PHOENIX (AP) _ Yadier Molina homered and had three RBIs, Carlos Martinez
pitched six effective innings and the St. Louis Cardinals ended a four-game
losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.
Molina hit a two-run single in the Cardinals’ four-run first inning against
Robbie Ray (3-1) and hit his 12th homer off the Arizona left-hander in the
sixth.
Jedd Gyorko also homered and had two RBIs to end Ray’s nine-game winning
streak, dating to last season.
Martinez (5-4) allowed two runs on six hits and lined a double. Bud Norris
worked a perfect ninth for his 16th save in 18 chances.
Paul Goldschmidt had four hits and an RBI for the Diamondbacks, who have lost
four straight.
Martinez snapped a three-game losing streak his last start, holding Cleveland
to two runs on six hits in six innings. The right-hander was staked to a
four-run lead before taking the mound and gave up Jake Lamb’s run-scoring single
in the bottom half.
Goldschmidt lined a run-scoring single in the fifth inning off Martinez, who
struck out seven.
Ray returned from the DL (strained right oblique) to throw six scoreless
innings in a 2-1 win over Miami on Wednesday.
The Arizona left-hander had a shaky start to his second post-DL outing,
allowing four runs on five hits in the first inning.
Ray struck out six while retiring 12 of the next 13 hitters before Molina and
Gyorko connected on consecutive solo homers to put the Cardinals up 6-2 in the
sixth inning.
Ray allowed six runs on nine hits in five innings in his 100th career
appearance.
CARDINALS MOVES
The Cardinals place OF Dexter Fowler on paternity leave so he could be with his
wife, Aliya, for the birth of their second child. St. Louis recalled rookie OF
Tyler O’Neill from Triple-A Memphis to fill his roster spot. O’Neill started in
right field and batted third, going 1 for 4.
TRAINER’S TABLE
Diamondbacks 2B Ketel Marte returned as a replacement in the seventh inning
after missing Sunday’s game to a right hamstring cramp suffered Saturday against
San Francisco.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke is 12-5 with a 3.42 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 19
career games against the Cardinals headed into Tuesday’s game. He’ll face RHP
Jack Flaherty, who will be making his first career start against Arizona.
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