|
 Cruising through seven innings Friday night, Cooney dispatched the
Atlanta Braves 4-2 at sold-out Busch Stadium.
Throwing 53 of his 74 pitches for strikes, Cooney (1-0) gave up just
five hits and two runs, walking none and fanning five. Cooney went
to three balls on only one of the 25 hitters he faced and threw no
more than 15 pitches in any inning.
With closer Trevor Rosenthal unavailable after earning saves on
three straight nights, Kevin Siegrist pitched the ninth for his
fifth save of the year, striking out left fielder Jonny Gomes with
the tying runs on base to end it.
Rookie left-hander Manny Banuelos (1-2) gave up six hits and four
runs in five-plus innings, walking three and whiffing three, as
Atlanta dropped to 45-51 in the opener of a 10-game road trip.
Center fielder Cameron Maybin was responsible for the Braves' two
runs in the sixth, doubling home shortstop Andrelton Simmons and
then scoring on a two-out wild pitch.
But that wasn't nearly enough to keep St. Louis (62-34) from upping
its home record to 35-12 and maintaining a six-game lead on
Pittsburgh, a 7-5 winner over Washington, in the National League
Central.
Center fielder Randal Grichuk belted a two-run homer in the bottom
of the second for the second straight night, opening the scoring for
St. Louis. The first-pitch homer traveled 421 feet to the last row
in the lower bowl in left field.
Shortstop Jhonny Peralta made it 3-0 in the third with an RBI single
to center that scored third baseman Matt Carpenter, who had started
the two-out rally with a double before a nine-pitch walk by left
fielder Matt Holliday.
[to top of second column] |
The Cardinals added another run in the fourth as first baseman Mark
Reynolds lined a two-strike, run-scoring single to right-center. It
scored Grichuk, who had singled with one out and promptly stole
second.
NOTES: St. Louis traded for RHP Steve Cishek on Friday, sending
Double-A RHP Kyle Barraclough to the Miami Marlins. Cishek is 2-6
with a 4.50 ERA and three saves in 32 games for the Marlins but has
pitched to an 0.71 ERA in 13 games since returning from Double-A
Jacksonville last month. ... Atlanta pulled 3B Juan Uribe from the
lineup amid reports it was trading him and INF Kelly Johnson to the
New York Mets. ... The Cardinals transferred RHP Matt Belisle (right
elbow) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL to make room for Cishek.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
