Ludwick fires Cards past Nationals
May 20, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RYAN Ludwick smacked a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning to lead the St Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
With two outs and the game tied 2-2, the St Louis outfielder drove a pitch from reliever Tyler Clippard over the left field wall to give the home team their second straight win against Washington.
"It was a terrible pitch," Clippard told reporters of Ludwick's blast. "Cutter, trying to go away and I threw a nice little cement mixer up there for him - middle in - and he hit it out."
Cardinals (23-17) starter Chris Carpenter improved to 5-1 after allowing two runs in eight innings and Ryan Franklin pitched the ninth for his ninth save of the season.
The Nationals (20-20) lost their season-high fifth straight game despite coming back from a two-run hole and tying the game in the eighth on Ian Desmond's RBI single.
The run was set up when Ryan Zimmerman reached on a throwing error and Josh Willingham was hit by a pitch from Carpenter.
The St Louis right-hander also allowed a fifth-inning home run by Wil Nieves.
"I felt fine. I worked hard all night long," Carpenter said after throwing 118 pitches. "It had nothing to do with the hundred and whatever pitches I threw."
The Cardinals provided their pitcher a 2-0 advantage in the third when Felipe Lopez belted a two-run homer in his second game off the disabled list from an elbow injury.
In San Diego, Matt Downs hit a two-run double in the 12th inning to give the San Francisco Giants a 7-6 win over the Padres, beating the National League West leaders for the first time in eight tries this season.
Downs' third hit came off rookie Padres pitcher Cesar Ramos (0-1) and scored Ryan Rohlinger and Eli Whiteside, who reached on two-out singles. Eugenio Velez added an RBI single.
Giants closer Brian Wilson gave up a two-run double to David Eckstein with two outs in the bottom of the 12th after Chris Denorfia and Yorvit Torrealba singled. Wilson intentionally walked Adrian Gonzalez before striking out Chase Headley to end the game and notch his 10th save in 11 chances.
San Francisco's Dan Runzler (2-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win as the Giants crept within half a game of the Padres.
In other NL action, it was: Pirates 2, Phillies 1; Reds 5, Brewers 4; Braves 3, Mets 2; Marlins 8, Diamondbacks 0; Cubs 6, Rockies 2; and Dodgers 7, Astros 3.
In the American League, Edwin Encarnacion returned from injury to hit one of Toronto's four home runs as the Blue Jays romped to an 11-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Encarnacion had been out for a month with a shoulder injury. Back in the lineup, he started the homer barrage with a two-run shot in the second.
Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay also went long for Toronto, which leads the majors with 65 home runs this season.
Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum (3-1) won his third straight decision, allowing one run in seven innings.
Also, it was: Red Sox 7, Yankees 6; Rays 6, Indians 2; Rangers 8, Angels 7; White Sox 6, Tigers 2; Athletics 6, Mariners 5, 10 innings; and Orioles 4, Royals 3, 10 innings.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
