Cardinals rally past Rockies in ninth

CARDINALS 9, ROCKIES 8

Matt Carpenter enjoyed the first multihomer game of his career Thursday and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for three ninth-inning runs against Colorado relievers Boone Logan and John Axford (3-5) to hand the Rockies a loss in the first game of a four-game series. The comeback, which was climaxed by Greg Garcia’s one-out bases-loaded walk, made a winner of Carlos Villanueva (4-3), who worked a scoreless ninth.

By the numbers

Carpenter finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs, and also had a double. ... Newcomer Brandon Moss, acquired in a trade with Cleveland on Thursday morning, came into the game as a pinch-hitter in the sixth and finished 0-for-2 with a strikeout. ... Jason Heyward and Stephen Piscotty had two hits apiece for the Cardinals. ... St. Louis was outhit 16-14, yet still managed to win despite committing three costly errors, two coming in the top of the eighth when the Rockies scored two runs to snap a 6-6 tie.

Up next

Michael Wacha (11-4, 3.27 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (4-11, 6.37 ERA), 7:15 p.m. Friday

This story was originally published July 30, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Cardinals rally past Rockies in ninth."