Marcell Ozuna had always dreamed of hitting a game-ending homer, and finally did it.
Ozuna got the his first of his career in the 10th inning Monday night, and the St. Louis Cardinals snapped Colorado’s four-game win streak with a 5-4 victory over the Rockies.
“I’ve been working on it so many times,” Ozuna said. “I was in that situation before and I couldn’t get it. Today was the time.”
Ozuna connected against Jake McGee (1-4), sending a one-out drive deep to center for his 13th homer of the season. The slugger also extended his homer streak to three straight games.
“Missed my spot over the middle of the plate. He was looking fastball too,” McGee said. “Got to be a little more careful especially with a home run hitter like that.”
Dakota Hudson (1-0) got three outs for his first career win.
St. Louis has won eight games on game-ending hits this season and has won three of its last four contests.
Colorado took a 4-0 lead when Nolan Arenado hit his fifth career grand slam in the fifth inning off Daniel Poncedeleon, who replaced Carlos Martinez when the right-hander departed with a mild shoulder strain with two outs.
Arenado went deep for the third time in four games. The drive to center gave him 79 RBIs, one behind Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez for the National League lead.
Martinez was activated from the disabled list prior to the game. He missed his previous start with a right oblique strain.
“He just said my shoulder is sore but I can still go,” Cardinals interim manager Mike Shildt said. “The velocity was down a little bit. We just looked at it and went out and the rest was what it was.”
Colorado left-hander Tyler Anderson allowed four runs in six-plus innings. He was replaced by Scott Oberg after he walked the first three batters in the seventh.
“That ended up costing us the game so it’s obviously pretty bad,” Anderson said. “I just felt like I didn’t know where the ball was going there.”
Dexter Fowler then struck out, but Harrison Bader walked and Matt Carpenter hit a tying two-run single with two out.
Charlie Blackmon singled off Martinez in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, matching his season high.
Gerardo Parra initially scored on a pitch from Poncedeleon to Anderson that sailed to the backstop in the sixth inning. The call was overturned after the Cardinals challenged the ruling on the field that Parra evaded Poncedeleon’s tag.
Jedd Gyorko homered in the fifth inning for St. Louis. It was Gyorko’s first since July 5 and No. 8 on the season.
“That’s a huge answer right there,” Shildt said. “Come back, it’s 4-1 and get them on their heels a little bit.”
UP NEXT
Rockies RHP Jon Gray (8-7, 5.16 ERA) will face Cardinals RHP Jack Flaherty (4-5, 3.28 ERA) in the second game of the four-game series Tuesday night. Gray has a 1.26 ERA in 14 1/3 innings since being recalled from Albuquerque on July 14. Flaherty will be making his first career appearance against Colorado. He has failed to pitch into the sixth inning in his last four starts.
AROUND THE MAJORS MONDAY
The Houston Astros’ lead in the AL West continues to shrink as the defending World Series champs endure their longest losing skid of the season.
James Paxton pitched three-hit ball over seven innings and Nelson Cruz delivered a two-run double as the Mariners handed the Astros their fifth consecutive loss, 2-0. Paxton struck out eight and threw 82 pitches in his first game off the disabled list.
Astros starter Gerrit Cole had a no-hitter in the sixth until Jean Segura singled and scored on Cruz’s double two batters later.
Edwin Diaz picked up his major league-leading 40th save as the Mariners improved to 63-42, leaving them three games behind Houston.
— Boston is six games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East after Blake Swihart lined an RBI double in the bottom of the 13th to complete the Red Sox’s 2-1 victory against the Phillies. Eduardo Nunez sparked the winning rally with a leadoff single and scored the winning run after tying the game with an RBI triple in the fifth. The Bosox’s bullpen pitched shutout ball after David Price was reached for eight hits over eight innings.
— The Braves won their second in a row as Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr. hit solo homers in a 5-3 win over the Marlins. Freeman put Atlanta ahead 3-2 in the third inning and helped Julio Teheran improve to 8-7. The Braves’ bullpen blanked the Marlins over four innings and helped Atlanta get within a half-game of first-place Philadelphia in the NL East.
— Milwaukee is within one game of the NL Central-leading Cubs after Eric Thames slammed a three-run homer in the Brewers’ 5-2 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Travis Shaw was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to help the Brewers win for the fourth time in five games. Manny Machado homered for the Dodgers.
— Shin-Soo Choo crushed a three-run homer and a solo shot in the Rangers’ 9-5 verdict over the Diamondbacks. Rougned Odor also went deep as Texas turned on the power before a bank of lights were knocked out by thunderstorms. Steven Souza Jr. hit a three-run shot for the Diamondbacks, who ended a three-game winning streak and stayed a half-game behind the NL West-leading Dodgers.
— The Twins beat the Indians’ 5-4 on Mitch Garver’s RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. Cleveland slugger Jose Ramirez slammed his 31st and 32nd home runs to tie Boston’s J.D. Martinez for the major league lead. Yan Gomes also homered for the Indians, who lead the AL Central by eight games over Minnesota.
— Edwin Jackson earned his 100th career victory by pitching scoreless ball into the sixth inning of the Athletics’ 10-1 thumping of the Blue Jays. Jackson struck out five, gave up three hits and walked three in 5 2/3 innings. Jonathan Lucroy drove in three runs and Mark Canha slammed a solo homer to help Oakland stay two games behind Seattle for the second AL wild-card berth.
— Gorkys Hernandez launched a tiebreaking solo homer in the 12th inning before the Giants completed a 5-3 victory at San Diego. Chase d’Arnaud belted a three-run shot to put the Giants ahead 3-0 before the Padres rallied. Hunter Renfroe hit a solo shot and Christian Villanueva supplied the game-tying double.