The St. Louis Cardinals have enjoyed a strong first quarter of the season and a big element is the club’s stellar play on the road.
The Cardinals continued that success by winning the opener of a three-game series against the Athletics at West Sacramento, Calif., and look to add another win when the teams meet again on Wednesday night.
St. Louis used four first-inning runs while registering a 6-4 victory in Tuesday’s series opener while improving its away mark to 14-7. Only the Atlanta Braves (16-7) boast a better mark in the majors.
“The guys are really prepared,” Marmol said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re home or away. They’re focused on how to take care of business and what’s in front of them that day.”
That four-run first inning surely was pleasing to Marmol after the Cardinals were one strike away from a shutout win against the San Diego Padres on Sunday before taking a painful 3-2, 10-inning setback. St. Louis was off Monday.
“It’s kind of what you hope for and how you set it up,” said Marmol, “and then it played out really well.”
A surprise contributor was Yohel Pozo, who had a run-scoring single to cap the first-inning uprising in his third start of the season and first since April 14.
Pozo, who was the designated hitter, only had three at-bats between the two starts that came four weeks apart.
“I was just trying to go up there and compete and trying to put the ball in play and see what happens,” Pozo said. “And I got the result in the first at-bat.”
Shea Langeliers swung a big bat for the Athletics in the opener, hitting a two-run double in the second inning and belting his 100th career homer in the eighth. The 28-year-old’s solo blast to left traveled 448 feet.
“It’s a big milestone — 100 home runs at this point in a young career,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said of Langeliers. “You can say he’s done just a tremendous job in continuing to get better and being an impact-type player. Obviously, he’s a big part of this lineup.”
Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz had an RBI single in the second and later walked while extending his reaching base streak to 35 consecutive games.
The Athletics played without All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson after he was put up the 10-day injured list earlier in the day due to a dislocated left shoulder.
Wilson was injured on Sunday while diving for a grounder during a loss to the Baltimore Orioles. He underwent an MRI exam on Monday. The A’s are hoping Wilson can avoid surgery.
Wilson is batting .292 with three homers and 19 RBIs and hasn’t made an error in 39 games this season. Coincidentally, Darell Hernaiz started at shortstop Tuesday and made an error in the third inning on a grounder.
Right-hander J.T. Ginn (1-1, 3.62 ERA) will start for the A’s on Wednesday.
Ginn picked up his first victory of the season last Thursday when he held the Philadelphia Phillies to one run and four hits over eight innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
Ginn, who turns 27 on May 20, has never faced the Cardinals nor any of their hitters.
Left-hander Matthew Liberatore (2-1, 4.07) will take the mound for the Cardinals after winning consecutive starts.
Liberatore, 26, gave up one run and three hits over six innings to beat the San Diego Padres last Thursday after also defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 1. He has allowed three runs and eight hits over 11 2/3 innings during the span.
Liberatore is 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA in three appearances (two starts) against the Athletics. Brent Rooker and Zack Gelof are each 3-for-5 against him.
–Field Level Media
