Things weren’t looking good for the Cardinals early in the day. Pitching ace and former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter complained of severe back stiffness and sat out his scheduled start.
In stepped reliever Brad Thompson. The short notice didn’t help him out any as he only lasted two innings giving up two runs on four hits. After just eight pitches, Thompson had already given a run. Omar Vizquel’s triple in the first drove in leadoff man Randy Winn.
It looked like the Cardinals were going to come up short all day. They loaded the bases twice in the first three innings with no outs. Those two situations produced just one run and it came on a double-play.
But, as all good teams do – the second best record in the majors definitely qualifies you as a good team – St. Louis found a way to get it done beating the Giants 10-4.
The Cardinals got a brilliant effort from their pitchers. Except this time, the pitchers did it at the plate. Adam Wainright homered in his first major league at bat. Jason Marquis, fresh off a win Tuesday, hit a triple. And Braden Looper doubled to leave Cardinal pitchers just a single short of hitting for the cycle.
Yadier Molina hit a two-run single in the sixth, then walked with the bases loaded in a four-run seventh. So Taguchi joined the home run crew. Taguchi’s solo homer went along with two others he had in the game.
St. Louis used five pitchers to shut down the Giants. Wainright got the win to go along with his homer. He pitched the longest out of any of the five. Wainright threw three innings giving up two runs on four hits and striking out one.