Ichiro's 3 Hits Help Marlins Knock Off Cards 6-3
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ST. LOUIS (The Sports Xchange) -- Ichiro Suzuki drew closer to a cherished major league milestone and the Miami Marlins took the rubber game of a three-game series matching National League wild-card hopefuls.
Suzuki's three hits led Miami's 13-hit attack Sunday as they knocked off the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 in Busch Stadium.
Suzuki needs only six hits to reach 3,000, and nearly had a fourth hit. But his infield single in the third was erased after a replay review revealed he was barely nipped at first by the throw of shortstop Aledmys Diaz.
Giancarlo Stanton snapped a 3-3 tie for the Marlins (49-42) in the seventh with an RBI double off reliever Jonathan Broxton (1-2), scoring Christian Yelich. Stanton scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Don Kelly for a two-run advantage.
Yelich finished off the scoring in the eighth with a sacrifice fly that scored pinch runner Yefri Perez.
Former St. Louis minor leaguer Kyle Barraclough (5-2) earned the win with 1 2/3 perfect innings out of the bullpen, striking out three. Fernando Rodney and A.J. Ramos worked the last two innings, Ramos collecting his 29th save.
Miami remained tied with the New York Mets for the second wild-card spot after winning for the fifth time in six games. The Cardinals (47-44) dropped two games behind the Marlins and Mets.
St. Louis grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on a leadoff homer by Matt Holliday, his 16th of the year.
Miami tied the game in the fourth when catcher Jeff Mathis beat out a drag bunt for a two-out RBI single, scoring Stanton. Yelich snapped the tie in the fifth with a two-run single that chased Cardinals starter Michael Wacha.
St. Louis got a run back in the fifth on a wild pitch that scored Alberto Rosario. It tied the game in the sixth when Diaz scored all the way from first on Holliday's infield single and a throwing error by shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria.
Wacha lasted just four-plus innings and 101 pitches, allowing seven hits and three runs with two walks and four strikeouts. Marlins starter Adam Conley left after 5 1/3 innings, giving up three hits and three runs -- two earned -- while walking three and fanning nine.
Miami pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts.
NOTES: St. Louis C Yadier Molina was not in the starting lineup on Sunday, marking just the 12th game in 91 that he hasn't started. Alberto Rosario picked up just his second big league start. ... Miami CF Marcell Ozuna also was not in the starting lineup, giving Ichiro Suzuki the nod as he chases 3,000 hits in the majors. ... Cardinals SS Aledmys Diaz's walk in the third inning on Saturday extended his streak of reaching base safely to 20 games, the longest by a rookie this year. It is also the franchise's longest for a rookie since Albert Pujols rattled off a 48-game streak in 2001.
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