Jose Martinez is making the most of his limited opportunities.
Martinez sliced an opposite-field pinch-hit single to the right-center field gap off Wade Davis with one out in the ninth inning, driving in the tying and go-ahead runs and lifting the St. Louis Cardinals over the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Thursday.
“Trying to put the ball in play, trying just to get one run, that’s the most important thing,” Martinez said.
Greg Garcia singled with one out against Davis (1-4) and took third on a single by rookie Harrison Bader.
Bader stole second, and Martinez singled on a high fastball, giving the Cardinals their ninth walk-off win this season.
It was the first career walk-off RBI for Martinez, whose playing time has decreased since Mike Shildt became the interim manager on July 14.
“It’s a great teammate. That’s probably one of the best compliments I can give Jose,” Shildt said. “He’s still getting opportunities. He’s not getting quite as many, but he’s determined to make the most of them and showed up ready to take a really quality at-bat with a nice plan.”
Davis has a career-high five blown saves in 36 chances.
“I left it over the plate,” he said. “A couple of line drive hits there. Obviously, the stolen base didn’t help either.”
Colorado, which began the day one game back for the NL’s second wild card, lost three of four at the Cardinals. The Rockies had been seeking to tie the franchise record of nine straight series without a series loss but instead lost a series for the first time since dropping two of three at San Francisco from June 26-28.
“We’re in every game now, which is good, and we’ve won most of them,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We’ve got to continue to pitch well. If we do that we’ll be fine.”
Chasen Shreve (3-2), acquired from the New York Yankees on Saturday, pitched a perfect ninth in his second appearance for the Cardinals.
“This is a focused group that’s really dedicated to playing good baseball and to moving this thing forward and to win games and to put us in position even further than where we are now,” Shildt said. “This team wants to play in the playoffs.”
St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas allowed two runs — one earned — and seven hits in seven innings. Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela gave up one run and five hits in six innings.
After the Cardinals loaded the bases in the sixth, Senzatela struck out Bader on a curveball in the dirt with an 0-2 count.
Tyler O’Neill put St. Louis ahead with a sacrifice fly in the third. Gerardo Parra had a tying single in the fourth, and Colorado went ahead when Ian Desmond hit a bouncer to the third-base side, and Mikolas made an off-balance throw that hit the tarp in foul territory in right field. Desmond was credited with a single, and Nolan Arenado came home from third on the error.
UP NEXT
Rockies: RHP German Marquez (9-8, 4.82 ERA) starts Friday’s opener of a three-game series at Milwaukee. He is 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA in his last five starts.
Cardinals: RHP John Gant (3-4, 3.49 ERA) starts a three-game series on Friday at Pittsburgh, where RHP Chris Archer (3-5, 4.31 ERA) is to make his Pirates debut after his acquisition from Tampa Bay. Gant is coming off his shortest outing of the season, lasting 4 1/3 innings in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night.
AROUND THE MAJORS
The Boston Red Sox didn’t let an early 4-0 deficit stop them from opening a 6 ½-game lead over the second-place New York Yankees in the AL East.
Steve Pearce launched a go-ahead, three-run homer while the Bosox scored eight times in the fourth inning of a 15-7 assault on the Yanks. Pearce homered three times and had six RBIs to help the Red Sox move a major league-leading 42 games over .500 at 76-34.
Each of Boston’s first five batters had at least three hits, with Mookie Betts going 4-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Andrew Benintendi had three hits and three RBIs for Boston, which has split its 10 meetings with the Yankees this season.
Didi Gregorius homered twice and had four RBIs in the Yankees’ second straight loss since a three-game winning streak. Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton also homered for New York.
— Kendrys Morales belted a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the seventh and Aledmys Diaz added a two-run blast as the Blue Jays dealt the Mariners their third loss in a row, 7-3. Teoscar Hernandez provided four of Toronto’s 12 hits and Randal Grichuk was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Seattle wasted a pair of Nelson Cruz home runs and dropped 5 ½ games behind the AL West-leading Astros and a half-game behind the Athletics for the second wild-card slot.
— The Cubs still top the NL Central by one game over Milwaukee after the Padres earned a 6-1 victory at Wrigley Field. The Cubs led 1-0 until Austin Hedges slammed a three-run homer in the sixth inning. Robbie Erlin held Chicago to one run and two hits in five innings to get the win.
— Cody Bellinger was one of four Dodgers with at least four RBIs in a 21-5 dismantling of the Brewers. Bellinger hit a grand slam and had five RBIs, while Brian Dozier homered for the second straight night and drove in four. Joc Pederson homered twice and had four ribbies to help Los Angeles reach a season high for runs.
— The Diamondbacks slipped one game behind the NL West-leading Dodgers with an 8-1 loss to the Giants. Madison Bumgarner provided an RBI single and limited Arizona to one run despite allowing seven hits and three walks over five innings. Evan Longoria homered and Austin Slater was 2-for-3 with a two-run single in San Francisco’s fourth consecutive win.
— Maikel Franco unloaded a three-run, walk-off homer to complete the Phillies’ ninth-inning rally off Kyle Barraclough in a 5-2 triumph over the Marlins. Nick Williams tied it with a bases-loaded grounder before Franco kept Philadelphia a half-game ahead of second-place Atlanta in the NL East. Rhys Hoskins also homered for the Phils, his eighth in his last 12 games.
— Johan Camargo lined a two-run double and Ronald Acuna Jr. was 2-for-3 with two runs scored as the Braves earned their fourth straight win, 4-2 over the Mets. Acuna scored a tiebreaking run on Freddie Freeman’s third-inning single that put Atlanta ahead to stay. Winning pitcher Mike Foltynewicz allowed two runs and five hits over six innings, including Brandon Nimmo’s solo homer.
— Trea Turner crushed a two-run homer and had four RBIs as the Nationals clobbered the Reds, 10-4. Bryce Harper added a solo shot and two RBIs to back Max Scherzer, who limited Cincinnati to two runs and four hits while fanning 10 over six innings. The Nationals’ third straight win keeps them five games behind the NL East-leading Phillies.
— Jalen Beeks picked up his first big league victory and the Rays completed a three-game sweep by downing the Angels, 4-2. Beeks came out of the bullpen and held Los Angeles to a pair of runs and two hits over five innings. C.J. Cron had a two-run single for Tampa Bay.
— Jurickson Profar hit a three-run home run and a run-scoring single as Texas scored 10 runs during the first two innings of a 17-8 laugher against the Orioles. Rougned Odor homered and walked a career-high five times in the Rangers’ fifth victory in six games. Yovani Gallardo won his third straight start but lasted only 5 1/3 innings despite having a 13-1 lead through four.
— The White Sox pulled out a 6-4 win over the Royals on eighth-inning homers by Jose Abreu and pinch-hitter Daniel Palka. Abreu’s solo blast tied it before Palka’s three-run shot gave Chicago a 6-3 lead. Palka tied the White Sox record of three pinch homers in one season, set by Oscar Gamble in 1977.