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 The left fielder's bat then spoke very loudly in the bottom of
the first inning.
Holliday unloaded the second-longest homer in the nine-year
existence of Busch Stadium III, giving the Cardinals a lead they
wouldn't relinquish in a 5-1 decision over the Colorado Rockies.
With third baseman Matt Carpenter and right fielder Randal Grichuk
aboard after a single and walk, respectively, Holliday jumped all
over a 2-1 fastball from Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa (13-11).
The 467-foot homer was Holliday's 17th of the year and his first
since Aug. 31. It was just two feet shy of the longest homer in
stadium history, his 469-foot clout on July 20, 2012, against Ryan
Dempster of the Chicago Cubs.
"It's fun when you catch one square like that," Holliday said. "It's
one of the better ones I've hit."
Holliday's tape-measure rocket, which found the third deck in left
field, snapped a 17-inning scoreless streak for St. Louis (81-67).
It also paved the way for the Cardinals to wash the taste of three
straight losses in Cincinnati out of their collective mouths.
That was one of the subjects Holliday addressed in the team's
pregame meeting.
"Whether we hit a lull or Cincinnati pitched well, we didn't have
the same intensity there that we had in Milwaukee," said Holliday,
referring to St. Louis' winning three of four games last weekend
over the Brewers.
"This is where we want to be. It's mid-September and we're in first
place, starting a nine-game homestand."
With ace right-hander Adam Wainwright (18-9) dealing, the Cardinals
had little trouble maintaining their 2 1/2-game lead in the National
League Central over Pittsburgh.
After yielding an RBI double to third baseman Nolan Arenado in the
third, Wainwright gave up an infield single to left fielder Corey
Dickerson. That was all for the Colorado offense as Wainwright
retired the last 16 men he faced.
In tying the Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Cincinnati's
Johnny Cueto for the major league lead in wins, Wainwright threw 69
of 96 pitches for strikes over eight innings. He gave up six hits,
walking none and whiffing eight.
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"I just continued to make strides from my last outing," said
Wainwright, mentioning his 9-1 complete-game win Sunday in
Milwaukee. "There were a lot of similarities. I was ahead in the
count, threw all my pitches for strikes and trusted my defense."
It was the fourth straight loss for the Rockies (59-88), who have
scored just one run in their last 28 innings. They were blanked in
their last two defeats at the New York Mets.
"I thought we had better at-bats tonight than in the New York
series," second baseman DJ LeMahieu said. "We had a lot of good
at-bats where we made hard outs. But it's frustrating when you're
not scoring runs."
De La Rosa (13-11) gave up four hits and four runs, three earned,
over six innings in absorbing the loss. He walked three and fanned
six.
St. Louis' other runs came on two-out hits. In the third, shortstop
Jhonny Peralta singled home Holliday, who reached on an error by
first baseman Justin Morneau and swiped second. Catcher Yadier
Molina's double plated Grichuk in the eighth.
But it was Holliday's sharply-pulled homer that set the tone.
"I thought it was still going up when it hit (the seats)," manager
Mike Matheny said. "It was hit as hard as any that I've seen in a
long, long time."
NOTES: St. Louis manager Mike Matheny announced that RHP Michael
Wacha's scheduled start in Sunday's series finale would be skipped
because of concerns about his fastball and mechanics. LHP Marco
Gonzales will make the start. ... Colorado LHP Boone Logan (elbow)
underwent season-ending surgery Thursday to remove a bone chip.
Logan went 2-3 with a 6.84 ERA in 35 games. ... The Cardinals
entered Friday night's game with a 16-2 record in September home
games dating to last year.
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