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 Stanton homered twice, drove in three runs and also made an
impressive catch to lead Miami to a 6-5 win over St. Louis at
Marlins Park.
Marlins pitcher Tom Koehler (8-9), who got his first win since July
26 despite allowing three runs in five innings, was thrilled with
the way Stanton and his other teammates played.
"That was a team win," Koehler said. "(Stanton) played both sides of
the ball with his homers and probably the catch of the year."
Stanton, the Marlins right fielder, hit both of his shots off
Cardinals starter Shelby Miller (8-9). The first homer, which was
hit to right, came off a 96-mph fastball. The second one, which was
hit to left, was struck off a 76-mph breaking ball.
"On his first at-bat, the first pitch (Stanton) swung through was an
elevated fastball," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Come to
find out on the next pitch -- that was not going to work (again).
"On his next at-bat, we got to a position where we needed to throw
him a real good breaking ball with two strikes. But the pitch stayed
up.
"We pitched him tough. But he made us pay."
Stanton tied Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox for the
major-league lead with 31 homers. Stanton also has 148 career
homers, tying ex-Marlin Hanley Ramirez for second place on the
franchise's career list. Former Marlin Dan Uggla is the career
leader with 154.
Stanton has 74 homers at home and 74 on the road.
Defensively, Stanton made his mark in the fifth inning, falling face
first into the warning-track dirt after diving to make a catch and
steal extra bases from second baseman Kolten Wong.
"It was similar to one I made against the Reds (earlier this
month)," said Stanton, who received a standing ovation after
Monday's grab. "I had to make sure my body was clear of all that
dirt there."
Also making diving stops for the Marlins were left fielder Christian
Yelich, shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria and second baseman Jordany
Valdespin.
In addition, Marlins center fielder Marcell Ozuna made a nice
running catch in deep right-center to kill a Cards rally in the
first.
The Marlins got solid scoreless relief from three pitchers, each
working one inning: Chris Hatcher, Mike Dunn and Bryan Morris.
Closer Steve Cishek got his 30th save despite allowing two
ninth-inning runs on an RBI triple by Wong -- Stanton just missed
making another diving catch on the play -- and a run-scoring infield
single by left fielder Matt Holliday, who went 4-for-4 and is
hitting .355 in his career against the Marlins.
Cishek struck out first baseman Matt Adams swinging to end the game.
Adams, making his 29th consecutive start, went 0-for-5 with two
strikeouts.
Miami got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Yelich led
off with a double to left and scored on Stanton's first homer of the
night.
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Stanton got Miller again in the third, adding a solo homer to make it 3-0.
"That was the worst breaking pitch I've thrown all year," Miller said.
The Cards tied the score with a three-run fourth. Holliday led off with
a double, and catcher A.J. Pierzynski hit an RBI single to make it 3-1.
Then center fielder Jon Jay, a local hero from the University of Miami,
pulled the first pitch -- a 92-mph fastball up and in -- to right for
his third homer of the season and his second in the past two games.
The Marlins regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled, Hechavarria hit a run-scoring
triple to right and Yelich singled.
Miami (58-60) is now 4.5 games back in the NL wild-card race.
The Cards, who had 12 hits, fell to 62-55 and are now a half-game behind
the Pittsburgh Pirates in the race for the NL's top wild-card spot. The
Cards are a half-game ahead of the San Francisco Giants for the second
and final wild-card berth.
"We had plenty of hits," Matheny said. "They just got bigger ones, and
they hit them further."
NOTES: The Marlins' and Cardinals' leadoff batters are the two best in
the National League in seeing the most pitches -- St. Louis 3B Matt
Carpenter is No. 1 at 4.36 per plate appearance and Miami LF Christian
Yelich is next at 4.24. ... Yelich is also first in the NL and third in
the majors in working the most full-counts -- 100 of them entering
Monday. ... The Cards are 20-8 in three-game series this season. ...
With his appearance on Monday, Cards C A.J. Pierzynski has now played at
every current MLB stadium except for the Mets' Citi Field. ... The
Marlins have had a hard time getting LF Matt Holliday out. Entering
Monday, he had a .344 career batting average against the Marlins. His
.614 slugging percentage during those games is the best among all active
Marlins opponents. ... Cards RHP Adam Wainwright will face the Marlins
on Tuesday for the first time since Aug. 6, 2010, when he pitched a
two-hit shutout.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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