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 In the last regular-season meeting of the teams with the best record
in their leagues, the St. Louis Cardinals held off a ninth-inning
rally by the Kansas City Royals to claim a 4-3 win Thursday night at
sold-out Busch Stadium.
"There was quite an atmosphere in the ballpark tonight," St. Louis
manager Mike Matheny said. "It felt like October."
In upping their home record to 34-12, the Cardinals (61-34) overcame
an early 2-0 deficit with two-run homers from center fielder Randal
Grichuk and third baseman Matt Carpenter, then nursed the lead over
the final six innings.
Working his third consecutive night, closer Trevor Rosenthal
tightroped his way through a wild ninth inning, giving up an infield
hit to right fielder Alex Rios and a run-scoring triple to second
baseman Omar Infante to move Kansas City within a run.
Left fielder Jarrod Dyson drew a four-pitch walk and took second on
defensive indifference, but Rosenthal shut it down at that point.
After fanning pinch hitter Dusty Coleman, Rosenthal induced a
fielder's choice grounder from shortstop Alcides Escobar, cutting
down Infante at the plate.
With third baseman Mike Moustakas hitting, Escobar took second on
defensive indifference, but Rosenthal induced a game-ending grounder
to second to earn his 30th save.
"It's a lot of fun being in that position," said Rosenthal, who
reached the 30-save plateau for the second year in a row.
Matheny said of the ninth, "Probably wasn't quite as much fun when
we were going through that inning, but Trevor's our best option
there. Even when he's in trouble, you know he can get you a
strikeout at any time."
Rosenthal's escape act made a winner of John Lackey (9-5), who after
ceding two first-inning runs shut down the Royals (57-37). Lackey
went seven innings in his eighth straight quality start, allowing
six hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts.
Catcher Salvador Perez and Rios touched Lackey for two-out RBI
singles in the first, but the 36-year-old veteran permitted just
three hits and a walk after that, retiring 10 of the last 11 hitters
he faced.
"He made an adjustment and kept the ball down," Escobar said of
Lackey. "Plus he was going in and out on us."
Meanwhile, St. Louis used the long ball against Chris Young (8-6),
who labored through three innings and 68 pitches, allowing five hits
and four runs with a walk and a strikeout.
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Grichuk cracked his 10th homer in the second with right fielder
Jason Heyward aboard. Carpenter, embroiled in a slump that has
lasted close to two months, walloped his 10th in the third after a
leadoff single by second baseman Kolten Wong.
Carpenter's homer, his first on an 0-2 count this year, was just his
third hit in 28 at-bats. After hitting well over .300 for the first
two months, Carpenter is now batting .256, 37 points below his
career average.
"I feel like this has been a good learning experience for me," he
said. "I'm learning that you can't dwell on the past. What's
happened is happened. Tomorrow is a new day."
The game was originally scheduled for June 14 but was rained out
after a 2 1/2-hour delay. The Royals arrived in town early Thursday
morning after beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 Wednesday, and he
flew back home right after the game for a weekend series against the
Houston Astros.
NOTES: St. Louis OF Stephen Piscotty (stiff neck) was scratched from
the lineup after being scheduled to make his first big league start
at first base, a position he just started playing earlier this
month. Dan Johnson replaced him in the lineup, batting eighth, and
he went 0-for-2 with a walk. ... From the start of 2014 through
Wednesday, Kansas City owned the majors' best interleague record at
26-10. ... Cardinals LHP Jaime Garcia (groin) threw five no-hit,
no-walk innings Thursday in a rehab start for Class A Peoria. He
struck out six. Two Peoria relievers completed the no-hitter against
Clinton. Garcia might return to the majors for a start either
Tuesday or Wednesday when Cincinnati is in town.
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