Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Martinez’s grand slam lifts Arizona over Cardinals
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 112/ innings, 3 with the best performance of his 14-start career. Only three Cardinals advanced into scoring position as Godley struck out seven.
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 homer 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. St. Louis fell to 50-52.
Cardinals starter Luke Weaver (0-1), who was recalled from Triple-A 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.
Paul DeJong was the only Cardinal to reach safely more than once, with two singles and a walk. DeJong extended his hitting streak to seven games and is hitting .379 (11 for 29) with four homers and seven RBIs during that span.
NATIONALS 15, BREWERS 2 The Washington Nationals tied a franchise record with eight home runs, including two apiece by Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman, and Max Scherzer pitched six innings of three-hit ball in a rout of the fading Milwaukee Brewers. Washington matched two major league records in a seven-run third inning: Most consecutive home runs (four) and most home runs in an inning (five). After Harper connected off Michael Blazek (0-1) in the first inning, Brian Goodwin started the long-ball barrage in the third with a tworun drive. Wilmer Difo, Harper and Zimmerman followed with long home runs. The streak was interrupted when Daniel Murphy flied out.
MARLINS 4, REDS 1 Chris O’Grady looked like a much different pitcher against the Cincinnati
Reds than he did five days ago. O’Grady pitched seven scoreless innings to help the Miami Marlins beat the Reds to open a fourgame series. AMERICAN LEAGUE INDIANS 2, ANGELS 1 Trevor Bauer pitched a season-high eight innings, Francisco Lindor singled to break a tie in the seventh and Cleveland beat Los Angeles for its seventh consecutive victory. Cleveland is on its longest winning streak of the season and is a season-high 10 games over .500. The Indians completed a 7-0 homestand. YANKEES 6, RAYS 5 ( 11) Shortstop Adeiney Hechavarria and second baseman Tim Beckham watched Gary Sanchez’s playable grounder bounce between them on the left side of the infield for a tying single with two outs in the ninth inning, Brett Gardner homered leading off the 11th, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 for their fourth straight win. Gardner tripled to the left-center wall off Alex Colome leading off the ninth, but Clint Frazier hit a soft grounder to third and AL home run leader Aaron Judge flied to right. INTERLEAGUE
CUBS 6, WHITE SOX 3 Kyle Schwarber homered twice and drove in four runs, and the rolling Chicago Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 for their third consecutive victory. Anthony Rizzo also connected and Jon Lester pitched seven effective innings as the Cubs improved to 11-2 since the All-Star break. The NL Central leaders also increased their advantage over the second-place Brewers to 11/ games ahead of 2 their big series this weekend in Milwaukee. Lester (8-6) allowed two runs and four hits in his third straight win since he got just two outs in the shortest start of his career July 9.