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Holliday, Garcia power Cards to eighth straight victory
St. Louis, Mo. – Jaime Garcia was stellar through seven innings and Matt Holliday crushed a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh as the St. Louis Cardinals achieved their longest winning streak in six years with a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday night (July 21) at Busch Stadium.
It was a pitcher’s duel throughout most of the night as both Garcia and Phillies starter Joe Blanton combined to sit down the first 15 hitters of the night.
The Cardinals got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Jon Jay led off the inning with a double and was driven in on a single by Albert Pujols.
Garcia sat down the first 12 batters he saw until Ryan Howard led off the fifth inning with a solo blast that tied the score at 1-1.
Both hurlers continued to limit the offenses until Garcia was faced with a second and third and two out jam in the top of the seventh, but managed to strike out Blanton to end the threat.
After that, the Cards’ bats took off in the bottom of the seventh as Holliday drilled his 18th homer deep into the right field seats on the first pitch he seen from Blanton that put the Redbirds ahead for good.
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The Phillies again threatened in the eighth as Shane Victorino reached on a two-base error by second baseman Skip Schumaker with one out and then went to third on a groundout by Ben Francisco. Tony LaRussa then summoned closer Ryan Franklin for a four-out save, and Franklin quickly escaped the jam by inducing a groundout by Jason Werth.
Felipe Lopez then doubled home two runs and Colby Rasmus hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Cards three valuable insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Franklin retired the Phillies in order for his 18th save of the year and moved the Cardinals to a season-high 13 games over .500 at 54-41. The Cards also extended their lead in the Central to 1½ games over the Cincinnati Reds after the Reds were defeated 8-5 by the Washington Nationals.
Garcia struck out six in seven innings to run his record to 9-4 and lower his ERA to 2.21 on the season.
The Cardinals now have to feel very good about their chances of finishing off their second consecutive four-game sweep, as they will send Adam Wainwright (14-5, 2.02 ERA) to the mound tomorrow. Wainwright has pitched a major league record 23 straight quality starts at home and has surrendered just one earned run in his last 29.1 innings.
By: Levi Convirs
MLBCenter.com St. Louis Cardinals Correspondent
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