Cardinals Recap: Jason Heyward homers twice in loss to Marlins

Outfielder Jason Heyward homered twice, but a four-run fifth sank the St. Louis Cardinals in Sunday’s series finale against the Miami Marlins.

St. Louis starter Carlos Martinez was charged with five runs in his five innings of work, but just one of those was earned. The hard-throwing righty struck out five, allowing seven hits in the loss that saved Miami from a sweep at Busch.

After Justin Bour gave the Marlins a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the only earned run on Martinez’s ledger, Heyward connected on his first homer of the day, a solo shot off Miami starter David Phelps.

The Cardinals outfielder followed suit in his next at-bat, this time in a two-run fashion, putting St. Louis ahead 3-1.

With things going smoothly for the Redbirds, the wheels fell off in the fifth, when the Marlins hung a four-spot on the board against Martinez.

Adeiny Hechavarria singled to lead things off, advancing to third on the next play when Jeff Mathis grounded a ball through the legs of Kolten Wong, giving Miami men on the corners with no outs.

Chris Narveson laid down a bunt down the first-base line, which Martinez fielded, throwing to Yadier Molina behind the plate looking for the first out of the inning. Hechavarria was called out initially, but the play was overturned, pulling Miami within one, 3-2.

All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon then singled to load the bases, prompting a mound visit from St. Louis pitching coach Derek Lilliquist.

Martinez seemed to settle down, retiring Miguel Rojas for the first out of the inning. But as quickly as things looked promising, things again turned south as Derek Dietrich cleared the bases with a triple, giving the Marlins a 5-3 advantage.

The right-hander handled the final two batters of the frame, effectively limiting the damage done by the early Wong error.

In the bottom of the fifth, rookie Stephen Piscotty launched a solo blast off Miami reliever Chris Narveson, but the Marlins would respond in the sixth, scoring another tally on Wong’s second error of the game.

What’s Next:

St. Louis welcomes the San Francisco Giants to Busch Stadium Monday night for the first of a three-game series with postseason implications.

Right-hander Michael Wacha (12-4, 2.93) takes the ball in Monday’s opener against Chris Heston (11-7, 3.38).

First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. CT.

Next: Cardinals' Carpenter enjoying a power surge