Joel Pineiro earns his fifth win of the season as the Cardinals defeat the Florida Marlins 4-2 during the series opener. Pineiro had four strikeouts in seven innings, making great use of his sinker throughout the night. Pineiro was assisted with great plays on both sides of the ball from catcher Yadier Molina.
Molina, hitting .304 this season, jacked a two-run homerun over left-center-field the top of the fourth inning to put St. Louis up 3-2. His hit was followed an inning and a half later when Molina he threw out Dan Uggla, who was trying to steal second, and turned around in the ninth inning to throw out Uggla again on yet another attempted steal.
"He was my hero of the game," Tony La Russa says of Molina.The other two runs came courtesy of Rick Ankiel and Joe Mather. Ankiel, who returned to the starting lineup after 14 games of limited appearances, picked up an RBI with an infield base-hit bringing in Felipe Lopez from third.Designated hitter Joe Mather sealed the victory for the Cardinals with his seventh home run of the season hit into the left field stands to put St. Louis up by two in the top of the ninth.St. Louis returns to Dolphin’s Stadium in Miami to face the Marlins for their second game of the series tonight at 6:10 PM.
