Cards Rally By D-backs
Renteria singles in winning run in ninth inning
By Jared Hoffman / MLB.com
September 24, 2002
ST. LOUIS -- Edgar Renteria's RBI single with two outs in the ninth gave the Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium on Tuesday and kept St. Louis' hopes alive of grabbing home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. With the win, the Cardinals moved to within one game of Arizona for second-best record in the NL.
Albert Pujols walked with one out in the ninth and was replaced by pinch-runner So Taguchi, who stole second on a strikeout of Ivan Cruz. Renteria then laced a 0-1 pitch from Mike Fetters down the third-base line to end the game.
Andy Benes pitched seven shutout innings and allowed only four hits. He retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and didn't allow a base runner to get past second until the fifth, when he got into and out of trouble to keep the game scoreless. In that inning, Arizona had runners at second and third with only one out. However, David Delluci was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a grounder to shortstop, and Tony Womack flew out to end the inning.
The Cardinals weren't able to muster up much offense against Diamondbacks starter John Patterson, who was making only the fourth Major League start of his career and his first since Aug. 4. Patterson pitched six shutout innings and allowed just one hit --a one-out single in the first by Eli Marrero. Patterson didn't allow a runner to reach second until Miguel Cairo walked with one out in the fifth and stole second.
Reliever Matt Mantei started the seventh for Arizona and with his second pitch of the game, allowed St. Louis to take a 1-0 lead when Drew hit a 401-foot homer to right field.
St. Louis added another run that inning as Ivan Cruz singled, advanced to second on a groundout and then scored on a two-out single to left by Cairo.
Arizona rallied to tie the game against two of St. Louis' toughest relievers. The Diamondbacks scored a run in the eighth off reliever Rick White -- the first run White had allowed in 17 relief appearances since joining the Cardinals -- on an RBI single by Junior Spivey that scored Chris Donnels.
In the ninth against closer Jason Isringhausen, the Diamondbacks scored the tying run with two outs. Erubiel Durazo singled with one out. After Mark Grace flied out to left for the second out, Delluci walked to put runners at first and second. Pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn hit a ball up the middle that shortstop Edgar Renteria was able to get a glove on it, but it squirted a few feet away and Durazo scored from second.
The Cardinals have won 17 of their last 20 games while Arizona's losing streak stretched to a season-high five games.
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