Cardinals Rally For Win, Rockies Pound Cubs

By ESPN

Still out of the starting lineup, Dexter Fowler helped the St. Louis Cardinals to a big finish.

Fowler singled home the tiebreaking run as a pinch hitter with one out in the ninth inning, and the Cardinals rallied from a late four-run deficit for their fifth consecutive victory by beating the Miami Marlins 6-5 Tuesday.

The game was tied when rookie sensation Magneuris Sierra reached on an infield single with one out in the ninth, and he continued to second on an errant throw to first by A.J. Ramos (1-2). Fowler followed with a sharp single to right field , and the speedy Sierra slid home ahead of Giancarlo Stanton's throw.

Fowler was held out of the starting lineup for the fifth game in a row because of a lat injury.

"The boys are out there grinding," he said. "Obviously I've been on the shelf, but I'll take being out there to contribute anyway I can."

The game-winning RBI was Fowler's third this year.

Sierra, recalled Sunday from Class A Palm Beach, has helped pick up the slack. The 21-year-old scored twice and had two hits to hike his average to .357.

"I feel so happy," he said. "It's like winning the World Series."

The Cardinals overcame a 5-1 deficit with four runs against Kyle Barraclough in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Matt Adams had an RBI single, and Jedd Gyorko's two-run single off Brad Ziegler tied the game.

"They were determined to make something happened," manager Mike Matheny said. "That's just showing heart -- heart and fight."

Trevor Rosenthal (1-1) pitched around a leadoff walk in the eighth. Seung Hwan Oh pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.

The Cardinals' winning streak is their longest this season and has vaulted them into the NL Central lead. They have won eight in a row on the road.

Miami lost its fifth series in a row.

"We're in a little funk," Barraclough said. "There's not just one thing you can blame. Everyone has to snap out of it and just move on."

Adam Wainwright shut out the Marlins for the first four innings but failed to make it through their four-run sixth. Derek Dietrich hit a two-run double and scored twice for Miami.

The Marlins' Dan Straily allowed one run and left after seven innings with a four-run lead but remained winless since April 11.

Rockies 10, Cubs 4

Antonio Senzatela picked a good day not to have his best stuff.

His offense had his back and gave him some breathing room.

Ryan Hanigan hit a two-out, bases-clearing bloop single as part of a six-run third inning, Mark Reynolds homered for a fourth straight game and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 10-4 on Tuesday in a day-night doubleheader opener.

Reynolds also added two RBI singles as every player in the starting lineup, including Senzatela, had a hit for the NL West-leading Rockies.

Senzatela (5-1) wrestled with his command over six innings but wiggled out of several tough spots to keep the damage to just two runs. The hard-throwing rookie had three walks and four strikeouts.

"There's some resiliency where he hung in there and got through it when he's probably not pitching how we've seen him overall," manager Bud Black said.

Even with his usually pinpoint accuracy a little off, Senzatela, the NL rookie of the month for April, never shied away from Kris Bryant & Co.

"He's not pitching scared, whether he's got his command or not," Hanigan said. "He's not trying to nibble. He's going after guys."

Jake Arrieta (4-2) couldn't find his groove and was removed after 3 2/3 innings -- his shortest start since 2012. He surrendered nine hits and nine runs, but just five were earned.

"There were too many hittable pitches left in the middle of the plate," Arrieta said. "The bottom line was I didn't do my job."

The Cubs got a good night's rest when Monday's game was rained out. They arrived in town earlier that day after an 18-inning loss to the New York Yankees that lasted 6 hours, 5 minutes. The team needed a little break, even if it meant playing two on Tuesday.

"Just different when you have that swimming feeling in your cranium. It's difficult to focus," said manager Joe Maddon, whose team lost its fourth straight.

Arrieta and the Cubs were undone by a mistake-filled third inning. A damaging play was an error on shortstop Javier Baez, who threw the ball away trying to get DJ LeMahieu crossing from second to third on a grounder.

There was another costly play too, when Albert Almora Jr. started back on a shallow blooper by Hanigan, forcing left fielder Kyle Schwarber to race after it. But the ball just eluded Schwarber's reach, and the bases cleared.

"As soon as I hit it, thought it was an out," Hanigan said. "When I saw him full sprint at it, I was like, `Oh, maybe there's a chance there.' It worked out."

Twins 7, White Sox 2

Hector Santiago expected his phone to be buzzing after this one.

The left-hander beat his former team once again, Byron Buxton tied a career high with three hits and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 7-2 on Tuesday night.

Santiago (4-1) allowed two runs, three hits and five walks over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six and dropped his ERA to 2.76. The left-hander is 5-1 with a 1.59 ERA against the White Sox, who drafted him in the 30th round in 2006 and traded him in 2013 to the Los Angeles Angels.

"I'll have some texts here in a few minutes from those guys saying, `Stop putting it on us,' for sure," Santiago said. "This is where I grew up in baseball and this is where I got my first chance, my first opportunity. I respect this organization, I love them. But if I can go out there and beat them every time, that's my goal."

Buxton upped his average to a season-high .188 and Kennys Vargas homered for the second straight game for the Twins, who were without the injured Brian Dozier and the suspended Miguel Sano.

"I was kind of questioning my lineup for the first few innings," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "But everyone had a hand in the win somewhere along the way."

Chicago scored twice in the third inning but did not have another hit until two outs in the ninth. Tyler Duffey and Taylor Rogers closed out Minnesota's four-hitter.

"I thought we were on track for maybe a decent game against Santiago," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "We hadn't scored a couple runs off him in a long time, maybe ever. Obviously, they did some damage and came back and answered with a few runs."

Minnesota scored the final seven runs, boosted by Vargas' homer in the fourth inning and four runs in the sixth.

Mike Pelfrey (0-3) also faced his former team and gave up three runs in 4 2/3 innings. He retired his first eight batters, and Tyler Saladino and Jose Abreu had RBI singles to give him a 2-0 lead in the third inning.

It was all Minnesota from there.

In the fourth inning, Max Kepler scored Jorge Polanco with an RBI single to make it 2-1. The next batter was Vargas, who hit his fourth home run of the season to right field.

The Twins broke it open in the sixth when Ehire Adrianza scored two with a single and Buxton and Joe Mauer scored one apiece with singles as the lead grew to 6-2.

Santiago walked his final two batters in the seventh inning, but Duffey struck out Saladino to end the rally.

Tuesday, May 9 Scoreboard

Colorado 10, Chicago Cubs 4

Texas 11, San Diego 0

Baltimore 5, Washington 4 (F/12)

Seattle 10, Philadelphia 9

Cleveland 6, Toronto 0

Cincinnati 5, New York Yankees 3

New York Mets 6, San Francisco 1

St. Louis 6, Miami 5

Kansas city 7, Tampa Bay 6 (F/12)

Milwaukee 11, Boston 7

Minnesota 7, Chicago  White Sox 2

Houston 8, Atlanta 3

Chicago Cubs 8, Colorado 1

Detroit 7, Arizona 3

Los Angeles Angels 7, Oakland 3

Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Pittsburgh 3 (F/10)

Wednesday, May 10 Schedule (All Times Central)

Seattle at Philadelphia, 12:05 p.m.

San Francisco at New York Mets, 12:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Oakland, 2:35 p.m.

St. Louis at Miami, 6 p.m.

Baltimore at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Kansas City at Tampa  Bay, 6;10 p.m.

San Diego at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Chicago  White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Boston at Milwaukee, 7:109 p.m.

Detroit at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.