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 The young right-hander threw seven scoreless innings and limited the
Brewers to four hits and a pair of walks while striking out eight as
the Cardinals blanked the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 at Miller Park.
"He amped up today," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "I think
we even saw a strike three on a 95 mph sinker. He was a little
higher energy than we've seen. He keeps throwing up zeroes, I guess
that's a good thing. We just want to see him consistent and today he
was consistently good."
Solo home runs by right fielder Jayson Hayward and shortstop Johnny
Peralta, who also had a pair of singles to finish the day 3-for-4,
provided all the run support Martinez would need.
"Nice to see Jhonny having a big day there," Matheny said. "We got a
good start there with situational hitting and Yadi (Molina) hitting
the first run in to kind of get us moving. And, just adding on with
the solo shots, that was enough today."
Martinez got into some trouble early, putting runners in scoring
positing in the first through fourth innings, but timely strikeouts
and handful of base-running gaffes by the Brewers bailed Martinez
out each time.
In the first, an error on Peralta and a favorable replay decision
put runners at first and second with one out for Lind, who crushed a
2-0 Martinez fastball to the wall in center.
Center fielder Gerardo Parra tagged and advanced to third while
Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun, on first at the time, tried to
take second when center fielder Jon Jay's throw was mishandled by
third baseman Matt Carpenter but was easily tagged, ending the
inning.
Milwaukee wasted a leadoff double by Davis in the second, then but
two on with nobody out in the third only to see Garza, who drew a
leadoff walk, get caught stealing when he took too big a lead off
second.
The inning ended when Segura tried to steal second on Parra's
strikeout.
"I screwed up by running into an out and killed a rally right
there," Garza said. "Two guys on, no outs, and I can't do that. If I
want to win a ballgame, I have to do everything right. So we can't
give away outs, and that's exactly what I did."
Aside from the two home runs, Garza was, for the most part, sharp
against the Cardinals and picked up his first quality start of the
season, allowing three runs on seven hits with a pair of walks and
striking out six.
"I was alright (but) it sucks we lost," Garza said." That's all
there is. I made progress, but it's about time for that progress to
kick in to results. I threw the ball well, but not well enough.
Their guy was better. You tip your cap and wear it."
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Milwaukee finished the day 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position
and left five runners on base.
"No doubt, he's a good pitcher," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.
"He has a tremendous fastball with movement on it. Good changeup,
good slider. But really, first four innings we had people in scoring
position. First inning, third inning -- ran into outs. We can't do
that. When we get people in scoring position and we have chances,
we've just got to deliver better."
The Cardinals got a scare in the fourth inning when catcher Yadier
Molina was struck in the knee by a foul tip and left the game for
what the team called "precautionary reasons."
"He got me good," Molina said. "Last week I got hit by a foul ball
by the same guy apparently. I was feeling better. This morning I was
like, OK, my knee feels better and boom, tonight I hit it again in
the same spot. It's a little tight right now, but it got all the
muscle, that's good news."
Tony Pena took over at catcher. Molina is considered "day-to-day."
NOTES: Cardinals 3B Matt Carpenter had two hits, including a
ground-rule double to lead off the seventh, to extend his hitting
streak to 11 games. ... The Brewers advanced RHP Jim Henderson to
Double-A Biloxi on Friday as he continues a rehab assignment after
shoulder surgery last fall. Henderson appeared in two games for
Class A Brevard County and went 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA. ... Through the
Brewers' first 18 games, manager Ron Roenicke has used 15 different
lineups, including the last 13 games. ... Milwaukee has been shut
out three times in the first 17 games this season. ... The
three-game series continues Saturday afternoon with Cardinals RHP
Adam Wainwright (2-1, 1.71) facing Brewers RHP Mike Fiers (0-3,
6.75).
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