Martinez tosses seven shutout frames
Carlos Martinez tossed seven shutout innings and Jhonny Peralta smacked a game-winning solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Memorial Day.
Peralta took the 1-2 pitch from right-hander J.C. Ramirez and deposited it in the left-field seats, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The homer was Peralta’s seventh of the season and helped St. Louis extend its lead in the division to 4 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs, who dropped a 2-1 decision at home to the Washington Nationals.
St. Louis (29-16) opened the scoring in the first inning when Matt Adams grounded a ball to second for a fielder’s choice, scoring Kolten Wong from third. The Cardinals pushed their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Jason Heyward singled, scoring Adams.
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Mark Trumbo tied things up and accounted for the Diamondbacks’ entire offense when he hit a two-run shot to center field in the top of the eighth against Kevin Siegrist, pulling Arizona even at 2-2, setting up Peralta’s eventual game-winning shot.
Five St. Louis players recorded multiple hits in the win, led by Wong’s 3-for-5 afternoon, which raised his average to .325 on the year. In his first game back from injury, outfielder Matt Holliday added two hits out of the three-hole for manager Mike Matheny.
Rookie Yasmany Tomas paced the Dbacks’ offense with three more hits, and now boasts a .347 average in his first professional season. Arizona (21-23) went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and St. Louis fared little better, going 2-for-11.
What’s Next:
Arizona and St. Louis will meet again on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium for the second game of the three-game set. Left-hander Jaime Garcia (0-1, 2.57) will toe the rubber against Arizona righty Archie Bradley (2-1, 4.00).