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 Martinez pitched well into the seventh inning and had two hits, and
the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Wednesday.
Outfielder Randal Grichuk homered and third baseman Matt Carpenter
also had two hits for St. Louis, which avoided a sweep with another
strong outing from Martinez.
"Carlos was terrific," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.
Outfielder Ben Paulsen homered for the Rockies, but that was the
only damage against the 23-year-old Dominican. Martinez (7-2)
pitched into the seventh inning for the fifth straight game by
mixing a mid-90s fastball with his off-speed pitches. His only
mistake was the homer, but he wasn't upset with his 88-mph changeup.
"It was a good pitch and the guy just hit the ball," Martinez said.
"I didn't expect the ball to fly that far."
By then, the Cardinals had built a three-run lead despite being held
in check until deep into the third inning.
Martinez broke the drought with a two-out single and went to third
on second baseman Kolten Wong's single to right.
Carpenter followed with an RBI single, scoring Martinez and sending
Wong to third. Wong scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
Carpenter rebounded after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts
Tuesday.
"At any point something like that can happen," Carpenter said. "On
the flip side you could go out and win a game for your team. I
didn't necessarily do that but I had some opportunities to help us
win the game today and I was able to do it."
St. Louis added another run on first baseman Mark Reynolds' two-out
RBI double in the fifth.
The Cardinals' first three runs came on two outs.
"We talk about big hits, it's usually in those situations," Matheny
said. "We get two outs and runners in scoring position we've got to
get something done and we were able to pull those out."
It was enough for Martinez, who allowed eight hits, struck out four
and walked one in 6 1/3 innings.
"I feel really good about it and I really battled at times,"
Martinez said of his outing.
His two hits tied a career high, and he showed a little emotion on
his second one. He raced down the first baseline after hitting a
grounder to deep short, and as he crossed the bag he gave the safe
sign to help out umpire Tim Welke.
"I stepped on the bag and knew I was safe and I gave the safe sign
out of instinct," he said.
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Colorado, which scored 15 runs in the first two games of the series,
struggled to generate any offense. Left fielder Carlos Gonzalez and
second baseman DJ LeMahieu both had doubles and reached third but
Martinez stranded them there.
He was cruising until Paulsen's fifth home run barely cleared the
fence in left-center field.
"He kept throwing me changeups and finally stayed on one," Paulsen
said
That was Colorado's last baserunner. Lefty Kevin Siegrist came on
and got the final two outs of the inning and then struck out the
side in the eighth.
Closer Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth for his NL-leading 20th
save.
Grichuk gave the Cardinals a 4-2 lead when he led off the top of the
eighth with his third home run of the season.
Rockies starter Chad Bettis (2-1) was sharp early before struggling
in the third. He allowed three runs on six hits, struck out six and
walked two. He failed to pitch into the sixth inning for the first
time in five starts.
"I felt out of whack the whole day," Bettis said. "It was one of
those days where it didn't seem like anything was right. Those days
come and go."
NOTES: Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn was sent back to St. Louis early to
have an MRI done on his sore right forearm. Lynn experienced
tightness in the forearm during his start Sunday but still threw 98
pitches. Lynn is still scheduled to start Saturday but the team will
reevaluate Friday. ... Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki was given the day
off. Manager Walt Weiss said he is sticking to his plan to give his
star shortstop rest despite his strong play of late. ... St. Louis
manager Mike Matheny said OF Matt Holliday (right quad strain) is
feeling better. ... Weiss said "there's a good chance" RHP LaTroy
Hawkins (biceps tendinitis) will be on the team's upcoming road
trip.
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