St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Tim Cooney sits alone in the dugout after coming out of the game in the fourth inning in his major league debut against the Philadelphia Phillies at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on April 30, 2015. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Matt Adams had three hits, including a two-run homer, and finished with three RBI to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday in the finale of a four- game series.
The Cardinals won the last three games of the series, overcoming a rough major league debut from left-hander Tim Cooney on Thursday by banging out 12 hits and drawing seven walks against the Phillies.
Matt Holliday had two hits, two RBI and two runs scored for St. Louis.
Cooney was brought up from Triple-A Memphis for his first start but was pulled with one out in the third inning and runners at the corners. The 24-year-old gave up seven hits and a walk and was charged with three runs.
Carlos Villanueva (2-1) pitched 3 2/3 hitless innings for the win as the St. Louis bullpen yielded just one hit over the remaining innings.
Darin Ruf hit a solo homer for the Phillies but right-hander David Buchanan (0-5) suffered his major league-leading fifth loss of the season after allowing seven runs, eight hits and three walks in just 4 1/3 frames.
“I want my team to win a game that I pitch in,” said Buchanan. “Not for my record. I just want my team to win when I pitch. I don’t care how it happens. I want my team to be comfortable when I take the mound.”
The first four Cardinals batters of the game reached on hits off Buchanan to spark a three-run rally. Jon Jay’s leadoff single was followed by consecutive RBI doubles by Matt Carpenter and Holliday and a single by Adams. The third run scored when Jason Heyward grounded into a double play.
Odubel Herrera hit an RBI single for the Phillies in the second inning and they tied the score with a two-run third, which included Ruf’s leadoff homer to left-center.
Ryan Howard doubled and Cesar Hernandez hit a one-out single, knocking Cooney out for Villanueva, who surrendered a sacrifice fly to Cody Asche.
But Adams cracked a two-run homer to right field in the bottom of the third to put the Cardinals on top again. They went up 7-3 with two more runs in the fifth, when Holliday chased Buchanan with an RBI double and scored on Adams’ single off Jake Diekman.
Adams said he’s more relaxed hitting with runners in scoring position.
“It makes the at-bat more comfortable knowing there are guys on base and if you put the ball in the gap you’re going to score a couple of runs,” he said. “It’s a good feeling.”
The Cardinals tacked on two runs with two outs in the eighth inning against Luis Garcia, who issued two of Philadelphia’s seven walks, including a bases- loaded pass to Jhonny Peralta that made it 9-3. Jay had an RBI single earlier.
