11 STRAIGHT CARDS REACH BASE IN 8-RUN 9TH
Gonzales Sparkles in Debut
DENVER, June 25 (AP) - 11 consecutive Cardinals batters reached base in an eight-run top of the ninth inning and St. Louis went on to crush the Colorado Rockies 13-1 at Coors Field. Cardinals starting pitcher Marco Gonzales, making his major league debut, was brilliant, tossing eight innings of one-hit ball en route to securing the victory. The 11 straight batters streak is the longest in the major leagues this season, besting the previous high of nine set by the Arizona Diamondbacks, also at Coors Field, on April 5. The 13-run outburst sets a new high for St. Louis this season; the eight runs in a single inning matches the team's best mark this year, previously reached twice.
The Cardinals gradually ran up a 5-0 lead over the first five innings, starting with the opening frame. Matt Holliday doubled off Rockies starter Yohan Flande, who was also making his first appearance of the year. Holliday scored one out later on Jhonny Peralta's base hit. St. Louis added an unearned run in the second when Peter Bourjos reached on Colorado third baseman Jason Rutledge's error, stole second base and scored one out later when Gonzales squibbed a double down the first base line. The Cardinals tallied three more runs in the fifth when, with one out, Flande hit Matt Carpenter with a pitch, yielded a single to Holliday and then surrendered a three-run bomb to Matt Adams, giving St. Louis a 5-0 lead.
Gonzales was masterful throughout, allowing just one hit--a two-out double off the bat of Rutledge in the third. He did walk three batters, but two of them were erased by double play grounders and the only Rockies baserunner to advance past first was Rutledge on his double.
The Cardinals held their 5-0 lead into the ninth when they blew the game wide open once and for all. Rockies reliever Tommy Kahnle opened the inning by retiring Bourjos on a grounder to short, but things quickly went south from there. Mark Ellis rolled a single through the box and Jon Jay, hitting for Gonzales, followed with his one base hit to center, putting runners on first and second. Carpenter then walked, loading the bases. Holliday roped a double to right-center, scoring Ellis and Jay, leaving runners on second and third and Adams followed with his own two-bagger, platting Carpenter and Holliday. It was now 9-0. Matt Belisle replaced Kahnle on the mound, but things got no better. Peralta reached on an infield single, putting runners on first and third and Yadier Molina drew a free pass, filling the bases once more. A wild pitch scored the inning's fifth run, leaving runners on second and third and Allen Craig drew the third base on balls of the frame, loading the bases for the third time. Bourjos then drew another walk, forcing in Peralta to make it 11-0 and Ellis banged out his second hit of the inning, a single to right, scoring Molina with everyone else advancing 90 feet. Jay then reached on an infield hit, bringing home Craig to make it 13-0. Rex Brothers replaced Belisle--who had faced six batters without retiring anyone--and mercifully induced Carpenter to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Colorado managed a meaningless run in the bottom of the ninth when Charlie Blackmon singled and later scored on Ryan Wheeler's ground out, but few of the 28,071 who had paid to see the game were still in attendance at that point.
6/25/2014, StL14-Col14, Coors Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Cardinals 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 8 13 13 1 6 2
2014 Rockies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 1 5 2
Cardinals AB R H BI AVG Rockies AB R H BI AVG
Carpenter,M 3b 4 2 0 0 .230 Blackmon rf 3 1 1 0 .254
Holliday lf 5 3 3 2 .266 Stubbs cf 4 0 1 0 .281
Descalso ss 0 0 0 0 .231 Tulowitzki ss 3 0 0 0 .337
Adams,Ma 1b 5 2 3 5 .308 Wheeler,R ph 1 0 0 1 .162
Peralta,Jh ss 4 1 2 1 .281 Morneau 1b 4 0 0 0 .299
Robinson,S lf 0 0 0 0 .229 Rosario c 4 0 1 0 .214
Molina,Y c 3 1 0 0 .295 Dickerson,Co lf 4 0 0 0 .316
Craig rf 4 1 0 0 .223 Rutledge 3b 2 0 1 0 .270
Fornataro p 0 0 0 0 .000 LeMahieu 2b 2 0 0 0 .218
Bourjos cf 4 1 0 1 .265 Flande p 1 0 0 0 .000
Ellis,M 2b 5 1 2 1 .144 Barnes,B ph 1 0 0 0 .254
Gonzales p 3 0 1 1 .333 Masset p 0 0 0 0 .000
Jay ph 2 1 2 1 .289 Culberson ph 1 0 0 0 .172
39 13 13 12 Kahnle p 0 0 0 0 1.000
Belisle p 0 0 0 0 .000
Brothers p 0 0 0 0 .000
30 1 4 1
Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Gonzales W 1-0 8.0 1 0 0 3 6 92 54 0.00
Fornataro 1.0 3 1 1 0 0 15 9 2.38
9.0 4 1 1 3 6 107 63
Rockies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Flande L 0-1 6.0 5 5 4 1 2 86 54 6.00
Masset 2.0 1 0 0 1 2 30 17 4.79
Kahnle 0.1 4 5 5 1 0 27 14 3.16
Belisle 0.0 3 3 3 3 0 23 10 6.48
Brothers 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 7.36
9.0 13 13 12 6 4 169 96
StL: Jay batted for Gonzales in the 9th
Descalso inserted at ss in the 9th
Robinson,S inserted at lf in the 9th
Jay moved to rf in the 9th
Col: Barnes,B batted for Flande in the 6th
Culberson batted for Masset in the 8th
Wheeler,R batted for Tulowitzki in the 9th
E-Gonzales, Rutledge. 2B-Holliday 2(25), Adams,Ma(18), Gonzales(1),
Rutledge(4). HR-Adams,Ma(5). RBI-Holliday 2(34), Adams,Ma 5(36),
Peralta,Jh(39), Bourjos(25), Ellis,M(4), Gonzales(1), Jay(14), Wheeler,R(4).
SB-Bourjos(3). K-Carpenter,M, Craig, Bourjos, Gonzales, Stubbs 2,
Tulowitzki 2, Rutledge, Barnes,B. BB-Carpenter,M, Peralta,Jh, Molina,Y 2,
Craig, Bourjos, Blackmon, Rutledge, LeMahieu. HBP-Carpenter,M. HB-Flande.
WP-Belisle.
GWRBI: Peralta,Jh
Temperature: 83, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to left at 11 MPH.
Attendance: 28,071
Game Time: 2:46