Martinez’s grand slam lifts D- backs over Cards

DIAMONDBACKS 4, CARDINALS 0

ST. LOUIS — J. D. Martinez hit a grand slam and Zack Godley pitched seven innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4- 0 on Thursday night.

The Diamondbacks won their third game out of four, improved to 59- 43 and snapped the Cardinals’ three- game winning streak.

Godley ( 4- 4) reversed a trend of two poor outings, in which he allowed 10 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings, with the best performance of his 14- start career. Only three Cardinals advanced into scoring position as Godley struck out seven.

“My defense, they played unbelievably behind me,” Godley said. “A lot of ground balls, a lot of tough plays to make and they made all of them.”

Archie Bradley and Fernando Rodney each pitched an inning in relief for the Diamondbacks, who had their first shutout since May 30 at Pittsburgh.

Martinez’s blast, his fourth home run as a Diamondback in four days and 20th overall, gave Arizona a 4- 0 lead in the fourth inning. It was the fourth grand slam of his career for Martinez, who was acquired from the Detroit Tigers on July 18.

Paul Goldschmidt had two singles, walked and scored on the grand slam.

With the loss the Cardinals, who were shut out for the first time since May 26 at Colorado, missed the opportunity to reach the .500 mark for the first time since June 2.

Cardinals starter Luke Weaver ( 01), who was recalled from Class AAA Memphis after Adam Wainwright ( back) was placed on the disabled list, was burned by two walks immediately in front of the Martinez grand slam, which were the only runs he gave up in his five innings.

“That’s really and truly the one big swing of the game right there,” Godley said. “[ Weaver] gave up a single and a couple of walks and could have worked out of it and then that one big swing puts us up by four.”