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MLB: St. Louis Cardinals Beat San Francisco Giants 6-3 After Facing 4 Pitchers In 6th Inning

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 17:15 PST, Jun 5, 2016

After a four-run, four-pitcher bottom of the 6th on Sunday night, the St. Louis Cardinals took the lead in the rubber game against the San Francisco Giants and never looked back. Carlos Martinez earned his sixth win of the season, while Trevor Rosenthal earned his tenth save. The Cardinals have now won four of their last six games, bringing them within one-half game of the second place Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central, while still trailing the MLB’s best Chicago Cubs by 10 games. Meanwhile, the Giants remain atop the NL West by 3.5 games, despite losing their last two to the Cards.

Both San Francisco and St. Louis have a day off for travel on Monday, as the Cardinals prepare for an NL Central road trip with series against the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Giants have two games at home against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jake Peavy started the 6th inning with a 3-1 lead over the Cardinals but was replaced after giving up two doubles, a walk, and a run before registering an out. Hunter Strickland hit Stephen Piscotty on his first pitch and was immediately replaced by Javier Lopez. Matt Adams batted in another run, and Cory Gearrin was brought in to finish the inning.

Cardinals hitting stats

Lead-off hitter Matt Carpenter was the biggest St. Louis contributor on the offensive side of things, batting 3-for-4 (including 1 double) with 1 RBI and a run. Aledmys Diaz (2-for-4) and Matt Adams (2-for-3) were the only other Cardinals to get more than a single hit on the night. Six different St. Louis players earned RBIs off of the team’s six runs.

As a team, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of the Top 5 teams in the MLB when it comes to slugging percentage, on-base percentage, home runs, triples, doubles, hits, and being caught trying to steal bases. They currently lead the National League in runs, RBIs and OPS, with only the Boston Red Sox beating them in any of those categories. The Cards remain in the MLB’s Top 10 for walks and batting average.

Cardinals pitching stats

Carlos Martinez (3.76 ERA) is now 6-5 on the season, allowing three earned runs in six innings on Sunday. Martinez tallied seven strike outs while allowing just two walks. The Giants took him for four hits and Jarrett Parker hit his second homer of the year. Jonathan Broxton and Kevin Siegrist took care of the 7th inning, Seung Hwan Oh handled the 8th, and the ever-reliable Trevor Rosenthal finished the Giants off in the Top of the 9th.

Mike Leake (4-4, 3.82 ERA) is set to pitch the first game against the Reds, as Cincinnati will start John Lamb (1-3, 5.58 ERA). Jaime Garcia (4-5, 3.48 ERA) is scheduled to start on Wednesday evening.

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NL Central Standings

As the St. Louis Cardinals (30-27) continue to chase the Pittsburgh Pirates (30-26) for a Wild Card qualifying-position in the NL Central, they have a series against division-worst Cincinnati Reds (21-36). The fourth place Milwaukee Brewers (26-31) have fallen four games behind St. Louis, while the first place Chicago Cubs (39-16) are 9.5 games ahead of second place Pittsburgh.

Upcoming St. Louis Cardinals Schedule

St. Louis gets one day off before the Cardinals begin another road trip that includes three games against the Cincinnati Reds (June 7-9) and three games against the Pittsburgh Pirates (June 10-12) before returning to Busch Stadium.

The mid-June homestretch includes a rare two-game series against the Houston Astros (June 14-15) and a three-game series against the Texas Rangers (June 17-19) before traveling to Wrigley Field to face the MLB-leading Chicago Cubs (June 20-22).

Where To Watch

The St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds (Game 1 of the 3-game series) is set for Tuesday, June 7. As of Sunday evening, plenty of tickets were still available (directly through the Reds’ website) for all three Reds-Cardinals games for fans who want to watch the Cards vs. Reds live in Cincinnati.

Tuesday’s match-up will be an evening game, which is scheduled to begin at 7:10 p.m. EST. The Cardinals-Reds game will air regionally on FOX Sports Midwest.

[Image via St. Louis Cardinals/Twitter]

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