Cardinals club Colorado in Friday clash

The debut of the newest St. Louis Cardinal was a bit of a disappointment, but a solid performance at the top of the lineup more than helped overcome it.

The Cardinals shut out the Colorado Rockies, 7-0, on Friday at Busch Stadium as Matt Carpenter continued his red-hot performance at the top of the order. Carpenter’s two hits increased his batting average to .264.

It wasn’t just Carpenter that got the job done, however.

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Kolten Wong, Jhonny Peralta, Jason Heyward and Randal Grichuk each had two hits as the Cardinals had a 14-hit attack against Rockies pitcher Kyle Kendrick. Kendrick had a winning record against St. Louis previously, so Friday’s outing was a good one for the Cardinals.

Michael Wacha was his usual unstoppable self, as he fanned seven batters in seven innings to improve to 12-4 overall.

St. Louis (66-37) put two runs on the board in the first inning as Carpenter homered and Wong scored on Heyward’s sacrifice fly.

A two-run double by Piscotty and two-run homer by Peralta keyed a five-run sixth inning that put the game out of reach.

Brandon Moss was hitless in four at-bats in his debut in a Cardinals uniform.

The Cardinals maintained their 5 1/2 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central, as the Pirates overcame the Cincinnati Reds 5-4.

What’s next

The series continues on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. as Lance Lynn (8-5, 2.71) takes the hill against Jorge De La Rosa (6-4, 5.03).