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 All those ailments have cost St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime
Garcia parts of the last four seasons, leaving some to wonder if
Garcia will be back with the club next year when it has the option
for the final two years of his deal.
But Garcia offered up another reminder Friday night of just how good
he is when he's at the top of his game, coming up two outs short of
his first shutout in four years in a 3-1 win over the Miami Marlins
at Busch Stadium.
Working 8 1/3 innings, Garcia (5-4) gave up just six hits and one
unearned run, walking one and fanning six as he lowered his already
miniscule earned-run average to 1.57. Throwing 69 of his 96 pitches
for strikes, Garcia never reached three balls on any hitter until
his last, walking first baseman Casey McGehee with one out in the
ninth.
"It just feels good to be out here contributing," Garcia said. "I'm
doing the things I set out to do every time I'm out there -- keep
the ball low and keep my team in the game and give them a chance to
win it."
It was apparent from the start that Miami (46-69) was no match for
Garcia's darting 90 mph fastball. He blew through the first three
innings in order on just 32 pitches and reached the seventh inning
with only 64 pitches, recording nine first or second-pitch outs
before the seventh.
Manager Mike Matheny wanted Garcia to get a crack at what would have
been his fourth career shutout, warming no one up in the bullpen
during a long bottom of the eighth. But Garcia hit left fielder
Derek Dietrich and missed with a 3-1 fastball to McGehee.
With the potential tying run at the plate, Matheny felt compelled to
wave in closer Trevor Rosenthal and Garcia walked off the mound to a
standing ovation from the crowd of 42,025.
"He had no-hit stuff tonight," Matheny said. "He had shutout stuff.
I wanted the shutout for him, but we had to win the game."
Rosenthal gave up a single to center fielder Cole Gillespie,
followed by a fielding error by right fielder Jason Heyward that
scored Dietrich. But a flyout and popup ended the game, sealing
Rosenthal's 36th save in 38 chances.
St. Louis (74-41) maintained a six-game lead over Pittsburgh in the
National League Central, while the Marlins (46-69) saw their
three-game winning streak end.
Tom Koehler (8-10) was a tough-luck loser for Miami, giving up only
five hits and two runs in seven solid innings with a walk and two
strikeouts.
He matched Garcia pitch for pitch except for the fifth and seventh.
First baseman Mark Reynolds slammed a one-out double in the fifth,
moved to third on Garcia's groundout and scored when Carpenter
dropped a surprising bunt down the third-base line for an RBI
single.
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"I'm not sure that (third baseman) Martin (Prado) could have thrown
him out even if he had been in on the grass," Gillespie said of
Carpenter's bunt. "It was that good a bunt."
Reynolds made it 2-0 in the seventh when he laced an RBI single to
left that scored center fielder Randal Grichuk, who led the inning
off with a double and moved to third on a groundout.
Carpenter capped the scoring in the eighth with a 419-foot homer to
left-center off Mike Dunn, his 18th of the year and 10th since the
calendar flipped to July.
Miami right fielder Ichiro Suzuki made history of sorts with a
two-out single to left in the fifth. Counting his hits in his native
Japan, Suzuki has 4,191, matching the career total of Hall of Famer
Ty Cobb.
But Suzuki's first-pitch swing with the tying runs aboard resulted
in a popup to Carpenter, cinching a well-earned win for Garcia.
"That's as good as I've seen him," Matheny said of him. "Just
watching major league hitters take the kind of cuts they do against
him ... it's different. He's got location, deception and movement."
NOTES: Miami CF Christian Yelich (right knee contusion) didn't start
for the third straight game. He hasn't played since a 4-1 win in
Atlanta on Sunday. ... The Cardinals have the best home record in
baseball (43-17), a stat they have been able to pad greatly since
the All-Star break. They are finishing a stretch of 23 home games
out of 31 since the break. ... The Marlins' 10-run sixth inning
Wednesday against Boston tied the club record for most runs in an
inning. The Marlins also scored 10 in the eighth inning vs. Arizona
on July 9, 2009.
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