By Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
ST. LOUIS — It didn’t take long for the afterglow from the St. Louis Cardinals’ jubilant sweep of the rival Chicago Cubs over the weekend to fade into the gloomy reality of a recurring gap in their game.
Still within reach of the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, the Cardinals again couldn’t navigate the seventh inning without losing a grip. Cardinals reliever Victor Marte allowed both of his inherited runners to score and Mark Ellis’ two-out, two-run double proved the difference in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory at Busch Stadium. The loss dropped the Cards to a season-worst six games behind division-leading Cincinnati.
(PHOTO: St. Louis Cardinals’ Joe Kelly stumbles over the first base bag as he legs out an infield hit in fifth-inning action against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, July 23, 2012, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.)
The Cardinals chomped into the Dodgers’ lead with Carlos Beltran’s 22nd home run — a two-run arc in the eighth inning — but the ongoing disconnect between six-inning starts and the Cards’ answers in the eighth and ninth innings remains a puzzle. While the Redbirds’ offense has been recently erratic, it’s the club’s uncertainty in the seventh inning that is chronic.
“In general, we have a pretty good idea (about the seventh),” manager Mike Matheny said. “It was close to playing out how we wanted it to. We just came up short.”
Dodgers’ shortstop Luis Cruz put L.A. ahead with his three-run homer in the second inning off Cards starter Joe Kelly. Those were the only runs the rookie allowed in his six innings as he tossed his fifth consecutive quality start. To handle the seventh, Matheny called first to Fernando Salas, who was scripted for limited duty because of his pitch count Sunday. Salas retired one man and allowed a single. Lefty Barret Browning followed and did the same — retired one and allowed a single.
Marte, who earned a role in the bullpen by being able to extinguish situations with runners on base, couldn’t wedge a sinker past Ellis. The infielder’s double pushed the Dodgers’ lead to four runs and meant that Marte has allowed five of his past seven inherited runners to score.
“I’m trying to work hard on that inside pitch, my sinker,” he said. “I can be good by working hard. I can get it back.”
Marte seized a prominent role with his early success bridging leads to Mitchell Boggs and closer Jason Motte. The righty had nine holds — the middle relief equivalent of a save — in his first 28 games and only three of his 19 inherited runners scored in that span. Starting with Kyle McClellans’ season-ending injury, Matheny’s route to Boggs in the eighth has been complicated struggles such as Marte’s, inconsistencies such as Salas’ and an audition of several lefties.
The seventh-inning riddle has become more prominent as the starters have regained their form. Kelly’s quality start was the Cardinals’ seventh consecutive and their 15th in the past 17 games. The catch is a starter only needs to go six innings to earn a quality start. The Cardinals need a seventh.
Flush from their romp against the Cubs — which featured 23 total runs and a 12-run inning — the Cardinals struck for a lead in the first inning. Lance Berkman singled to right field to Jon Jay for a quick 1-0 lead and a sharp welcome back for LA starter Chad Billingsley.
The righty was activated from the disabled list before Monday’s game, having recovering from inflammation in his right elbow. Billingsley (5-9) allowed at least a hit in each of his six innings, but trudged through the baserunners and the 101-degree heat to keep the Cardinals from scoring again against him.
Billingsley had lost his five previous starts, but was in position to win for the first time since June 10 with a little help from the Cardinals. An error by Berkman allowed the first batter of the second to reach, and Adam Kennedy blooped a fly ball to left field that glanced off Rafael Furcal’s glove. Had both plays been made, Cruz wouldn’t have batted in the inning let alone teed off on a hanging slider for his second homer of the season and a 3-1 lead. Kennedy’s base hit, which found a dead zone between three fielders and just beyond Furcal’s reach, ended a stretch in which the Cardinals had held opponents to one hit in the past 24 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Holliday said nobody called the ball. Furcal declined comment.
Kelly (1-3) had an eventful evening away from the mound, too. He fouled off seven consecutive pitches before grounding out on the 10th pitch of his first at-bat. In the fifth, he drove a pitch deep to left that faded just foul and into the season. That same at-bat he hit an infield single and tumbled after rolling an ankle on first base. A first inning double-play ball glanced off his ring finger and left it tingling “like a bee sting.” Each time, he stayed in the game.
That’s what he’s done for the Cardinals, too. He’s kept them in the game. In each of his past five starts, he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs and pitched exactly six innings.
“I want to get past the sixth inning,” he said. “It’s really irritating and frustrating because I know I can. It’s going to come. I’m just right there.”
Twice in his string of quality starts Kelly left with a lead only to have it evaporate in the seventh inning. Matheny had the relievers setup the way he wanted Monday, and then called in rookie Trevor Rosenthal to finish the game once LA had its four-run lead. Rosenthal, hitting 99 mph with his fastball, pitched two scoreless innings. He’s yet to allow a run in three outings. Matheny said he did not consider the righty for the seventh. Not yet.
“Was there any thought? No,” Matheny said. “I’m not saying there won’t be in the future.”