St. Louis Cardinals Earn Wednesday Win

A little bit of Carlos Martinez helped the St. Louis Cardinals earn another victory on Wednesday night.

In front of a national-television audience at Busch Stadium, Martinez lasted six innings and struck out three batters to help the Cardinals to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Cardinals can go for the series win Thursday at 1:45 p.m.

St. Louis gained some breathing ground thanks to the performance of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole, whose blazing arm helped the Pirates to an 8-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals are now two games up on Chicago.

Here are the highlights from Busch:

*It’s one thing to put Jon Jay at the top of a lineup, but is Peter Bourjos too much of a risk? Bourjos hasn’t been the heaviest of hitters in his year’s stay in St. Louis, but he came through with two hits, including an RBI triple, in the victory.

*Kolten Wong reached .300 with a pair of hits in four at-bats. At this time last year Wong was battling hitting issues which eventually caused a demotion to Triple-A Memphis. It looks like Wong’s place in the lineup is a bit more secure than it used to be.

*Jason Heyward and Matt Adams were the others who had two hits in the game. It is particularly good to see Heyward getting back into the swing of things following his groin injury last week.

*Trevor Rosenthal looks lights out for the Cardinals, and that should help the team if postseason play is a factor. Rosenthal pitched a perfect ninth after Kevin Siegrist and Jordan Walden each took one inning.

Thursday’s game will be big because Tim Cooney is pitching. It’s too soon to tell whether Cooney will be a stopgap for one game or whether he will be a fifth-starter solution for the next several weeks.

The Cardinals certainly hope Cooney has enough in the tank for more than a turn.