Cardinals rookie pitcher Marco Gonzales scores the Cardinals first run.  He got a no-decision in his  first major league start (photo/MLB)

Cardinals rookie pitcher Marco Gonzales scores the Cardinals first run. He got a no-decision in his first major league start (photo/MLB)

It has already happened once this season in a Mets-Yankees game and it happened again in 2009.  Prior to that, only three other times in Major League Baseball have two pitchers faced each other in their big league debuts.  On Wednesday, it was the sixth occurence.  Marco Gonzales started for the Cardinals and Yohan Flande started for the Colorado Rockies…both taking the mound for their first major league start.  Neither pitcher gained a decision in a 9-6 Cardinals win.

Gonzales was an all-state pitcher out of Fort Collins, CO. and had a lot of friends and Cardinals fans to cheer him on as he got through the first three innings with just a walk.   30 of his first 37 pitches were strikes. Then he ran into trouble in the fourth.  Drew Stubbs, who was caught looking at strike three his first time up, hit a solo homer and the Rockies hung five runs on the young Redbirds starter.

Down 5-1 in the fifth, the Cardinals scored three thanks in part to a two-run homer from Matt Adams to the opposite field.  Holliday finished with three hits and he continued to tear up Colorado pitching.   The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead when Gonzales doubled in his first major league at bat and then scored on a single by Holliday.

The Cardinals scored twice in the eighth off Adam Ottavino (0-3) on RBI doubles by Daniel Descalso and Matt Carpenter to take a win away from Flande and added two more runs in the ninth on two of the club’s four sacrifice flies.  Pat Neshek (2-0) pitched an inning in relief to earn the win. Trevor Rosenthal got four outs for his 23rd save in 26 chances.