Cardinals shut down Giants in doubleheader sweep

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS —Adam Wainwright refused to relax against a makeshift San Francisco Giants squad.

Pitching against the Giants missing stars Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, Wainwright struck out 10 in his 14th complete game and third this season, and the St. Louis Cardinals completed a day-night doubleheader sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 7-1 win Saturday night.

“You look at a lineup and you don’t see some of their boppers in there,” Wainwright said. “Those are key parts of their lineup. You can very easily go out there and take it for granted and give up a couple of runs because you’re not ready to pitch.

“My thought today was to just respect all those guys over there and make sure I was ready to pitch,” he said.

Rookie Shelby Miller was also ready. He pitched six-hit ball for seven innings and backup catcher Tony Cruz hit two doubles and drove in a pair of runs for St. Louis in an 8-0 win in the opener.

Wainwright (8-3) allowed eight hits and one run without walking a batter to close out the first doubleheader between the Giants and Cardinals in St. Louis since July 16, 1978. Wainwright threw 106 pitches and 73 strikes.

“I didn’t feel like I had the best jump on my heater I’ve ever had,” Wainwright said. “But I was locating it and my other stuff felt great. You can go a tick or two down in velocity and locate and still get the job done.”

Carlos Beltran and Ty Wigginton each had two hits and drove in two runs for the Cardinals. Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso and Shayne Robinson had the other RBIs.

Dt. Louis manager Mike Matheny was happy to see his reserves contribute.

“All the way around, the guys made good plays,” Matheny said. “Whenever you see your bench guys, you know they’re doing the right work. So, very impressive.”

The Giants had little to celebrate, as they managed just one run in 18 innings.

“It was a tough day, no getting around it,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “We scored one run. They played great. We didn’t pitch great. We didn’t hit the ball great. That’s a good team over there.”

Wainwright also helped with his bat when the Cardinals broke through against San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner (4-4) with three runs in the third.

Pete Kozma started the inning with a walk, and he advanced to third when Wainwright followed with a double to left-center. Kozma scored on a fielder’s choice to first by Jay, and one out later, Beltran drove Wainwright and Jay home with a single to center.

Bumgarner lasted six innings and allowed five runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

In the opener, Miller (6-3) scattered six hits, stranding seven runners. His ERA dropped to 1.82. Miller struck out seven with one walk.

Matt Cain (4-3) allowed seven runs in six innings, falling to 0-3 at Busch Stadium with an 8.87 ERA in four starts.

Cain struggled in the third, when he threw 40 pitches. In the other five innings he pitched, Cain set the Cardinals down in order. He threw 101 pitches, striking out nine with no walks.

The Cardinals had seven runs on nine hits — seven singles and two doubles — in the third when St. Louis sent 12 men to the plate.

Cruz, starting at catcher instead of Yadier Molina, smacked a two-run double. Descalso hit a double and a single while Kozma had two singles in the outburst.

ROCKIES 7, DODGERS 6, 10 innings

DENVER — Dexter Fowler’s RBI single down the first base line in the 10th inning lifted the Rockies past the Dodgers.

The Rockies got their fourth win this season in their last at-bat, one night after losing to the Dodgers in extra innings.

Yorvit Torrealba’s two-out single off Matt Guerrier (1-2) started the rally. Pinch-hitter Wilin Rosario followed with an infield single, narrowly beating the throw to first. Fowler then lined a hard grounder that shot past first base into right field, driving in Torrealba with the winning run and snapping the Rockies’ three-game losing streak.

Matt Belisle (3-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the victory.

The loss was compounded for the Dodgers because of another injury, this time to Carl Crawford. He left in the third inning after suffering a left hamstring cramp while legging out his second double in two at-bats.

BREWERS 4, PHILLIES 3

PHILADELPHIA — Jonathan Lucroy homered, Wily Peralta pitched seven strong innings and the Brewers held off a ninth-inning rally for victory over the Phillies.

Logan Schafer went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI for Milwaukee, which won its second straight after finishing May tied for the worst winning percentage (.214) in club history.

Peralta (4-6) entered on a four-game losing streak but had one of his best outings of the season, surrendering two runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and a walk. Peralta successfully pitched out of trouble throughout and stranded runners at second in four of his seven innings, including when he struck out Domonic Brown with his final pitch in the seventh.

MARLINS 8, METS 1

MIAMI — Jose Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings and had two hits with an RBI to help the Marlins past the Mets.

Fernandez (3-3) allowed just three hits and struck out eight to give the Marlins their fourth winning streak of the season. Miami has won two straight games three times and three in a row once.

Fernandez retired his final 11 hitters and struck out the side in the seventh. He also had an RBI single in in the second, and doubled and scored in the seventh.

Chris Coghlan had three hits, including two run-scoring singles. Derek Dietrich had a two-run single in a four-run seventh that made it 8-0.

Collin McHugh (0-1) gave up four runs and six hits in four-plus innings. He walked three and struck out one in his first start of the season.

BRAVES 2, NATIONALS 1, 10 innings

ATLANTA — B.J. Upton returned to the lineup with two hits, including a game-ending single in the 10th inning that lifted the Braves to a win over the Nationals.

Upton, hitting only .145 at the start of the game, had been held out of two straight starts by manager Fredi Gonzalez, who hoped the rest would jumpstart the center fielder.

And Upton came through with a single to right field off Henry Rodriguez (0-1) to drive in Jordan Schafer from second base. A sliding Schafer narrowly beat the throw from Roger Bernadina in right field, and Upton then was mobbed by his teammates between first base and second base.

Rodriguez walked Evan Gattis to open the 10th. Schafer replaced Gattis as a pinch-runner. Ramiro Pena popped out trying to bunt a high fastball, but Schafer stole second and Uggla drew a walk before Upton ended the game.

Jordan Walden (2-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the Braves.

REDS 2, PIRATES 0

PITTSBURGH — Mike Leake continued his recent run of strong pitching by working six scoreless innings Saturday night as the Reds beat the Pirates.

Leake (5-2) scattered seven hits as the Pirates stranded seven runners during his six innings. He had five strikeouts and one walk. In his last four starts, Leake has gone 3-0 with a 0.27 ERA, allowing only one run in 33 innings.

The Reds shut out Pittsburgh for the second straight night as the Pirates lost back-to-back games for the first time since May 8-9. On Friday, Johnny Cueto pitched eight innings of a one-hitter.

Francisco Liriano (3-2) struck out 11 in six innings and allowed only one run but lost his second straight decision.

Liriano also struck out seven batters in a row between the first and third innings, tying the club record set by Erik Bedard on May 3, 2012 at St. Louis.

DIAMONDBACKS 12, CUBS 4

CHICAGO — Paul Goldschmidt hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the eighth inning, leading the Diamondbacks to a win over the Cubs.

Arizona starter Ian Kennedy (3-3) allowed four runs on three hits in seven innings and retired 20 of the final 21 batters he faced to help put an end to Chicago’s five-game winning steak.

Gerardo Parra led the game off with a home run and Jason Kubel hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning for the Diamondbacks, who won just for the second time in 12 games at Wrigley Field.

Nate Schierholtz hit a solo shot and an RBI double, but the Chicago bullpen couldn’t hold a 3-1 lead for starter Jeff Samardzija.

The Diamondbacks scored a season-high 12 runs and had a season-high 17 hits. The Cubs bullpen gave a up nine runs on 10 hits with four walks in 2 2-3 innings.

INTERLEAGUE GAME

PADRES 4, BLUE JAYS 3

SAN DIEGO — Robbie Erlin won his first major league start after being called up to help a depleted staff, Everth Cabrera had three hits and two RBIs, and the Padres beat the Blue Jays.

Erlin (1-0) was recalled from Triple-A Tucson because scheduled starter Clayton Richard was forced to pitch two innings in relief in the Padres’ 17-inning, 4-3 win that began Friday night and ended early Saturday.

Erlin, a left-hander, made two appearances in his previous stint with San Diego earlier this season, but started for the first time and allowed two runs over 6 2-3 innings. He gave up eight hits and struck out four while not issuing a walk.

Mark Buehrle (2-4) allowed four runs — three earned — and a season-high 10 hits over six innings. He struck out two and walked one.