St. Louis Cardinals Peter Bourjos slides safely at home past the tag of Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz in the fifth inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on April 29, 2015. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Peter Bourjos’ RBI triple highlighted a four-run fifth inning that helped the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night.
Matt Adams and Kolten Wong each had two hits with an RBI and a run scored for the Cardinals, who have won two straight over the Phillies after the series opener on Monday. They look to win their sixth series in seven sets thus far in the series finale on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s just one of those things that you just want to continue to roll through the year,” Bourjos said. “I think this is a special group. Coming to the field every day something is special. Everyone checks their ego at the door.”
Carlos Martinez (3-0) got the win after going six innings and allowing two runs on six hits and three walks.
Ryan Howard hit his fourth home run of the season in a losing effort and Odubel Herrera also knocked in a run for the Phillies.
Aaron Harang (2-2) took the loss, yielding a season-high five runs on nine hits with six strikeouts over six innings of work.
Adams doubled to begin the second, moved to third on Jason Heyward’s single and scored on Wong’s two-out base hit to center.
Howard tied the game with a solo shot in the fourth, then Herrera singled home Harang with one out in the fifth to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Philadelphia could have possibly gotten more, but Ben Revere took a hard turn around third and was caught in a rundown on the play. After Chase Utley was intentionally walked, Jeff Francoeur struck out to end the frame.
St. Louis responded with four runs in the home fifth. Wong led off the inning with a single and moved over to second on Martinez’s bunt. Bourjos then ripped a shot into the right-field corner and raced around the bases for a triple. Bourjos then scored on a fielder’s choice, getting in ahead of Carlos Ruiz’s tag.
“He’s one of those pesky hitters. He puts the ball in play, he makes things happen (and) obviously his speed helps him out a lot more too,” Harang said of Bourjos.
Adams doubled in Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta lined an RBI single into left to make it 5-2.
Kevin Siegrist and Jordan Walden each pitched an inning before Trevor Rosenthal nailed down his eighth save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
