The St. Louis Cardinals took advantage of a Pittsburgh Pirates loss and the thin air in Denver by defeating the Colorado Rockies in an 11-4 route.
Joe Kelly got his ninth win of the season and pitched five innings. Kelly allowed three hits and two walks.
Carlos Martinez pitched out of the bullpen. The rookie was unable to get out of the seventh inning after allowing four runs to score.
Seth Maness finished out the seventh inning. John Axford started the 8th inning before Kevin Siegrist was called upon to get the final four outs of the game.
The Cardinals offense took advantage of Denver’s thin air and Matt Holliday had a great outing returning to the stadium where he played his early seasons. Holliday had a 4-hit day with two singles, a double, and a home run. He was just a triple shy of the cycle. Holliday added two runs and three RBI.
Carlos Beltran was the only player in the starting lineup to not get a hit. All other starters had multi-hit games. Matt Carpenter had a 3-hit day, scored three runs, and drove in two RBI. Jon Jay had three hits. Yadier Molina had two hits, one run, and two RBI. Matt Adams had two hits, a run, and RBI. David Freese had two hits and a run. Daniel Descalso had two hits, two runs, and two RBI.
The Cardinals finish the night sitting in first place outright.
National League Batting Title race:
Michael Cuddyer, .331
Chris Johnson, .327
Andrew McCutchen, .326
Carpenter, .323
Jayson Werth, .320
Molina, .317
