Huge Rally, Renteria Lifts Redbirds
Cards tag Astros' Oswalt with six in seventh inning
By Matthew Leach / MLB.com
April 13, 2003
HOUSTON -- Sunday's Jason Simontacchi-Roy Oswalt duel was supposed to favor the Astros and their young ace Oswalt. And it did, for six innings. But in the seventh, Oswalt learned what can happen when you give the St. Louis offense extra outs.
A Cardinals lineup that had been hitting but not scoring in recent days broke out with a six-run seventh against Oswalt, thanks in large part to a critical error by Jose Vizcaino. That helped the Redbirds overcome Simontacchi's second rough outing in as many games, as they beat the Astros 11-8 in the rubber game of a weekend series at Minute Maid Park.
Edgar Renteria clubbed a pair of home runs to pace the Cardinals offense, which did without Astros-killer Jim Edmonds except for one pinch-hit appearance by the slugging center fielder. It was Renteria's fourth two-homer day, and he also matched a career-best with five RBIs.
"He's just a really great player," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's a really good shortstop, an outstanding clutch hitter. Matched up with a guy like Oswalt, to have that kind of day is really difficult. But he had a clutch day."
St. Louis has had Oswalt's number in his brief career, as the often dominating righty fell to 0-2 in six career starts against the Cardinals.
Simontacchi gave up six runs in four innings, yet his ERA actually dropped to 14.14. He was in trouble early, just like in his first start earlier in the week at Colorado. In addition, the Cardinals shrugged off the ejection of Albert Pujols. Home plate umpire Gary Darling tossed Pujols in the seventh after the slugger argued balls and strikes. Pujols said he was displeased with what he perceived as inconsistency from Darling.
"If you call a ball right there," Pujols said, signaling above his belt, "the same pitch you have to call a ball. You can't give him a strike with the same pitch."
Renteria made his recent move in the batting order look like an excellent idea. The Silver Slugger-winning shortstop began the year hitting in the No. 2 spot in the order, but this weekend he has been bumped down to positions where he can drive in more runs. He hit sixth on Sunday after batting in the seven spot on Saturday.
"I like hitting sixth or seventh," Renteria said. "But if they need me in the second hole, I'll do it. I play for my team and I try the best I can do to win the game.
"Oswalt's a great pitcher. So you have to do a lot of things with him. If he doesn't throw a strike, you have to let it go. But he got bad luck. Two mistakes."
The Cardinals also got a boost from their bullpen for the second straight day. Kiko Calero and Cal Eldred tossed four shutout innings in relief of Simontacchi before Jeff Bagwell's two-out two-run homer off of Dustin Hermanson in the ninth. Calero pitched two perfect innings for his first Major League win.
"I feel like, I don't know, like a dream," Calero said. "Two innings, I threw the changeup for a strike, and my fastball was right there and down. I'm very happy to win."
Calero came into the game facing a 6-4 deficit, and he held the Astros at bay. In the seventh, his offense rewarded him.
Miguel Cairo led off the inning with a single, taking third on a single by Orlando Palmeiro. Eli Marrero's single -- only his second hit of the year -- drove in Cairo and made it a one-run game. With one out, Scott Rolen hit a hard grounder at Jose Vizcaino, the defensive half of Houston's offense-defense shortstop platoon. But Vizcaino couldn't handle potential the double-play ball, and it went through his legs as the tying run scored.
It was a huge second chance for a Cardinals offense that has been double-play-happy in recent days.
"We got a break," Cairo said. "That's something that we didn't have earlier in the season."
From there the Cardinals jumped all over Oswalt. Tino Martinez contributed a go-ahead RBI double and Renteria lined a three-run homer to right to break the game open. Cairo added a solo homer in the eighth for the final St. Louis runs. Bagwell made it closer in the ninth, but Jeff Fassero retired Lance Berkman to end the game.
"We kept playing our game," Renteria said. "We let Oswalt pitch a lot of pitches and we finally figured him out in the sixth or seventh inning."
Things looked ugly early for the Cardinals, though. Simontacchi walked two of the first three hitters he faced before Lance Berkman and Jeff Kent doubled to make it 3-0. St. Louis got a run back in the top of the second with a Cairo sacrifice fly, but back-to-back solo homers from Bagwell and Berkman stretched the lead to 5-1.
Renteria's first homer of the day, a two-run clout in the fourth, cut it to 5-3, but Craig Biggio's solo homer in the bottom of the fourth gave Houston a three-run lead.
After that, it was all St. Louis. Scott Rolen knocked an RBI double in the fifth to close the gap to two runs while Calero stopped the bleeding with a flawless fifth and sixth.
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