the eighth inning and threw
44 pitches while blowing his third save in 22 chances. It was his
first loss since Sept. 27 at Pittsburgh.
“I got myself into bad counts and walked guys,” said Broxton, who
got Holliday to fly out in the eighth before getting burned in the
ninth. “I shouldn’t have gotten back around to him.”
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Garret Anderson had a pinch-hit RBI double and Matt Kemp brought
home a run with a walk for Los Angeles, which wasted a superb
effort by Vicente Padilla. He allowed only one hit while
pitching six scoreless innings.
The Dodgers took their first lead of the four-game series in the
fifth inning against St. Louis starter Jeff Suppan. With one out
and runners on first and third, Padilla chopped a ball over the
head of third baseman Felipe Lopez and into the corner in left
to score Xavier Paul.
Los Angeles added three more runs off reliever Mitchell Boggs in
the seventh, but the Cardinals closed to 4-2 in the eighth on
Craig’s double to left with one out off reliever Justin Miller.
Broxton came on and allowed Randy Winn’s RBI single before
getting out of the inning.
“It was tough, very tough,” said Los Angeles manager Joe Torre.
“We just asked too much out of Brox. You certainly don’t want a
closer to come in and face the same guy twice. It was a tough
one to let get away.”
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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