With Renteria Due, Cardinals Come Through To Beat Reds
By Rick Hummel
Of the Post-Dispatch
August 14, 2001
Edgar Renteria carried only a .229 batting average against righthanded pitchers when he was confronted by sidearming Cincinnati righthander Scott Sullivan with the bases loaded and the Cardinals down a run in the eighth inning Monday night.
But in the past three weeks, this is not the Edgar Renteria who has tried fans' patience and perhaps his own. Rather it is the one who has been a .283 lifetime hitter.
Renteria rapped a 2-1 pitch by Sullivan into left field for a two-run single, capping a three-run Cardinals surge in the eighth that brought them a 3-2 victory over the Reds.
The win was the Cardinals' fifth in a row and moved them 4 1/2 games from the National League Central Division lead, now held by Houston. And it meant veteran Andy Benes got the 150th victory of his career.
Benes fanned the only hitter he faced in the eighth, and Dave Veres, who squandered a win for Benes in Montreal last week, managed to save this one despite allowing two baserunners in the ninth.
Veres, pitching for the fourth day in a row, needed the help of second baseman Fernando Vina, who dashed in for Todd Walker's bounder toward second, fielded the short hop and then raced to the bag ahead of baserunner Pokey Reese to end the game.
"That scared me," said Renteria. "I think he's the only second baseman who makes that play."
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, "That's the best play I've seen him make as a St. Louis Cardinal, in terms of degree of difficulty."
Veres, who gained his 14th save, said he hadn't been tired working four days in a row and noted that he had been clocked at 92 miles an hour.
"That's the hardest I've thrown all year," he said. "Maybe I needed more adrenaline. I didn't want to blow Andy's game again."
Vina also started the winning rally by bouncing a single past Reds first baseman Sean Casey to open the Cardinals eighth.
With Vina on the move, Placido Polanco singled to left center, sending Vina to third. Mark McGwire, 0 for 18 against the Reds this season, delivered his first run batted in against them, though, with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Albert Pujols walked. Then lefthander Hector Mercado relieved Elmer Dessens, who pitched too well to be saddled with the loss, and walked Jim Edmonds to load the bases. Sullivan entered to strike out Craig Paquette on a breaking ball but Renteria, who has hit safely in 15 of his past 16 games, singled for the second time.
Renteria said he relished the chance to win the game. "Everybody likes that," he said. "You have to have pressure in the game."
Paquette might have been lifted for lefthanded-hitting J.D. Drew if Drew had been available, but he wasn't because of a lower back sprain. Besides, said La Russa, "Paquette (by his recent play) earned that at-bat.
"The difference in Paquette and Renteria was that Sullivan got the count in his favor (against Paquette) where he could wipe him out. He missed with a couple of pitches, so Edgar had the count in his favor."
Twenty-two of Renteria's 39 runs batted in have come with two outs, and his hot streak has raised his average from .226 to .254, the highest he has been since the third day of the season.
Renteria's surge almost coincided with the July 31 trading deadline, although La Russa said that Renteria had been bothered by trade rumors before that. "He walked in here and said, 'Are you going to trade me?' And I said, 'Hell no.'
"You're talking about a winning player," said La Russa. "In six months, the cream comes to the top. Little by little, he's put his season together. But, today wasn't a little."
A smiling La Russa added, "When you think about it, if you want to get traded, you've got (to) play well. If you don't want to get traded, you've got to play well. You've really got to play well, right?"
Less than a week ago, the Cardinals were eight games out of first place. But catcher Eli Marrero said, "We were never out of it. We were in the mix.
"We've got a month and a half left. We've had good pitching and good, quality hitting and when J.D. comes back, watch out."
Rookie Bud Smith gave the Cardinals his usual effort Monday night. For the fifth time in his seven big-league starts, he allowed two or fewer runs in six or more innings. In this case, he begrudged the Reds two runs in seven innings. "We have confidence that he's going to give us a chance to win," said La Russa.
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