D-Backs’ Pen Stifles Cards

The Cardinals get a lot of attention for their big blasts on offense, but the little things hurt them last night in a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks. After Erubiel Durazo’s two run double gave the D-Backs a 3-0 lead, the next batter hit a grounder deep in the hole at short. Eduardo Perez failed to scoop Edgar Renteria’s throw to first, and Durazo scored to make it 4-0. The Cardinals scored three runs in the sixth, but could have tied it. Craig Paquette grounded to the left side rather than the right, forcing Ray Lankford to hold at second. Lankford would have scored the tying run on the ensuing fly ball, but instead was stranded. The Arizona relievers retired all 12 men they faced. They had blown four of their previous five save opportunities. Garrett Stephenson allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings for the loss to fall to 10-5. The brief two-game series wraps up this afternoon with a matchup of aces, Darryl Kile against Randy Johnson.