WALKER'S CYCLE PACES ROX PAST CARDS
St. Louis Strands 17 in Defeat; Clubs Combine to Use 45 Players
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 10 (AP) - Larry Walker became the eighth major league player to
hit for the cycle this season, scored the winning run in the tenth inning and
starred defensively as the Colorado Rockies overcame a 5-0 deficit to defeat the
St. Louis Cardinals 8-6 in a wild game at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals
stranded 17 runners--the highest total in a contest lasting 10 innings or fewer
this year--and missed a key opportunity to gain ground on the Central Division
leading Houston Astros, who fell to the Brewers in Milwaukee. St. Louis
remains 4 1/2 games behind Houston and trails the Florida Marlins in the NL
Wildcard race by three games.
The Cardinals raced out to a sizable lead early. Fernando Vina led off the
bottom of the first with a single and was tripled home by Jim Edmonds who scored
himself on Albert Pujols' base hit, giving St. Louis a 2-0 advantage.
In the fourth, pitcher Brett Tomko reached on a one-out single and moved to
second on Vina's base hit. Scott Elarton then walked Edmonds to load the
bases. Pujols' dribbler to first scored Tomko with the third run of the
game and Scott Rolen's double to left-center seemed to blow the contest open by
scoring both baserunners and upping the Cardinals' lead to 5-0.
Tomko cruised into the sixth inning with a three-hit shutout intact, but things
fell apart in a hurry after he retired the first two batters of the frame.
Todd Helton singled and Preston Wilson's sharp grounder to short went for an
infield hit. Walker, who had already singled and tripled, crushed an 0-1
offering over the center field wall for a three-run home run, putting the
Rockies on the board and cutting the St. Louis lead to 5-3. When Jay
Payton followed with a single, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa decided to replace
Tomko and did so with Woody Williams, who was doing his between starts throwing
in the bullpen anyway. The strategy didn't work out well. The first
batter Williams faced, Charles Johnson, lined a 2-2 fastball just inside the
left field foul pole--and just over the wall--for a game-tying two-run home
run. Clint Barmes followed with a single and was followed by pinch hitter
Rene Reyes who doubled to the left-center gap, scoring Barmes and giving
Colorado the lead, 6-5. Cal Eldred replaced Williams and retired Pablo
Ozuna on an infield pop fly to finally end the inning.
The Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the seventh, but they nearly took
the lead. Facing reliever Adam Bernero, pinch hitter Orlando Palmeiro led
off the frame with a single and was replaced by pinch runner So Taguchi.
Pinch hitter Kerry Robinson grounded out, advancing Taguchi to second.
Left-hander Brian Fuentes replaced Bernero and Eduardo Perez, the third pinch
hitter in a row for St. Louis, drew a walk and was replaced by pinch runner
Miguel Cairo. Fuentes struck out Edmonds but then uncorked a wild pitch on
a 1-0 offering to Pujols, moving the runners to second and third. With the
count 2-0 and first base open, Fuentes walked Pujols intentionally but Rolen
came through again, dropping a single into right field. Taguchi scored
easily but Walker gunned down Cairo at the plate following a terrific collision
with catcher Johnson, ending the inning with the score tied at six.
Walker completed the cycle with a lead-off double in the eighth, but reliever
Steve Kline managed to pitch out of trouble.
In the top of the tenth, Walker led off with his fifth hit in as many at-bats,
singling through the box. He then stole second, moving into scoring
position with no one out. Payton followed with a fine job of situational
hitting, forcing a ground ball to the right side, advancing Walker to third with
one out. The Cardinals brought the infield in and pitcher Mike DeJean
induced Kit Pellow to ground weakly to short for the second out, with Walker
having to hold at third. Pinch hitter Mark Sweeney was walked
intentionally and Ronnie Belliard was brought on as a pinch hitter. He
belted a 2-2 pitch to deep left field. Left fielder Robinson made a
sensational over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track, hit the wall, and lost
control of the ball. Both runners scored on Belliard's double and the
Rockies led, 8-6.
Justin Speier came on for Colorado in the bottom of the tenth and pitched around
J.D. Drew's two-out double to secure the win, earning his fourth save of the
season in the process.
Walker becomes the first Rockies player this year to accrue five hits in a
single game and the first player in the major leagues to hit for the cycle and
accumulate more than four hits in the process.
9/10/2003, Col03-StL03, Busch Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 2003 Rockies 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 2 8 14 1 8 0 2003 Cardinals 2 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 15 1 17 0 Rockies AB R H BI AVG Cardinals AB R H BI AVG Ozuna 2b 4 0 0 0 .194 Vina 2b 4 2 2 0 .247 Bellhorn ph 2 0 0 0 .247 Perez,EA ph 0 0 0 0 .271 Atkins 3b 5 0 0 0 .071 Cairo pr 0 0 0 0 .244 Helton 1b 5 1 3 0 .364 Edmonds cf 4 2 2 1 .260 Wilson,Pr cf 5 1 1 0 .279 Kline p 0 0 0 0 .000 Walker,L rf 5 2 5 3 .287 Isringhausen p 0 0 0 0 .000 Payton lf 5 1 1 0 .285 Marrero ph 1 0 0 0 .234 Johnson,C c 3 1 1 2 .238 DeJean p 0 0 0 0 .000 Stynes ph 1 0 0 0 .284 Pujols lf 4 0 1 2 .376 Pellow c 1 0 0 0 .000 Rolen 3b 5 0 2 3 .292 Barmes ss 3 1 1 0 .167 Renteria ss 5 0 0 0 .305 Sweeney,Ma ph 0 1 0 0 .264 Martinez,T 1b 3 0 1 0 .257 Speier p 0 0 0 0 .000 Matheny c 2 0 0 0 .237 Elarton p 1 0 0 0 .167 Drew,J rf 6 0 3 0 .245 Norton,G ph 1 0 0 0 .246 Widger c 2 0 0 0 .202 Sanchez,J p 0 0 0 0 .000 Palmeiro,O ph 1 0 1 0 .285 Reyes,R ph 1 0 1 1 .193 Taguchi pr 2 1 0 0 .125 Cook p 0 0 0 0 .071 Tomko p 3 1 2 0 .306 Bernero p 0 0 0 0 .125 Williams,W p 0 0 0 0 .317 Fuentes p 0 0 0 0 .000 Eldred p 0 0 0 0 .000 Uribe ph 1 0 0 0 .251 Fassero p 0 0 0 0 .083 Stark p 0 0 0 0 .040 Robinson ph 2 0 1 0 .247 Belliard ph 1 0 1 2 .255 44 6 15 6 44 8 14 8 Rockies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Elarton 4.0 7 5 5 1 0 69 40 9.00 Sanchez,J 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 19 13 0.00 Cook H 3 1.0 1 0 0 2 0 24 14 5.10 Bernero H 3 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 9 7 4.93 Fuentes BS 5 0.2 1 0 0 2 1 16 5 3.31 Stark W 4-5 2.0 2 0 0 1 1 35 21 4.22 Speier S 4 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 12 8 3.36 10.0 15 6 6 6 3 184 108 Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Tomko 5.2 7 4 4 0 4 75 52 4.72 Williams,W BS 1 0.0 3 2 2 0 0 11 8 3.58 Eldred 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 7 5 5.50 Fassero 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 5.16 Kline 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 18 8 3.81 Isringhausen 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 14 8 0.28 DeJean L 4-8 1.0 2 2 2 1 0 31 16 4.90 10.0 14 8 8 2 5 160 100 Col: Norton,G batted for Elarton in the 5th Reyes,R batted for Sanchez,J in the 6th Stynes batted for Johnson,C in the 8th Uribe batted for Fuentes in the 8th Pellow inserted at c in the 8th Bellhorn batted for Ozuna in the 9th Bellhorn moved to 2b in the 9th Sweeney,Ma batted for Barmes in the 10th Belliard batted for Stark in the 10th Bellhorn moved to ss in the 10th Belliard moved to 2b in the 10th StL: Palmeiro,O batted for Widger in the 7th Taguchi ran for Palmeiro,O in the 7th Robinson batted for Fassero in the 7th Perez,EA batted for Vina in the 7th Cairo ran for Perez,EA in the 7th Cairo moved to 2b in the 8th Pujols moved to 1b in the 8th Matheny inserted at c in the 8th Taguchi moved to cf in the 8th Robinson moved to lf in the 8th Marrero batted for Isringhausen in the 9th E-Ozuna, Renteria. 2B-Helton(50), Walker,L(22), Reyes,R(4), Belliard(31), Edmonds(24), Rolen(51), Drew,J(16). 3B-Walker,L(7), Edmonds(6). HR-Walker,L(16), Johnson,C(26). RBI-Walker,L 3(66), Johnson,C 2(77), Reyes,R(11), Belliard 2(41), Edmonds(71), Pujols 2(127), Rolen 3(133). SB-Walker,L(7), Renteria(27). K-Atkins, Payton 2, Johnson,C, Barmes, Edmonds, Taguchi 2. BB-Barmes, Sweeney,Ma, Edmonds, Pujols 2, Renteria, Martinez,T, Perez,EA. SH-Cairo. HBP-Rolen, Widger. PB-Pellow. HB-Elarton 2. WP-Fuentes. GWRBI: Belliard Temperature: 67, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 3 MPH. Attendance: 31,923 Game Time: 3:50