As a result, the Snakes dropped back to the .500 mark and lost ground in their quest for a post-season berth as both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants both won their respective games.
At one point during last night's game, the D-backs were only down 0-2, after Ian Kennedy (10-10, 4.35 ERA) allowed St. Louis slugger Matt Holliday to swat a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth. Then came the later innings, when the pitched started giving up runs and the Cardinals blew things open.
First, the ginger-haired hurler gave up a solo homer to Jon Jay in the sixth, which wasn't so bad, considering that Miguel Montero made up some ground in the top of the seventh by knocking in a two-run moonshot that also scored Justin Upton. The bottom half of the inning, however, was a titanic clusterfuck.
Kennedy permitted Skip Schumaker to produce a shallow single to center and then screwed up a throw to first after Rafael Furcal's sacrifice fly, giving the shortstop the chance to make it to the base in time.
Having runners at first and second wasn't necessarily an insurmountable problem, since Kennedy has worked his way out of tougher jams this season. Too bad Shane Robinson's pinch-hit grounder and a fielder's choice brought in a run and yet another throwing error by the pitcher enabled Furcal to dash to third and Robinson to make it to second.
Kennedy then walked Jay to load the bases before getting axed by D-backs manager Kirk Gibson. Allen Craig's RBI single off Arizona reliever Brad Ziegler, who inherited Kennedy's situation, brought in another run before notching the two outs needed to end the disaster that was the seventh inning.
Bryan Shaw kept the nightmare going in the eighth frame by allowing runners in scoring position on second and third via a walk and wild pitch before giving up back-to-back RBI singles to add another three runs to the scoreboard in Saint Louis' favor.
Arizona will attempt to rebound tonight during the second match-up in their three-game series in St. Louis. Joe Saunders (6-8, 3.52) goes for his seventh win of the season versus Adam Wainwright (10-10, 3.90). First pitch is at 5:15 p.m. TV: Fox Sports Arizona. Radio: KTAR 620-AM. More info www.dbacks.com.
