Cardinals come alive in 9th, but fall short

ST. LOUIS -- With two outs, nobody on base, and down six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jose Martinez wanted to get something -- anything -- started.

With a 430-foot home run to center field, Martinez started a two-out, four-run inning that fell just short in Sunday’s series finale against the Angels. Paul DeJong grounded out with runners on first and third to end the comeback and the game, as the Cardinals lost, 6-4, at Busch Stadium.

“That’s the way you have to finish a game, especially when you don’t perform the way you have to early,” Martinez said. “We had better at-bats, we had better contact, we did a good job.”

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Cardinals manager Mike Shildt added: “You talk about a fighting team, if anybody is ever going to question the heart of this team, look at that. ... It was the mentality keeping the line moving.”

The task ahead of the Cardinals after Sunday’s game is to string together those hits before the bottom of the ninth inning, much like they did in their two victories over the weekend.

On Friday and Saturday, the Cardinals scored nine runs total. On Sunday, they had just five hits before the ninth inning and were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and down two, Tommy Edman ripped a long fly ball to the center-field wall for a triple, running so fast to put himself in scoring position that his helmet nearly came off as he rounded second base.

He stood on third base as the top of the lineup -- Matt Carpenter and DeJong -- struck out and flied out, respectively, to end the inning.

“We ran into a starting pitcher that really executed his plan against us,” Edman said.

Angels left-hander Tyler Skaggs limited the Cardinals to four hits and didn’t walk anybody in his five innings.

But the Cardinals didn’t wilt, even when John Gant gave up four runs in the top of the ninth inning to extend the Angels’ lead. Gant surrendered two walks and three singles, but he was able to get Albert Pujols to pop out in what could have been Pujols’ final at-bat at Busch Stadium. Pujols trotted off the field to a standing ovation and a curtain call from the announced crowd of 47,114 fans.

Gant isn’t known for his walks, and neither is Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas, who walked two, including Skaggs in the second inning. The walks hurt the Cardinals pitchers, and the Angels capitalized with runners on base.

“The walks always hurt,” Shildt said. “We’ve been really good. We’ve gone from an area we wanted to seek improvement in, been clear about that, and have done it. Clearly tonight, it didn’t help. That was a big part of it with seven walks.”

Mikolas made it through five innings on 90 pitches and allowed only one run, but he gave up a lot of contact and was already at 67 pitches through three innings.

The Angels worked Mikolas into deep counts, and Mikolas expanded the zone as he tried to get the batters to chase balls. But he was able to limit all seven of the Angels’ hits off him to singles.

“They made me work for it,” Mikolas said. “You keep them to seven singles, they only get one run, that’s not bad. Keeping the ball down, limiting the big hit. I was able to stay away from the big hit.”