By Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
ST. LOUIS — With no more guaranteed starts for rookie Joe Kelly as Jaime Garcia makes his way back to the big-league rotation, manager Mike Matheny urged his young righty not to approach Tuesday’s game as if he was pitching to keep his role.
Treat it like a normal start, Matheny said he suggested.
Kelly did him one better.
(PHOTO: The St. Louis Cardinals’ Jon Jay (19) is congratulated by teammate Matt Holliday as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run in sixth-inning action against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, August 14, 2012, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.)
The Cardinals’ rookie pitched six shutout innings and recorded an out in the seventh inning for the first time this season as he steered the Cardinals’ toward an 8-2 victory against Arizona at Busch Stadium. If it was a sendoff to starting, it was arguably his best start of the season. Kelly matched a career best with six strikeouts and the two runs he allowed both came on a home run in the seventh inning that momentarily nibbled the Cardinals’ lead down to a run.
Matt Holliday’s two-run home run and Jon Jay’s solo shot off Arizona starter Ian Kennedy was enough to back Kelly (3-5) until the Diamondbacks unraveled late. Two errors by Kennedy led to two runs for the Cardinals in the eighth inning, and pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter added a two-run double in the eighth to take away Jason Motte’s save opportunity. Carpenter, Jay, and Holliday each finished the game with two RBIs and a run scored.
The win starts what could be a defining home stand for the Cardinals. Winners of 18 of their previous 23 home games, the Cardinals have nine consecutive at Busch Stadium. They host two wild card-rivals, Arizona and Pittsburgh, for six games before last-place Houston visits. Arizona arrived at Busch on Tuesday four games behind the Cardinals in the wild-card race and on the precipice of .500. With a boost from the offense, Kelly put them there with what could be his final start of the year even as it was a hint of what he can do as a reliever.
Lefty Garcia made his fourth and likely final rehab start Tuesday night at Class AAA Memphis. He threw 93 pitches, struck out eight, completed five innings, and allowed two runs on four hits. If Garcia, who is returning from shoulder impingement, does not experience any lingering discomfort today the Cardinals plan to activate him for a start that could come as early as this weekend. The fact that Garcia’s start lined up on the same night as Kelly’s is more than a coincidence as the Cardinals positioned the lefty to return to the rotation.
Kelly, who was drafted as a reliever, has impressed during his turn in Garcia’s spot in the rotation. But he’s entered uncharted territory with a career-high 141 innings this season. And his power assortment could be a boost to the bullpen while reducing his workload.
Matheny had a suggestion for Kelly about connecting such dots.
Don’t.
“I told him to ignore you guys (the media),” Matheny said before the game. “I understand there is a story here, there’s news. There is nothing wrong with any of us believe that there is some pressure on every day we show up here and put the jersey on. He needs to focus on what he needs to do to give us a quality start and not think that this start is different than any other.”
Kelly’s final line certainly had a similar look.
The righty has “always been a guy that kind of wanted to prove people wrong,” Matheny said. Kelly took his shutout through six innings before allowing a two-run homer to Miguel Montero with no outs in the seventh inning. Kelly was able to use his power for his six strikeouts.
He got leadoff hitter Stephen Drew looking at a 96-mph fastball for a called strike three to open the game. In the fourth, Kelly ended the inning by speeding a 95-mph fastball past Ryan Wheeler. And Kelly closed off his sixth shutout inning with a 94-mph fastball that struck out Paul Goldschmidt. The righty downshifted to pitch around Drew’s one-out triple in the third inning. Drew’s ball glanced off Jay’s glove in deep center field to allow Arizona’s shortstop to reach third. Kelly walked the next batter to face No. 3 hitter Jason Kubel.
Kelly got ahead of Kubel 0-2 then changed speeds on Arizona’s home run leader on the next three pitches. Kubel fouled off the fastball. He chopped the curveball and Kelly’s infielders spun it into a double play.
When last the Cardinals faced Kennedy (10-10), they thumped him for six runs. No opponent has scored more against the righty this season. All six of those runs came on two homers hit by Carlos Beltran. Kennedy was able to keep Beltran in check on Tuesday — the Cardinals’ right fielder struck out in his three at-bats against Kennedy — but the rest of the lineup followed Beltran’s earlier lead. While they didn’t get as many in this outing, the Cardinals did use the similar approach with Kennedy.
Their first three runs came on homers.
Kennedy held the Cardinals without a hit until Rafael Furcal’s triple in the third inning, and he pitched around that to keep the game scoreless. The Cardinals’ third hit came in the fourth inning on Kennedy’s 46th pitch and 31st strike of the game. That pitch landed somewhere in the left-field seats — deposited there by Holliday for his 23rd homer of the season. Holliday’s blast scored Allen Craig and provided Kelly a 2-0 lead. Jay added to it with his fourth homer of the season — a solo shot into the Cardinals’ bullpen beyond the right-field wall.
Jay’s contribution to the score was matched by his role in keeping Arizona scoreless through Kelly’s first six innings.
Defense rescued the righty repeatedly as he pressed toward his eighth quality start in 12 appearances for the Cardinals this season. In the fifth inning, Arizona leadoff hitter Drew tagged a ball that was bound for the center field fence. Jay jumped to get his glove on it and then momentarily lost his grip on the ball as he came down. The ball bounced off his chest, into his bare hand, and finally back into his glove for the out.
