HOUSTON -- Behind a dominant outing on the mound from Carlos Martinez and an offensive onslaught featuring 12 hits and home runs from Jeremy Hazelbaker and Brandon Moss, the Cardinals won their fourth in a row, beating the Astros, 8-2, at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday afternoon.
With the victory, the Cardinals maintained their one-game lead over the Pirates for the second National League Wild Card berth. They are two games behind the Giants for the top NL Wild Card spot.
Martinez held the Astros' inconsistent offense down long enough for St. Louis to storm out to a 4-0 lead after three. The 24-year-old right-hander went seven innings, surrendering only one run while keeping Houston hitless until the sixth. It was the third time in the past four games that the Astros scored only two runs, and it was a rebound performance for Martinez following the unraveling he endured near the end of his last start in Chicago.
"It's fun to watch how he takes some hard lessons like maybe he got in Chicago and how focused he stayed all the way through this game," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "He wants to be great. And he has every tool necessary to be great. We just want to help him get out of his own way sometimes."
Trailing, 8-2, in the bottom of the ninth, the Astros loaded the bases with no outs, but Matt Bowman came on and struck out Teoscar Hernandez and Evan Gattis and induced George Springer to ground out and strand all three runners.
"The rollercoaster ride that we've been on is no fun when we're in this portion of it," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "This game will test your character. It will test your resolve. It will test your ability to come back from adversity, and this is yet another test for us."
Masterful Martinez: Martinez delivered his strongest performance since the All-Star break to snap a personal three-start winless streak. His efficiency was sensational, as Martinez breezed through five hitless innings on 52 pitches and threw 79 over seven innings. The right-hander struck out seven and induced a slew of weak ground-ball outs while featuring his sinker and offspeed pitches prominently. It was Martinez's 10th season start of one or fewer runs allowed. No one else in the Cardinals' rotation has more than five.
"That's especially why I really tried to mix up the balls and work the corners because they're known as a team that is really aggressive from the jump and they swing a lot," Martinez said, speaking through a translator. "I saw that my sinker was doing really well with lower velocity, so I decided not to really outdo myself."
Lacking quality: For the fourth consecutive game, the Astros couldn't get a quality start out of their starter. This time, veteran Doug Fister allowed seven hits and four runs in only four innings. The nine runs he's given up in his last two starts tie a season high for the most the right-hander has surrendered in consecutive starts this season.
"[St. Louis] hung in there pretty effectively, hitting foul ball after foul ball after foul ball and then putting the ball in play," Hinch said. "... You look up and Doug's at 90-plus pitches in the fourth inning. Doug didn't quite have the put-away pitches to end at-bats on time." More >
Power hungry: Hazelbaker's fourth-inning solo homer not only extended the Cardinals' lead, but it also put the 2016 offense in the franchise record books. For the first time in club history, 10 players have connected for at least nine home runs. The previous franchise high of nine had been set back in 2000. The Cards have strung together eight consecutive multihomer games, also a franchise record.
"I'm happy with the fact that we're spreading the wealth," Matheny said. "It keeps your team in it every game. All the way through our lineup, we have the ability to do damage with the long ball, and that's a nice attribute for an offense to have." More >
Offense disappears: While the offense suffered a dry spell earlier in the month of August, Houston had seemingly gotten back on track lately, scoring 39 runs in its previous five games. But the Astros fell right back into that same lull, not notching a hit or run until the bottom of the sixth.
"The more that we swing outside the strike zone," Hinch said, "trying to do too much, trying to be the guy, [the more] we see some rough games along the way."
"The last two outings he's had have been extremely impressive. He and [catcher] Yadi [Molina] are getting a good feel for how to expand the plate. He's got guys really considering that sinker all the time because it's an above-average pitch. -- Matheny on Bowman, who has worked out of bases-loaded, no-out jams in each of his past two appearances
Moss' three-run blast in the seventh was his team-leading 22nd homer and fourth in the first six games of the Cardinals' road trip. With this power surge, Moss has dropped his at-bats per home run ratio to 12.73, the lowest among all Major League hitters with a minimum of 160 at-bats.
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa was riding a career-long hitting streak of 11 games, but that streak was broken Wednesday when Correa went 0-for-4 at the plate.
"[Martinez] had everything working," Correa said. "His changeup was good, slider was good. He was commanding his fastball, so it was tough today."
Cardinals: After an off-day Thursday, the Cardinals will open the final leg of a three-city road trip Friday with a 6:05 p.m. CT game against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Starter Adam Wainwright will look to get back on track after allowing 13 runs in his past two outings. Wainwright is coming off a career-low two-inning start.
Astros: The Astros continue their tough stretch of 15 of 17 on the road with a four-game series against the Orioles at Camden Yards, starting Thursday at 6:05 p.m CT. Joe Musgrove (1-0, 1.47 ERA) will take the mound for Houston in his third Major League start.
NEW YORK -- Mets infielder Asdrubal Cabrera will have an MRI exam on his lower back Friday, after leaving Thursday's 7-2 win over the Reds in the eighth inning.
Cabrera was hurt making a throw from third base in the seventh inning. He said he doesn't believe the injury is serious, and said an initial exam by a Mets doctor also suggested it could be a minor issue.
The Mets were already short on healthy infielders, with Wilmer Flores finding out Thursday he'll miss the rest of the season with a broken nose. Shortstop Amed Rosario missed his fourth straight game Thursday, because of swelling in his right index finger.
• David J. Skaff has been named treasurer of Glacier Hills board of directors. Skaff is currently the executive vice president and chief business banking officer for United Bank & Trust. Glacial Hills Inc. is the parent company of Glacier Hills Senior Living Community in Ann Arbor.
• Ann Arbor-based public health organization NSF International has promoted two to senior vice president: Tom Chestnut was promoted to senior vice president, global food division, and Chandana Kathuria was promoted to senior vice president and chief information officer/lean program leader. NSF International is an independent organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products for the water, food, health sciences and consumer goods industries.
• Ann Arbor-based Arbor Teas in March was inducted into the International Green Industry Hall of Fame. IGIHOF, a nonprofit based in California, recognizes individuals and organizations committed to creating a better environment through green practices.
• The latest Hospital Safety Score released from The Leapfrog Group awarded "A" grades to five Saint Joseph Mercy Health System hospitals for their ability to protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. Making the "A" grade were Chelsea Community Hospital, St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron and St. Mary Mercy Livonia. St. Joseph Mercy Livingston received a "B" score.
• Eastern Michigan University recently named Calvin Phillips associate vice president of student affairs, pending approval by the university’s board of Regents. Phillips currently serves as vice president for student affairs at Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D.
• Ann Arbor-based Domino's Pizza recently announced it had opened its 11,000th store. The newest location is in Brantford, Ontario.
• ProQuest has acquired U.K.-based Pi2 Solutions, a provider of product literature databases, workflow tools and related outsourcing services for global pharmaceutical companies. ProQuest plans to align Pi2 with its ProQuest Dialog corporate information service to expand ProQuest's presence in the pharmaceutical industry. ProQuest, based in Ann Arbor, is a producer of cloud-based research and information technologies for librarians, students and researchers.
• Aysling, formerly known as Aysling Digital Media Solutions, April 30 announced that it has rebranded itself and moved to a new corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor. Founded in 2005 as WoodWing Solutions, Aysling is a provider of Adobe and WoodWing digital publishing software solutions and digital media production services for publishers, retailers, corporations and agencies around the world.
Paparazzi highlights photos of industry awards, corporate donations to a local charity or other business happenings in the greater Ann Arbor area.
Eastern Michigan University faculty members received honors during a celebration of excellence in March.courtesy of EMU
Five Eastern Michigan University faculty members and a full-time lecturer were honored for their excellence in teaching, research and other categories during the 37th annual Academic Awards celebration March 26 in the EMU Student Center. The Academic Awards are part of the weeklong celebration on Eastern's campus known as the "Week of Excellence."
The Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award is the highest honor a faculty member can receive at the university. Up to six faculty members are recognized each year. The winners will receive a plaque and a $3,500 honorarium and the Full-Time Lecturers Outstanding Teaching Award winner receives a plaque and a $1,000 honorarium.
This year, Pamela Landau, lecturer in psychology, was presented with the EMU Full-Time Lecturers Outstanding Teaching Award. Steven Ramold, professor of history, received the received the 2013 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award - Teaching II.Heather Janisse, a professor of psychology, received the 2013 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award - Research I. Philip Schmitz, a professor of history, received the 2013 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award – Research II. Joan Cowdery, a professor in health promotion and human performance, received the 2013 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award – Research II. Pirooz Aghssa, a professor in the department of Communication, Media & Theatre Arts, received the 2013 Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award – Creative/Artistic Activity.
Additionally, Doris Fields, a professor in the department of Communication, Media & Theatre Arts, was acknowledged as Eastern Michigan University's nominee for the seventh annual Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year.
Datebook is your source for information about important business events going on in the greater Ann Arbor area.
• Tuesday: Ann Arbor OpenCoffee. 8-9:30 a.m. SPARK Central, 330 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor. This is strictly a networking event for entrepreneurs, investors, and those who work with innovation businesses. As always, bring your business cards. Mighty Good Coffee will be provided, compliments of SPARK. Free. More information: http://www.annarborusa.org/events.
To enter your business event in the Mlive events calendar, visit http://myevent.mlive.com/web/event.php.