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 Jarred Cosart pitched seven scoreless innings, and second baseman
Donovan Solano slugged a two-run homer to lead Miami to a 3-0 win
over the St. Louis Cardinals at Marlins Park.
The Marlins (59-60) will go for a three-game series sweep Wednesday.
St. Louis (62-56) lost for the fourth time in five games.
"I thought it was foul," Solano said of his second homer of the
year, which went down the left-field line. "But I saw the ball come
back to fair territory. That's when I started to run."
The homer was part of a three-run fourth against Cardinals ace Adam
Wainwright (14-7), his only blemish in seven innings.
"Their eight-hole hitter decides to hit his second home run against
the best pitcher in the league," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said
with disgust. "The ball went completely foul and then came back
fair. I haven't seen that all year."
Miami's rally started when third baseman Casey McGehee led off with
a hit that he stretched into a double when left fielder Matt
Holliday seemed to retrieve the ball casually.
"Matt double-pumped, which gave (McGehee) the extra time because it
was going to be a bang-bang play," Matheny said. "Sometimes a guy
doesn't come up with the grip. You can't come up throwing if you
don't have the right grip.
"Credit McGehee -- he wanted that. He made that happen on his first
step out of the box. It ended up being the game-changing play."
After McGehee's double, first baseman Garrett Jones grounded out to
second base. That might have been a double-play ball had it not been
for McGehee's hustle. Instead, McGehee went to third and scored on a
single by catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Then came Solano's two-out homer, with Cosart on deck.
Cosart (1-1), acquired from the Houston Astros late last month,
earned his first win as a Marlin. But he went 0-for-2 at the plate
with two strikeouts. He took only one swing because of an oblique
injury that caused him to miss a turn in the rotation.
Matheny said he knew Cosart was hurt, but he did not feel the need
to intentionally walk the light-hitting Solano in that situation.
Besides, Matheny said, the Cards pitched the right-handed hitting
Solano outside the strike zone ... and it still ended up as a homer.
Cosart, who did not have to swing the bat in the American League
with the Astros, suffered the oblique injury while batting for the
Marlins. And the last thing he wanted was a repeat.
"I don't want to embarrass myself and swing hard and hurt myself,"
he said. "I wanted to get through this game healthy, swing easy and
work on getting in shape."
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The right-hander allowed just three hits, all singles, and one walk while
striking out three.
Cosart did not allow a runner past first base until the sixth, when he
had to work around an error by Jones.
Marlins reliever A.J. Ramos worked a scoreless eighth inning, and Bryan
Morris got the first two outs in the ninth before leaving behind a
first-and-third jam.
Mike Dunn came on to clean up the mess, striking out pinch hitter Matt
Adams for his first save of the season.
Miami closer Steve Cishek, who has 30 saves but had pitched four times
in the past five days, got the night off.
The big hero, though, was Solano.
"His two homes this year are against Wainwright and David Price,"
Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "You can book him for every ace in
the league from here on out."
NOTES: The Cardinals rested 1B Matt Adams and started Mark Ellis, who
went 2-for-3. Adams started 29 consecutive games and played tired
Monday, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. ... Miami's Jordany Valdespin
started in center field and went 1-for-3. He has made 15 starts this
season at second, two in center field and one in right. ... The
three-game series ends Wednesday when the Cardinals start RHP Justin
Masterson against RHP Nathan Eovaldi. Masterson has allowed 10 runs in
eight innings since the Cards acquired him from the Cleveland Indians.
Eovaldi has allowed just one run in his past 15 innings covering two
starts. The Marlins are 3-0 in his past three starts. ... Marlins RHP
Henderson Alvarez (shoulder inflammation) is eligible to come off the
disabled list Thursday but instead will start Saturday against Arizona.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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