The Cardinals offense was consistent, if nothing else in their 8-6 win over the Rockies Wednesday night. St. Louis scored two runs in four different innings to get their National League leading 17th road win of the season.
Mark Grudzielanek’s first of four base hits came in the fourth inning when he singled in David Eckstein. Grudzielanek finished with two RBI’s and improved his batting average to .344. Scott Seabol followed up with a single to drive in Albert Pujols to give the Cards an early 2-0.
Starting pitcher Matt Morris wasn’t as sharp as he has been so far this season, but he was good enough to improve to 6-0 Wednesday. He allowed a leadoff double to Clint Barnes in the first and Desi Relaford drove him in with a double in the next at-bat. Morris settled down and retired the next three batters.
Colorado tied the game in the second inning, when Barnes drove in J.D. Closser with his second double of the game.
The ping-pong match continued in the third inning when Seabol and Roger Cedeno drove in runs with a double and single to give St. Louis a 4-2 lead.
Morris got into his biggest jam of the game when the Rockies rallied for four runs off five hits and an error to take a 6-4 advantage. Manager Tony LaRussa stuck with Morris, who retired the next six batters before being lifted before the seventh.
In the meantime, the Cardinals tied the game back up with Grudzielanek’s RBI single and Jim Edmond’s sacrifice fly to score So Taguchi.
St. Louis grabbed the lead back for good when Yadier Molina scored on a Larry Walker double play. Pinch runner Jason Marquis scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-6.
Jason Isringhausen allowed a hit in the ninth, but was able to chalk up his 16th save.
