Goldschmidt, Greinke lead D-Backs over Cardinals
ST. LOUIS — It took Zack Greinke a few batters to settle in against the St. Louis Cardinals. Once he did, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ ace was dominant.
Greinke gave up a run and three hits to the first three batters he faced. After that he gave up just one more hit in his seven innings to lead the Diamondbacks to a 7-1 win over the Cardinals on Saturday night.
“I was making a bunch of mistakes the first three batters,” Greinke said. “I just didn’t feel loose really. I was just having trouble making pitches. Then guys in scoring position all of a sudden my pitches started going where I wanted a little better, so that was nice.”
Greinke (13-4) struck out nine and walked one and improved to 5-0 in his last six starts. He hasn’t lost a game in more than a month. He escaped jams in the first and fifth innings.
“He did a good job really bearing down when he had to,” teammate Paul Goldschmidt said. “They got those first three guys on and got a run and he was able to limit the damage. I think they had baserunners a few other innings where, a first and second no outs, and that game could have changed if they were able to get another run or two.”
Goldschmidt, J.D. Martinez and Ketel Marte each homered to pace the Diamondbacks’ offense. Goldschmidt drove in three runs and Jeff Mathis added two hits.
“Offensively we did a number of things that were outstanding,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We had a really nice approach. I think we drew seven walks today. Runners on base all day long. Goldie and J.D. with the back-to-back home runs. But I thought the real key to the day was Zack setting the tone for us. Seven innings. You can’t ask for anything more.”
Goldschmidt hit a tworun homer, his 22nd, and Martinez followed with a solo shot, his 21st, to give the Diamondbacks a 3-1 lead in the fourth.
Martinez has five home runs and 12 RBIs in eight games since being acquired